The difference is that back then, the Bjornlings not only had far less territory in need of coverage but they were also actually capable of having peace with other tribes for a while. Sure, they'd be having raids from and against other tribes, but it was never a stats of affairs that could only be resolved by massacring the other side. Now? They're infidels, apostates, traitors, heretics. There will never be peace between them and the other men of Norsca, and every battle will be a battle to destroy as much of one another as possible.
That may be true but they also had far less resources on their disposal and while they would be able to have peace with one tribe there would also always be other tribe willing to screw them over. Also this is where we differ, yes Bjornlings will be on blood feud with enemies to the North but after this war if Bjornlings win it Northern tribes won't really be in state to launch another massive assult, i also weary much doubt that Northern tribes will give it their all to destroy Bjornlings from now on opposed to them uniting to launch one big attack from time to time and otherwise just launching minor raids at Bjornlings and other people while infighting.
This is weary much a trend with all evil factions, Druchii for example despite being in blood feud didn't use all their time to attack Asur opposed to them doing raids across the world and then launching massive attacks . Same with Chaos Norsca. In these periods of time Bjornlings will be in quite good state to go out and do their things as these minor raids will hardly be existential threats.
Ultimately after this war Chaos aligned tribes simply won't be in shape to pose significant threat for a time.
And yes, many Bjornlings will be rich off their ownership of thralls, but they will also need to use much of that wealth to keep their bitter slaves in line as well as general upkeep. Their children will indeed be able to better afford good weapons and armor, but the enemy tribes will have replenished themselves in that time as well and likely seek to reclaim their former lands piecemeal if they can't have them all in one great war. Second and third sons would likely often (but not always, just to be clear) be working for their elder brother as now the property of their father will have become developed and valuable, and that must be defended.
Once again i would disagree. Life of a thrall is terrible under any tribes and while elites worship Chaos most of the Thralls are more similar to Bjornling Thralls and these are the ones Bjornlings will be dealing with.
Bjorlings won't just take in Chaos worshipping Warriors and make them Thralls, they'll probably take already existing Thralls and some freemen but otherwise they'll either exile, or kill the rest. If anything Chaos has already started murdering all non Chaos Thralls and Luthien herself said that those civilians she sacrificed would normally be killed for worshipping Ruinous powers. Pair that with the fact that winter is coming and that Bjornlings won't even be able to feed their own population and you can already get the picture what will happen with those Thralls that refuse to accept new regime.
As for property of someone's father being developed and in need of defense? Once again we are in Norsca. They simply don't have climate to have standard feudal system that's reliant on serves working on land and giving part of their yields to the feudal lord. Even with Circles intervention a harsh Winter is still enough to cause famine so before that it's quite likely that Bjornlings will go and do mercenary work and maybe raid those who are considered to be unfriendly to the King and don't pay not to be raided.
Personally I think that there will become something of a divide between the coastal Norscans who are more commercial and industrious and the inland Norscans who are more agrarian and martial.
There is already such divide with Bjornlings being among more trade oriented tribes but Northern Norscans being more agrarian?
Not likely as Northern lands are quite inhospitable, this also means that Bjornlings are set to get better land which will give them the edge over their southern neighborhoods who will likely fight each other's for whatever little land they have while continuing the tradition Northern tribes were doing before, raiding South for resources and these won't be focused just on Bjornlings as Bjornlings will be relatively poor targets.
As I said, there will always be mercenary work and raiding, but it will not be as much as it once was, at least not without the population of non-thrall Bjornland rising massively.
This is where we can agree and disagree. I genuinely agree that we will see more controlled raiding targeting those that don't pay protection and generally enemies of the King, plus Druchii and Chaos aligned tribes being free targets
In case of mercenary work as i said this will probably continue and with Bjornlings being considered civilized it's quite likely that they will be even more wanted on battlefield as now any potential customer doesn't have to worry about being accused of cooperating with Chaos. If anything standard Bjorlings will potentially prefer mercenary work to raiding.
In case of population? With all these new lands that Bjornlings will get you can expect population boom but with population boom being applied on medival laws of succession and general Bjorling culture you can also expect that there will be bunch of second, third, or fourth sons not being in line to inherit anything and they will be quite eager to go out to earn big , or to get some glory which in turn will cause them to go out to do the work Norscans are famous for.
Then once again we must speak about the fact that after this war Winter is set to come in and for many choice will be to either go out to do mercenary work and raid, or to stay and starve as wartorn Bjornlings won't be in state to provide for everyone, land you are speaking about simply won't be usable until after the winter time even with magic and time period used to work in the fields, or to prepare for winter is now used to fight a war.
