Last Chance at Valhalla

[Dunaden]

Thord Manuscript, Page IX

My cellphone went off in the middle of the night, dragging me from sleep. My wife kicked me in the shin and then pulled a pillow over her head as I quickly grabbed the phone to stop its musical alert. The caller was Ingrid.

“Ingrid,” I whispered, “it’s two in the morn…”

She shrieked back “The last page! The last page is gold! It’s dynamite! Written by the man himself.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“It’s also short…I’m sending you the text… give me one minute.”

It was more like three minutes before my phone chirped and I opened the Ingrid’s text and began to read…

​

My name is Grip Thordsson, men already call me ‘the Victorious’, for I have completed my father’s invasion of Sweden, forcing young King Fredrik to yield, and brought the Old Gods back to Uppsala. But it is truly my father Thord’s victory, not mine. He has given the Norse new life and now he feasts in Valhalla, having died with a sword in his hand at the Battle of Borganäs, the blade stained with the blood of a King.

I want to earn my own victories, but my brothers and other advisors say I will need to take on my father’s laurels and reputation to achieve this, as men are more likely to flock to a living legend rather than rally in the memory of a dead hero. But with this stolen prestige, I will be able to return the Old Gods to lands of the Norge and the Danes, and then I will show the world that the Viking Age has not yet ended.

And in time, I will see my father again. In Valhalla.

 

[Dunaden]

How long does the Old God renaissance last or is Scandinavia still Germanic in this Time Line? Is this the last page? Thank you for this intriguing mystery.

Well, now I can say I learned something today. I had an inkling that they'd need to take a sample from the page itself, but I didn't realize they'd need to actually cut it out -- I guess a surface swab wouldn't get enough material to properly test?

On the update itself: "Author of the world's destruction" certainly sounds ominous enough. I assume it's not too literal, otherwise there'd be no one telling the story, but at the same time, it indicates we're right on the verge of a quite titanic shift indeed.

"Author of the world's destruction" could be literal, if demons exist here (do you have Monks and Mystics?).

The irony of the Crusade occurring at the same time as the Norse Resurgence is delicious.

Will you reform the Norse faith? And why isn't Thord remembered?

Thanks all for following this short piece on the life of Thord the missing link in the legend of Grip ‘the Victorious’. That is the last page that was found and the end of the AAR. Your question should be answered on the last page and below.


As mentioned previously I did not play much past this point in the original run due to the release of a new expansion at the time. But I imagine that Grip’s Crusade swept into Denmark and Norway while the bulk of their Christian lords were off fighting the Catholic Crusade in Jerusalem. The common people in those kingdoms were less removed from the Old Gods and quickly switched allegiance back. By the time the Christians came limping back from their failed Crusade they found a growing pagan Empire in Scandinavia.

The fervor of this new Empire, supported by the Romuvan pagans along the Baltic coast pushed back for years against the Christians cutting deep into eastern Europe and possibly returning to the British Isles behind massive raiding fleets spreading terror across Europe. Several failed northern Crusades failed to keep them in check and the this continued for at least a couple hundred years until the Norse themselves reformed their religion and swung back toward their more peaceful trading pursuits that you see today.

As can be determined from the text, Thord’s part in this was buried by his son in order to keep the momentum of the conquest going, rather throw into doubt about who is leading this crusade by stopping and honoring the true fallen leader.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Thank you for this wonderful AAR. It leaves anything possible. Great Norse Germanic revival, Christian crusade(s) to crush the pagans, forger rivaling Charles Dawson and Konrad Kujau. Such fun.

 

[HistoryDude]

That was an amazing ending! It also explains why Thord was erased from history.

What was that bit about the "author of the world's destruction"? What did that mean?

 

[Specialist290]

Nicely done, Dunaden! Proof that an AAR need not be long to be an enjoyable read

 

[Idhrendur]

Thank you for the AAR!

 

[Dunaden]

Thank you for this wonderful AAR. It leaves anything possible. Great Norse Germanic revival, Christian crusade(s) to crush the pagans, forger rivaling Charles Dawson and Konrad Kujau. Such fun.

Thanks for reading, hope you are proud of your god-child. The ending is definitiely wide open, if as you say, it is not an elaborate forgery after all.

That was an amazing ending! It also explains why Thord was erased from history.

What was that bit about the "author of the world's destruction"? What did that mean?

Thanks, glad you liked it. I like to think Grip kept the journal and handed it down to his heirs to tell them the truth about Thord and try to explain why he hid his story from the world.

The "author of the world's destruction" may be a bit of hyperbole, Thord and Grip certainly ushered in a new round of wide scale raiding and war, but the narrator may be under the false impression or naive thinking that had Third's invasion failed and the Old Gods were removed, Europe would have embraced Christianity completely and it would have become a time of peace and plenty in that period.

Nicely done, Dunaden! Proof that an AAR need not be long to be an enjoyable read

Thank you, appreciate the kind words.

Thank you for the AAR!

Thank you for reading it.

 

[Ernain1111]

Enjoy reading from start to finish. Congratulations. I even get inspired for a tiny AAR from my game like Heathen Erik.

 

[Historywhiz]

This is how you write short (and very sweet!) AARs

 

[Dunaden]

Enjoy reading from start to finish. Congratulations. I even get inspired for a tiny AAR from my game like Heathen Erik.

Appreciate the kind words and glad to inspired you to give us all your brief history of the life of Eirk the Heathen, from the lowest of the lows where he sat in prison awating death, to his final triumphs on seeing his children with crowns of their own.

This is how you write short (and very sweet!) AARs

Thank you.