The Queen is advised by her court to flee the city and take refuge in the Scandinavian Fell as the Valentin army was marching back to resume the siege of the City. But Silje even though she was not a warrior or even good in the matters of war and she very well knew this still held her chin up and with pride said she was her Father's daughter and his heir to the Kingdom. She shall not flee like a coward and abandon her home as the ones loyal to her would starve and die a most gruesome death within the walls. So... the Royal Forces and the Skottish Garrison just in the nick of time manages to get to Trelleborg before Valentin Banner reaches it. Lord Halvor af Urup have no chance against the much much larger and well rested army of Lord Banner and so many fall dead.
Another Pretender tries to claim their right to the Throne, one of the old Finnish noble families that were conquered during the time the Norse faith was reformed. The noble revolting against the Crown is Folke af Bang. His force is however too small and too far away to even register as important for the current conflict. But as time passes Sir Bang gathers support from other lords who wants to see the wicked Queen replaced. The First Royal Army moves to Finland and makes quick work of Folke's personal army.
But Grave news come from Skåne as the siege is lost and the Queen captured. Valentin Banner and his brother his Holiness Fylkir Banner demand her unconditional surrender... but... she refuses... Valentin and Henrik Banner are unsure what to do, but puts her to house arrest and assumes control of the Capital and start referring to himself as Valentin The First, Ruler of Skåne with his brother's blessing. He sends message to the Royal Forces still loyal to their Queen that if they lay down their arms that they will receive amnesty for their wrongdoings. Halvor Urup and his officers panic not knowing what to do but the commanding officer named Ranulf af Cornouaille of the Skottish Guard sees their doubts and decides to take matter in his own hands. He gives the response for them and on behalf of the Skots, the Bretons, the Hávamálers and all other groups of the Kingdom that they are loyal until upon the day the Gods call for Ragnarökr to the Queen who call them Scanians, the Queen who admit them as equals in the eye of the crown and that they shall rather tear the realm apart than to bow before the puppet of the Fylkir.
Two years pass, with near to no change in the status. Valentin rules the Kingdom while her Majesty slowly fade within the walls of the castle. The tensions are still high amid the population. The Royal Forces out of manpower and so have to resort to sneaking around and avoiding Valentin's army at all cost. Lord Urop manages to trick Banner to come chasing after him deep into the forests of Småland and even farther up North which opens up Trelleborg to be taken back and the Her Majesty rescued. At the time that control of Trelleborg falls back into her Majesty's hand Valentin has followed a goose-chase all the way up to Hälsingland. But Halvor Urup is an old and sick man and dies in the siege to rescue the Queen.
In the Iberian peninsula the diplomatic network and military might of Gascone has more or less guaranteed peace and a new golden age for the Iberian nations and several major discoveries about science start to emerge from there. In the year 1550 the Microscope is created by a spectacle-maker. Gotland being a big trading hub in the north conforms to the teachings of the Hávamáltrú as it fits their way of life much better. With the Traditionalists the realm seemingly become more and more unstable and the furthest reaches of the Kingdom unruly.
Skåne falls and the Queen is returned into power and the Banner brothers furious of the stunt that the late commander Urup managed to pull on them. But the people of Trelleborg is divided and the return of the queen does not go well and the city starts burning as its citizens go out o riot. The man we know before that pulled the Royal forces together by the name Sir Ranulf af Cornouaille sees an opening with the vacuum left behind Halvor Urup and offers not only his own services to the Kingdom but the entirety of the Skottish and Breton people to the Queen. He only asks for a chance to prove it.
Now saying that the people who consistently have been opposing the rule from the Crown in Trelleborg throughout the generations is now just going to turn and support it was unbelievable for Silje and it sounded like Ranulf was lying to her. But she was running out of options not knowing what to do and accepted his offer. She did not realized that by her opposing the traditional ways of the oppressive and greedy Princes of Skotland and accepting the Breton officers offer she changed the tables on everything and the Skots and Bretons reacted fast. The Skottish Princes were among some of the causes to this entire civil war and was openly supporting the Traditionalist factions and would be among the first to feel the Hangmans noose around their neck upon the end of all this. And it didn't hurt that Ranulf was an... excellent commander with years of experience of warfare.
Then the words come out, "Bretons, Skots, I as your Queen need your aid to protect our realm from your own lords, I beg of you to protect your Kingdom so your children shall grow up as Bretons and Skots". Thousands of fresh men enlist to the Royal Forces and the Skottish Garrison, old Breton and Skottish veterans that used to serve in the Foreign Armies as mercenaries becomes part of the before pure Scanian military and they move north to face Valentin. Ranulf tricks Lord Banner to attack them in the horrible terrain of Västerbotten and ambushes them over a river. Valentin instead of retreating is confident in is numerical superiority and continues to push on.... and it quickly goes badly for him.
Forty-five thousand men dies in that frozen river in that cold day of October. Forty-Five thousand of Traditionalist troops and the Skots and Breton forces return home to Trelleborg almost unscathed.
.
There are some rebellions still alive in Finland and Prussia but the big threat has been eliminated and the Kingdom of Skåne is finally on the path, to patch itself back together. Stronger and more united than ever before. This is the time that Skåne truly starts to move on its path to become the Great Power of Europe. First Queen Silje reforms the Skottish Garrison to the Royal Celtic Guard, no longer being there to keep the Skots in check but a proud addition to the Forces of the Scanian Crown. Even as the Traditionalist Nobles and Clergy becomes imprisoned it becomes clear that the new policies of the Crown and the Högting is not completely followed by all in the country and it becomes a big concern for the Queen. Ranulf suggest to her that a "Fredsvakt" should be established to police the cities and villages to keep order and ensure that the law is followed.
Ranulf has also shown the future of Skåne. It is not in our men or the quality of them. It is that when pressured our Kingdom produces some of the greatest leaders in the world to guide the nation forward. First we had Milzas who without him we would not be where we are today. A closer to now example is King Eskild the Great the late father of her Majesty Silje who pulled Skåne through a deeply troubling time of both economical crisis and military pressure from our neighbors and re-established the Kingdom as a dominant power in the north.
A Seljuk Cartographer creates a terrestrial globe which shows the world as we know it with a lot of help from Scanian traders who reach all the way from Nahualand to Cathay. The times of trouble seemed to be past the Queen but the new policies of hers will be tried once more as yet another view on the state of the gods pops up in Skotland...
Sorry no map, got a bit late when writing this, will upload one tomorrow.
