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[Ghazkull]

It is now Early Spring in the year of our Lord 1000AD

[Khan Boyzitbig]

Posting to keep track of the thread for now. Lest it elude me once more in plain sight.

[Funk]

Funk: Kingdom of Alba (which one though? That is which pretender?)[/url]

Kingdom of Alba, The Throne Room, Malcolm II "the Destroyer", 1000AD
I am  Malcolm the II, the newy apointed king of a free pepole and have need to prove my self.
To that end i will,
1: Lead the customary raid, the crech ríg (literally royal prey, a raid by a new king made to demonstrate prowess in war) across the waters to leinster (the light green bit of ireland).

Raid leinster

2:The secound thing is to call the priest and ask him why jugement day has not come? For it was predicted for 1000AD
(If he can not answer then i will expell the expensive false priest and size the chruchs wealth and lands)
Quiz pesit

3:Build a fort/ port on the banks of the firth of clyde

[Khan Boyzitbig]

Kingdom of Strathclyde, Dumbarton Castle, Owain Foel, 1000AD
Once more threats rise against our ancient realm, and once more we shall answer them.

Construct a new fortress upon the banks of the Clyde
We cannot allow anyone to threaten our homes, this river is our oldest of friends and shall not be violated, neither by fellow briton or invader alike!

Begin construction of shipyards in Glasgow
More ships allows the realm to trade more easily, and fight invading forces. There are also things that lie beyond our shores that bear investigating...

Bolster the levy, recruit more men
Our forces could be larger, nay, they must be larger especially if we are to preserve our way of life!

Patrol the frontier, Personally
King Malcolm the Second can go raiding whatever he wishes, but he can think twice if he tries anything either on the way to or from his target.

Offer a trade agreement to the Anglo-Saxon King
There almost certainly are traders going between the realms, but it never hurts to make such things official.

We did not survive this long by being idle, but now it is time to think about spreading our wings, uniting the isles against external threats by peaceful means if possible and become as powerful as we can!

[mcclay]

The Illustrious Merchant Republic of Amalfi, Amalfi, 1000AD
My brother defeated, now we, the most prosperous of the Lombards, must work against the threats that distract us. The traitors in Salerno thrive at our expense, no doubt harboring my brother's conspitor's who escaped justice after I took what is rightfully mine. Our network of contacts is much dimished and our fleets aren't as strong as they could be. But we shall prevail.

1. Begin building up the navy
2. Restore our merchant contacts in Genoa and Byzantium
3. Build siege weapons in perpetration for war

[Fniff]

Why hello there.
So, I’m playing Dublin. More specifically, the Lord of Dublin: Sigtrygg Silkbeard. He’s mercenary to a core: he’s fought for every Irish lord at least once, and probably more. However, he’s serving under the king of Munster Brain Boru.

He’s got a grudge against him, and it’s personal: the bastard’s holding his family hostage. Another grudge is the cowards in Ulaidh who could have saved him and his family, but didn’t. Let’s just say there’s as many people on Silkbeard’s shit-list as there are notches on Loki’s bedpost.

Making matters worse, thanks to the tribute he has to pay and the battles with Boru, Dublin (Dyflinn to the vikings, but Dublin comes more naturally to me) is a complete mess. Once it was a slave capital of Europe, filled with gems and silks and glittering gold, but now it’s looking a lot like Monty Python’s The Holy Grail.

So, we could just start from there… But I feel like we should complicate his situation. Let’s add a few movers and shakers to his court. This’ll give me something to draw on if I don’t have any immediate ideas on what to do next, I think. If you’re not interested, just skip it.

I’m gonna be using Fiasco and the Fiasco playset Blood Saga, to add a little more personal complications to his court. Fiasco is a great game and you should check it out.

Spoiler: Working Out The Situation (click to show/hide)

Let’s say there’s four big-names in Silkbeard’s court. I’d say one of them is him, but we’ll have to see how it shakes out. He might be the straight laced boss desperately trying to sort out his wacky/murderous employees so they can, you know, bring Dublin back from the brink.

The way Fiasco works is that you roll dice and choose results to define relationships between the characters. There’s four characters, and thus four relationships. Until they get actual names, I’ll call them Alice, Bob, Carol, and Dan.
First, the nature of the relationships.

Between Alice and Bob
Society

Between Bob and Carol
Crime

Between Carol and Dan
The Past

Between Dan and Alice
Friendship

Looking good… Society is relations like “Chieftain and follower” or “Slave and their owner”. You know, viking stuff. For now, it looks like Carol with their Crime relationship with Bob and their Past relationship with Dan looks like the troublemaker… Those two subjects rarely end well.

Time to further define them!

Between Alice and Bob
Society
Owner of Warship and Aspiring Viking Raider

Between Bob and Carol
Crime
Grave Robbers

Between Carol and Dan
The Past
A Debt Never Paid

Between Dan and Alice
Friendship
Built On A Lie

So, I couldn’t resist Grave Robbers. That particular crime always has a great allure to me. It’s hits the heart of a very strong taboo: you do not defile the dead. So to me, the kind of people who would break it are fascinating.

Now, let’s think about this…
I think this hinges on Alice and Bob’s relationship. One of them wants to raid, the other’s got a boat for it. It could be interesting if Bob’s the raider: he’s trying to prove himself but he’s got this grave robber stuff with Carol. On the other hand, it’d be more interesting if Alice was the raider. She wants that boat, but Bob is up to some pretty nasty stuff… I like it.
Result: Bob’s got the boat, and Alice wants to raid.

As for Carol, grave robbing is pretty simple. I’m thinking she’s into raiding Irish tombs, known as mounds. They go in, rob the jewellery that the dead kings have on them, they run out again. Thing is, mounds are believed to be faerie-homes at best and at worst you’ll be cursed if you go in there. Besides, it’s a shitty thing to do to begin with. If she’s a viking (And it’s likely), she’s pretty much the worst. As for the debt, I think it adds more if Carol’s calling the debt on Dan. We don’t know too much about him, but from his relationship it looks like he’s  a liar. Speaking of…

Dan’s friendship with Alice. Who’s lying and why? I’m thinking Dan: Alice looks best if she’s the sole good person thrown into the mix. Could it be a Talented Mr. Ripley situation? I think not… Ooh, I did want to throw in a ‘creepy oracle’ character. Perhaps Dan’s been telling porkies about how good he can see the future!

Now, let’s throw in a need. This is a motivation that involves both the characters. One of them could have it, they could share it, be at cross-purposes, etc. However, it has to be a need that, if unmet, messes both of them up severely.

Let’s put it between Dan and Alice, as I feel that relationship needs a little more juice.

Need: To Gain Honor… By Burning the Warlock
Ooh! This plays perfectly into my idea about Dan being a prophet. But I feel it shouldn’t be about Dan getting burnt by Alice… My first thought is to have another warlock they wanna burn, but that doesn’t feel right.
Eureka! I got it! Fiasco says you can tweak these things if it would make it perfect, just so long as you keep the spirit of it alive. Let’s just say the people of Dublin want to burn Dan at the stake for being a creepyass warlock, so his honour’s rock-bottom. He and Alice want him to not get-burned, so the goal of them both is to get his honour out of the shitter or else he’ll get burnt at the stake.

Love it!
So, in short, amend that need to
Gain Honor, by not getting burnt as a warlock.

Next, locations. These are locations that matter to the characters. Fiasco describes them as metaphorical extensions of the character’s personalities. It also says if you can’t imagine a fight scene or a romance scene (preferably both) in them, they aren’t good locations.
Let’s do Carol and Dan. I’m curious about the details of their debt. Maybe this is where the debt happened?

Beyond the Pale (Border between Dublin and the rest of Ireland: it’s a bad idea going out there if you’re not Irish): An Ambush, in the middle of nowhere

I see it now. Dan’s dragged out by a mob of furious peasants, crying warlock and witch, to a field in the middle of nowhere. The peasants start stacking firewood, tying Dan to a pole. Something flies past a peasant’s ear, he turns to look… and gets an arrow between the eyes. The peasants scream ambush, run around, and are chopped down by unseen pursuers. Dan has no idea what’s happening: he’s been blindfolded. All he hears is the screaming of the peasants as they’re shot and chopped down one-by-one, until silence reigns… Footsteps approach. A hand rips the blindfold away from his eyes.
Carol smiles at him, just back from raiding a tomb, and says only this:
“You owe me your life.”
A debt which was never settled.

Next thing, objects. These are props that signify a lot to the characters involved. They have no will of their own, but they are tools for craziness to occur.

Object: Untoward: A Severed Head
This took some thought, and I realised it would be perfect between Dan and Alice. This is the goat skull Dan consults when he wants to receive ‘knowledge of things to come’! I’ll have to give it a cute name. Let’s put a little more juice on it. Dan’s spruced it up with some stage tricks to make it look like it’s talking back. Sort of like a really grisly ventriloquist’s dummy, yet somehow less creepy. I wonder how Alice will react when she finds out it’s all stage tricks…

The last thing is, Blood Saga lets you randomly generate your own title for the saga. Let’s try it!
The Saga of Ulfhildur the Wise.

Ulfhilder is a female name meaning ‘wolf battle’.
This is good.
I like this.

Okay, this is looking like a catastrophe in the waiting and will work just fine as a subplot to the grand goings-on of the game. I’ll summarise it outside of the spoiler.

Spoiler: The Movers & Shakers of Dublin (click to show/hide)

Sigtrygg Silkbeard
Lord of Dublin. Proud Christian. Mercenary to the core. Dublin’s not doing so hot economically, so like any good Viking he’s gonna pillage other countries for coin. Problem is, he doesn’t have any good warships. Perhaps he could ask the merchant Ansigar Ellanher for that ship of his?

Lanzo Ingibjorg
Warlock. Prophet. Bullshit artist. Lanzo is Silkbeard’s most trusted confidante. He talks to a goat skull he calls Ano, and claims he receives visions of the future from it. Some people have said the skull talks back with a strange, hi-pitched voice. Others say he’s just speaking out the side of his mouth. People are divided about whether or not he’s a con-artist who should be hanged or if he’s a warlock who should be burnt at the stake. Silkbeard’s pretty much the only thing keeping him alive.

Sigihild Ellanher
Daughter of Ansigar, merchant. Shy. Callow. Vicious. She’s the pride of her father, and he basically does anything she tells him to. A shame, because she’s a shitheel. She’s out robbing ancient burial mounds for jewellery with Ulfhilder, an enterprise that is likely to go wrong any time now. Whether it’ll be angry locals, angry ghosts, or just tripping on a stone and breaking her neck, something will go awry.

Ulfhilder Linda
Outlaw. Dishonourable. Deadly. Charming. Silkbeard exiled Magnhildr for murdering her husband. Now she’s got a gig robbing burial mounds and using Sigihild to sell the jewellery back in Dublin. She also saved Lanzo’s life when peasants attempted to burn him at the stake by ambushing them, slaughtering them down a man. She still reminds him, through Sighed, that he owes her his life…

Offer sanctuary to those displaced by Malcom II’s raids in Leinster… for a price, of course.
Ooh, you have no homes anymore because King Malcolm burnt them all down? That’s a shame, but I suppose that’s why he’s called ‘the destroyer’.
Why not come to Dublin? It’ll be great, we’ll get you a job, we’ll get you homes, just uh… _{swear eternal fealty to me.} Hrm? No, I didn’t say anything. Just sign this contract for me…

Contact Malcolm II
Yo Mal, my main man
I saw you raiding Leinster, cool shit
I’m guessing you have some prisoners left over. Man, don't you hate prisoners, always asking to be fed and sheltered and not beaten constantly. So annoying!
Why not send them to me and I’ll sell them on for a cut of the profits
Dublin isn’t the slave capital of Europe for nothing, mang, I got connections
Peace out,
S-dawg
(historical accuracy note: Sigtrygg Silkbeard probably didn't talk like this)

Ask Ansigar Ellanher, local merchant, about the possibility of acquiring some warships off him
Well, they're not warships. They're a fishing boats, but it does look like it could be converted into one. Kind of.
...
Look, I don't have any warships and I'm kinda desperate, okay?

(Not sure if this counts as an action, it's mainly role-play, but if it does just ignore it)
Ask Lanzo, my best friend and prophet, for a vision of the future.
What’s my odds, Lanzo?

[Funk]

"Hail Owain Foel, King of Strathclyde
We can each rule in peace with each other,  we both share this land, let us draw the line and keep our own peace with each other across it."

(GM we need bigger map Where is the borader? AYR? the banks of the River Clyde?)

[Khan Boyzitbig]

"Greetings Malcolm II, King of Alba,
Agreeable request, but men who have just been raiding have been known to... ignore the orders of their commander. A line must be drawn where our borders meet, I suggest this begin about 1 mile north east of the Clyde. Obviously extending further from my Castle of course."

[Funk]

"Greetings to you Owain Foel, King of Strathclyde,
The clyde is good border, what whoud you have check the movement of men, a river which no man or beast can miss.
Or just a line? that a line is inforced by what? are you going to build your self some Limes Strathclyde?
No let us have the north bank of the clyde and you the south."

[Khan Boyzitbig]

"Malcolm, If you dare think we would give up our ancient stronghold, which lies on the northern bank of the Clyde, then you can think again.
We are willing to stay close to that river, and let you have everything north and east of the river past that short distance, but we will defend that which gives us our name."

[Funk]

"Owain it is your ancient stronghold and you may have it.
I book no quarrel with you, but i will have my acess to the irish sea guarded by a fort of stone.
If you have your ancient stronghold of Alt Clut and the land from the river leven in the west and a march of say 5 miles around the stronghold?"

[micelus]

1. Begin sending a stream of emissaries to both Pamplona and Leon to negotiate a more stable relationship between our realms. I.e., a non-aggression pact based on my marriages to their relatives.
2. Divert some of our income into funding education, focusing on both traditional madrassahs and royal-administrated academies for the training of bureaucrats and officials. These latter schools will be open to anyone able to pass the entrance exams and are based on government administration, mathematics, and other secular subjects.
3. Order the construction of a caliphal navy along the strait of Gibraltar to 'protect trade'.
4. Investigate the country for plots against me or attempts to take the caliphal throne or to free the caliph from his seclusion.
5. Begin intrigues to marry off one of my daughters to the caliph.

[Khan Boyzitbig]

"King Malcolm, Perhaps you would be willing to leave our borders alone if we allow you access to the sea and the construction of a sheltered port near Carlisle instead? As long as your people leave ours alone we would allow such a thing."

[Funk]

"King Owain your deal is a good one."

[Ghazkull]

Anno Domini 1002

Great Britain

In the High North most things proceed as they always have, the Scots raid the Irish, the Irish the Vikings and the Vikings the English, while the English sullenly pay their dues. In England, Aethelred watches as his armies disintegrated before Danish Raiders at the Battle of Pinhoe and Alton.

In Strathclyde, the Cumbrians erect new fortifications, a stonefort overlooking the Clyde, amusingly placed on the exact opposite side from Dumbarton Castle, the peasantry calls it derisively the Kings Vacation home. It will take years yet to turn it into a proper fortress but the central donjon is standing already and proving formidable enough.

King Owain is nothing if not a man of immense energy for even as the building of these new fortifications is going on he is raising new levies and constructing shipyards in Glasgow. Sadly it proves that manpower is already tied up in building shipyards and the new yet unnamed stone fort. However the Shipyards of Glasgow prove to be truly intimidating. The vast constructions would allow the simultaneous building of five longships. Men hired from Dublinn and the Orkneys, true viking shipbuilders, are ready to design what they call "dragonships". Apparently large ships large than the viking raiding longships.

Trade with the Saxons only begins to trickle in slowly, since the Southerners are dealing with Danish ravaging their lands. it is not nearly enough to pay for teh new shipyards and the new fortress either...At least the very closely controlled migration of the Scots to the east works out as expected. Malcolm peacefully crosses the border, building a sheltered port near Carlisle and soon enough sets off westwards.

The Battle of Loch Garman, In the center King Malcolm leading the charge

For Leinster is his target. At the head of a thousand men, with fire and sword he ravages the coastline of Leinster. At Loch Garman he is finally stopped by the King of Leinster. Donnchad mac Domnall. Thr Irish are fielding nearly twice as much as the scots and the battle is hard fought. On the sodden muddy fields it is the Irish who need to retreat into the city after a days worth of fighting. With nearly 500 lost for the Leinstermen and only 200 on the Scottish side. On the second day, the battle becomes decisive. The Irishmen, now rested and dry, charge out of the city and once more engage the Scots on the open field. Malcolm II at this point is true to his moniker as he personally charges the Irish Lines, breaking them and cutting down the retreating Leinstermen. King Donnchad is slain in the confusion and with the sack of Loch Garman he returns home triumphantly...

to find that his rival Kenneth III has expanded his power considerably and is now intending to openly get rid of Malcolm and thus cement his Kingship.
Historians debate to this day why Malcolm did the following but apparently a Priest misspeaking led to him seizing church lands all over Scotland and bringing them into his own domain. The public backlash to this rather...aggressive behaviour is immense. Chieftains switch loyalties and hundreds flock to the Banners of Kenneth.
The situation is turning grim. While Malcolm is vastly richer now and controls more lands he finds himself at a distinct power disadvantage and lack of support among the clans and the chiefs.

____________________________

In Dublin meanwhile Silkbeard is rebuilding what was lost. Leinstermen come flooding over the borders by the hundreds, apparently thinking that living amongst vikings excludes someones from being raided. More interestingly the Death of Donnchad caused a brief power vacuum which Sigtryggs old Ally Mael Morda instantly used to take the throne of Leinster.

With the beginning of the new year, more information arrives at the Halls of Dublin Brian Bornu, King of Munster musters his hosts to march against Ulaid, and with it asks the Dubliners to support him. In return he offers the restoration of some of the hostages as well as the marriage to Brians daughter.

Talks with Ellanher meanwhile are quite successfull and with some cajoling Siggtrygg manages to aquire three longships, to allow at least for a tiny navy.

Finally his talks with his Seer: "50/50 my King"...well that was informative.

____________________________

Southern Europe

In Amalfi trade flows. The meticulous Attention of the returned Doge cause a ships to flow into the ports en masse. Byzantine and Genoese Traders bring wealth to the City-State. Trade income which is reinvested in a proper Navy and catapults and rams for the upcoming war. Not that these things go unnoticed by the Princes of Salerno, who quietly hire mercenaries in large quantities.

Meanwhile the situation in Spain has taken a turn for the unstable. King Sancho III does not recognize the marriage of his aunt to Almanzor and in fact has sent alliance treaties to all other christian kingdoms in Spain, which are happily accepted both by Ramon Borrell the Count of Barcelona and King Alfonso V.

Things just seem not to work out for Almanzor on the latter end of his years, the madrassah project proves not only to be a massive time-sink but also one of money, as money vanishes into nothingness with nothing to show for it.
Even the Caliphal Navy so far is a bad joke at best. The promised fleets turn out to be a few fishing boats and an ancient galley made of pinewood, whose hull has rotten right through.

At least the country seems otherwise stable. The Rule of Almanzor is absolute as most people are happy with his overall effective rule. Few seem to see any reason to change that.
However one person seems to be rather rowdy these days and thats the Caliph Hisham, who simply refuses to marry any of your daughters. As you soon find out the man has been keeping his own harem at his exile... a harem of males no less...

____________________________

Europe at Large

Scandinavia
 
Olaf Tryggvason King of Norway has been slain at the Battle of Svolder. Among the Northern Christians immediately the rumour pops up that he survived the battle and will return at the time of greatest need...or something like that.

Meanwhile Norway is distributed amongst the Danes, Swedes and the Norwegian Jarls

An Icelandic Explorer apparently found something called "Vinland".

Colonists bound for Greenland instead travel to this mythical place.

England is invaded repeatedly by the Danes and beaten back in several successive battles. King Aethelred pays the first Danegeld.

Eastern Europe

Stephen I was crowned King of Hungary.

Asia

A Persian man by the name of Mahmud of Ghazni has gone on a conquering spree in the far east. Rumours tell of a vast host conquering all of Afghanistan and even invading mythical Ind.

The World Anno Domini January of 1002