Tales from Faereyar and Away

[Veldmaarschalk]

Hi,

Since my von Habsburg AAR is almost finished, I decided to already start on my next AAR

Tales from Faereyar and Away

Scenario : 1066
Ruler : Leivur of Sudrey, count of Faereyar
Difficulty : Hard/normal
Patch : 1.05
Mods : SMACK plus ACKDAM1066
Extra mods : I have changed the COA's of Faereyar I found the vanilla COA not 'cool' enough and I also have added some more dynasties for the Faereyar, who are named after various islands of the Faroer, this because otherwise all my random courtiers would have the same name
Style : Narrative following the POV of different characters,
Goal : Worldconquest No, not really. No goals yet, just to survive and maybe become 'King of the Isles'

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Aar

Tales from Faereyar and Away

Thorshavn Keep​

Stenkil av Suduroy​

​

Thorshavn, April 1067 AD
With a grim face marshal Stenkil looked around the great hall of the keep of Thorshavn, the home of his master, Jarl Leivur Össursson av Sudrey, the celebrations which had started earlier that day were now almost reaching their end. Everybody was drunk it seemed even the new young bride of his master, Margrethe looked drunk but he hadn’t seen her drink so she was most likely drunk from happiness. Even his old master looked happy and now he, Stenkil, was to bring him the bad news that would definitely bring an end to the joy.

His master had waited to long to get married, sure he had had his mistresses but none was good enough to become his wife. But the years were beginning to count and last year Leivur had finally decided to marry to a Icelandic girl from the court of the bishop of Vestisland. She wasn’t that pretty looking but she had proven herself to be a good steward in the bishops court and Faereyar needed a good steward and not a pretty lady who thought herself to good for anything like his Stenkil his former wife.

‘Forget about her’ Stenkil said to himself, ‘she is dead now, it was my own mistake taken her away from her fathers court in Denmark where she could enjoy the good things in life and then suddenly finding herself on these dark and cold islands in the Atlantic far away from the bards and musicians of her father.’

Stenkil had never remarried, he now took all his pride and joy of being the commander of the army of his master. Though army was maybe a to big a word, he could hardly muster 150 men. Fighting wasn’t popular anymore it seemed with the male population of Faereyar now most of them were fishermen, sheepherders or even merchants, where were the days that the men from Faereyar went on their longboats to raid the Irish or English lands or went exploring the wide ocean. Stenkil still remembered well the tales his grandfather had told him about his travels, his grandfather had seen a lot of the world, he had been to England, Ireland and France and even further east to the great city of Miklagård were he had served in the Varangian Guard of the emperor. But his grandfather hadn’t only sailed to the east, but also to the west, to Iceland and Greenland and he even claimed that he had been to that mythical land called Vinland.

Yes, his grandfather could tell fantastic tales, not that Stenkil believed all of them, but still his grandfather had been a great man amongst many great man that had come from Faereyar but now look at them. There was his second in command, Ulf ‘the Fat’ so drunk that he didn’t even notice that his beard was hanging in his soup-bowl and there on the other side, another of fine member of his guard Ragnald ‘the Beardless’ or as he called himself Ragnald ‘the Fearless’ his hand all over that young servant girl.

‘Hey, Old Grimface come over here’ his master, Jarl Leivur shouted.
‘Grimface !’ thought Stenkil ‘have you seen yourself in the mirror lately’
But he didn’t say that out loud of course, though Jarl Leivur and he were good friend, Leivur was very easily insulted and when he was insulted he wasn’t a pleasant master.

While he walked through the hall to his master, Stenkil decided to wait till tomorrow to tell Leivur the bad news, let him have his pleasure this night, who knows when the next time is going to be.

‘Why are you always looking so sad, Stenkil ? Come here drink, my friend’
‘Thank you my lord, but I don’t drink when I am on guard duty.’
‘Guard duty ? My captain of the guard is on duty the day that I marry ! Stenkil you are taking your job to serious. Who or what is going to attack us ? There is nothing to steal or rob here, if I know one thing for certain that it is that. But hopefully my wife will bring some change in that, maybe she can squeeze out some more money out of these Islands.’
‘I have only heard good stories about her in Iceland she is very competent in that area it seems, my lord. And may I also congratulate you with your lovely wife.’

‘Lovely ? Well she isn’t exactly lovely, Stenkil, not like your wife, hé ? Now that was a good looking one, a shame she died so young.’
‘Yes, my lord a shame’ while his face turned grey.
‘It is time you remarry, Stenkil ! Believe me it will do you good and now come on have drink.’

‘EYSTEIN ! EYSTEIN ! Sing us song’ and away went Jarl Leivur again.

For a short moment, Stenkil thought about telling his master the bad news immediately, that would teach him, but no, that would be childish. Let those people enjoy themselves, tomorrow everything will be different.

 

[unmerged(51164)]

This looks great so far. I'll be watching this.

 

[stnylan]

Talk about playing an out of the way county! And a fun title.

A very serious person this Stenkil, though a little charitable. What bad news?

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Tales from Faereyar and Away​

Leivur Össursson av Sudrey​

​

​

Jarl Leivur woke up that morning with a terrible headache.
‘Oh my’ he thought ‘what a day and night that was’
He looked over to his new wife, who was still fast asleep.
‘Well she may not be good looking, but she knows her way round, she was definitely not a virgin, but he hadn’t expected that either.’

‘MY LORD ! MY LORD ! Are you awake yet ?’
‘Ooh, ooh, who is shouting there ? Ah of course his marshal, Stenkil. Does that man never sleep.’
Leivur stepped out of bed ‘brrhh, it maybe April, but it is still cold, I will order one of the servants to put the fire high up.’, he then grabbed his tunic and walked to the door.
‘Yes, Stenkil. What is it ? Can’t it wait ?’
‘There is news, my lord, urgent news !’
‘Are you sure it can’t wait ?’
‘No, my lord, it is from Olaf Haraldsson.’
Leivur, who was still a bit sleepy.
‘Olaf ? Olaf ? What important news does my shipmaster have to tell ? If this is again about his request for a new ship, tell him I don’t have the gold.’
‘No, my lord it is not from Olaf Haraldsson the shipmaster, but from Olaf Haraldsson the king of Norway.’
‘Ah the king, of course. Wait a few minutes Stenkil while I get dressed and would you be so kind in bringing me some breakfast and water, I am thirsty like hell.’
‘Yes, my lord.’

Some fifteen minutes later, Leivur was all dressed and enjoying his breakfast of kidney-pie and lager.

‘Don’t you want something to eat, Stenkil ?’
‘No my lord, thank you. I have already eaten.’
‘Honey ?’
‘Oh, what did you say, Stenkil ?’
‘I didn’t say anything my lord, but your wife did, she is awake now.’
‘Ah, my lovely Margrethe, do you want something to eat, I can ask Stenkil to get you something to.’
Lady Margrethe, quickly covered her body with a blanket.
‘Honey, why is your marshal standing in our bedroom ?’
‘He has news, my dear, news from the king. A shame king Olaf couldn’t be at the wedding, I did invite him, but he finds Faereyar to far away I guess.’
‘But I am not dressed, honey, please send that man away, so I can get dressed.’
‘Don’t be such a prude, dear. You are not the first woman Stenkil sees, you know he has been married to and to a very lovely wife I might ad.’
‘Well I would rather have you two leave, dear. I am not used to being naked around strange man.’
‘Ah well, lets go outside then, Stenkil, the fresh air will do me good.’

‘Now, what does king Olaf have to say to me, does he congratulates me with my marriage ? or does he lower the scutage ?’
‘WAR ! Your majesty, the kingdom is at war.’
‘War, my, my that is serious business, whit who this time ? The Swedes, the Danes, the English ?’
‘No, my lord, we are at war with the Cumans.’
‘The what ?’
‘The Cumans, my lord a pagan tribe in the steppes of Rus. And our king demands that we mobilise our troops to fight the Cumans.’
‘Wow, easy, easy Stenkil. One thing at a time. How come we are suddenly at war with some far away tribe in the land of Rus ?’
‘Don’t you know my lord, king Olaf is allied with the Russian prince Vsevolod of Pereyaslval. And the Cumans have declared war on our ally so now it is our duty to come to his aid.’

‘Our duty, king Olaf’s duty maybe, but definitely not my duty, Rus sounds far away to me.’
‘Yes, my lord the land of Rus is far away, my grandfather has been there though it is a land of wide horizons and broad rivers but also rich lands, my lord. Many Norsemen from Sweden have settled there in the last centuries they are the ones who founded the land of Rus. And now it is time for us to come to their support against the pagans, my lord.’
‘I really don’t see, why I should have to sent my army all the way to Rus, Stenkil. So inform the king that I am sorry but I can follow up his request.’
‘It isn’t a request, my lord. We either go or your titles will be forfeited. We have to GO !’
‘You seem rather enthusiastic about this, Stenkil.’
‘A great adventure awaits us my lord, we will be travelling to unknown lands and have a chance to fight epic battles. Saga’s will be written about this were later our children and grandchildren will listen to with astonishment.’
‘As far as I know we don’t have children Stenkil, though I might have one in about 9 months, hahaha !’
‘Shall I start to mobilise our troops, my lord.’
‘Not so fast, my dear Stenkil, I first want to discuss this with the rest of my council. Tell my chancellor and spy-master to meet me this afternoon.’
‘I will my lord, and shall I ask shipmaster Olaf to join us to ?’
‘That old fool, no, he will start demanding a new ship and won’t stop till I give him his way, so NO. And now, Stenkil I would like to spent some more time with my new wife so if your would be so kind ?’
‘Yes my lord, I will see you this afternoon.’

After Stenkil left, Leivur went back to his bedroom, where his wife Margrethe was still on the bed.

‘What did that man, have to tell you, Leivur ?’
‘King Olaf has started a war and he want me to join him.’
‘A war, that is bad news, my dear. With whom ?’
‘Believe it or not, with a far away pagan tribe called the Cumans.’
‘Does that mean you will go away, dear ? You can’t we just married.’
‘We will discuss that later this day, dear. With the entire council.’
‘Is that marshal of yours going to be there to ?’
‘Yes, of course he is dear.’
‘I don’t like him, honey-pie. He has such a mean look on his face and he never smiles.’
‘Well he almost smiled when he told me the news about the war, dear. He looked like a little happy puppy, wiggling his tail.’
‘Honey-pie.’
‘Yes, dear.’
‘Won’t you come to bed with me ? Its cold !’
‘Hmm, you animal, you’

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

This looks great so far. I'll be watching this.

Thanks

Talk about playing an out of the way county! And a fun title.

A very serious person this Stenkil, though a little charitable. What bad news?

I must say I am very proud of that title

 

[stnylan]

Leivur seems to be very, mmm, I was going to say liberal but that is not the word I am really looking for.

 

[Ayeshteni]

WOOT! Another Veldy AAR.

Hmm Faroes eh? Nice title, nice start, nice layout, nice (erm is that the right word - especially Stenkil) characters.

Will watch this one eagerly. Can I ask what extra dynasties you added to Faeryererethingies... Faroes?

Aye

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

WOOT! Another Veldy AAR.

Hmm Faroes eh? Nice title, nice start, nice layout, nice (erm is that the right word - especially Stenkil) characters.

Will watch this one eagerly. Can I ask what extra dynasties you added to Faeryererethingies... Faroes?

Aye

av Suduroy, av Vágar, av Sandoy, av Nordoyggjar, av Eysturoy, av Streymoy,
av Skúvoyar, av Svínoyar, av Gotu, av Sorvág and av Torshavn.

None of them are historical but in vanilla CK, Faereyar only has one generic dynastie 'of Faereyar' so all my generic created courtiers would have that name then, would be very confusing and boring so I just looked up a map of the Faroer Island and addes dynasties named after islands and towns there.

To late I came to the conclusion that 'av Sudrey' us propalably the same name as 'av Suduroy' and I hope that 'av' is the Norwegian name for 'of', I am guessing it is, since I believe 'af' is the Swedish word for 'of'.

 

[Ayeshteni]

av Suduroy, av Vágar, av Sandoy, av Nordoyggjar, av Eysturoy, av Streymoy,
av Skúvoyar, av Svínoyar, av Gotu, av Sorvág and av Torshavn.

None of them are historical but in vanilla CK, Faereyar only has one generic dynastie 'of Faereyar' so all my generic created courtiers would have that name then, would be very confusing and boring so I just looked up a map of the Faroer Island and addes dynasties named after islands and towns there.

To late I came to the conclusion that 'av Sudrey' us propalably the same name as 'av Suduroy' and I hope that 'av' is the Norwegian name for 'of', I am guessing it is, since I believe 'af' is the Swedish word for 'of'.

great names. I may nick them and do the same for the Shetlands (they only have one dynasty too).

Yes those two are more than likely the same name. But as there are many examples of 'slight differences' in names to deliniate two dynasties, that isn't too much of a problem, neh?

Ayeshteni

EDIT: post 3000 WOOT!!!!

 

[Nikolai]

You're right about the names Veld, "av" can be used. Good luck with the aar, I'll be here following it.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Tales from Faereyar and Away​

Margrethe of Haukadalur​

​

​

Margrethe was readying herself for her first council meeting, as the new lady of Faereyar she wanted to make a good impression, she never had met the other councillors in person, only marshal Stenkil. And though she had told her husband that she didn’t like Stenkil, she was still intrigued by this man, who looked so strong and virile, with his long waving blond hair and his thick beard. In fact she had to admit he looked a lot better then her husband who kind of had disappointed her in looks and in bed.

She had heard the stories about Stenkil’s young wife, a Danish lady from Halland whose looks must have been ravishing, they must have made a beautiful couple the thought, sad for Stenkil she thought, but who knows maybe one day I can comfort that grim looking widower.

She had also heard stories about the other councillors, Gunhild av Streymoy the spy-master was a brunette and a couple of years older then her. It was rumoured that she once had been the mistress of Leivur and even had hoped to become his wife. Chancellor was Margareta av Faereyar, a very tall blonde woman, whose looks were, to put it mildly, average. Both ladies hadn’t attended the marriage festivities, a thing that kind of seemed odd to Margrethe.

For the last time she looked in the mirror ‘not that bad she thought, not bad at all, just my nose, it is a bit to big for my face, but then again I have some other qualities that make up for that’.

‘Margrethe, dear ! Are you ready ?’

‘Just a moment, honey-pie.’

‘Mmm, that will do’ she thought.

‘Ah my dear you look so lovely, come let me take you to meet my council, I know that you are anxious to meet the other ladies in my life.’
‘Mmm’ she thought ‘does that mean, what I think it means ?’

After a short walk, they came to the hall were Jarl Leivur always had his meetings with his council, not that such meetings were held often. Faereyar was small and poor and with not much contact to the outside world so having a chancellor, a spy-master or even a marshal was a bit to much, but Leivur kind of liked it, it made his realm look more important then it was in reality.

‘My ladies, Stenkil, my I introduce to you, my wife and fellow councillor, lady Margrethe our new steward’ said Leivur.

Both spy-master Gunhild and chancellor Margareta stood up from their chairs, while Stenkil who had been standing by the window looking outside turned towards Leivur and Margrethe.

‘Welcome to my lovely island’ said chancellor Margareta ‘I hope you will enjoy it here and that we may become good friends’

‘Faereyar is by far the ugliest island of all the islands that make up this archipelago’ spy-master Gunhild said ‘as can be seen by the looks of the people from that island, soon my lady I will take you to my island, Streymoy which is a much prettier and lovelier place then this, desolate place.’

‘Ladies, lets keep it friendly, please, no squabbling ! We don’t have time for that. My lady, we already have met’ Stenkil’s deep dark voice made him sound very mysterious.

‘Nice to meet you all’ said Margrethe ‘I would love to visit all the islands one day, which are so small compared to Iceland were I come from and marshal Stenkil, yes I haven’t forgotten our meeting this morning, I hope you haven’t either.’ Margrethe smiled as she saw Stenkil’s face turn red, ‘mmm, lovely she thought he is shy.’

‘Dear councillors can we get to business now, my wife and I have some important private things to do later this day, if you know what I mean, so lets get on with it, shall we ? Stenkil, will you start please !’

‘Yes, thank you my lord, as I have already told you this morning, we have received an urgent request from king Olaf. The kingdom is at war and the king needs the men from Faereyar to fight for him.’

‘Who we are at war with ? The English again ? Is king Olaf going to be just as stupid as his father king Harald Hardråde and get himself killed in trying to rebuild the empire of king Canute ?’ asked chancellor Margareta.

‘What a great diplomat our chancellor is, calling our king stupid, that is going to bring us far, my dear’ came the response of Gunhild.

‘King Harald Hardråde was a great king and warrior’ said Stenkil ‘people call him the last Viking and that is a title well deserved, but no, we are not at war with England, we are at war with the Cumans, a pagan tribe in the land of Rus.’

‘Stenkil, I would prefer it if you wouldn’t say that we are at war all the time, king Olaf is at war and he asks our support.’ Leivur interrupted his marshal.

‘I am sorry my lord, but I thought we are part of Norway and that means....’

‘Yes, yes, I know but I am the Jarl of Faereyar and as long as I don’t declare war I consider myself at peace, is that clear’ said Leivur.

‘My lord, my I speak ?’ asked Gunhild

‘Yes of course, my dear, that is why you are all here, to advise me.’

‘Thank you my lord, I hope my advise will be to your pleasure. Now I have never heard of this Cuman tribe before, but I doubt that they pose a threat to the Faereyar, but if we deny the request of king Olaf there is going to be a more serious threat to your lordship, king Olaf might then decide hat it is better to find himself a new Jarl of Faereyar, so my advise would be, to sent marshal Stenkil and his guards to Norway to fight for king Olaf.’

‘Gunhild, it always is a pleasure to hear a lovely lady speak such wise words, chancellor Margarete what is your advice ?’

‘Well even an idiot knows that the Cumans aren’t a threat to us, my lord, so I see no reason for us to join this war, that will lead to nothing. I very much doubt that king Olaf will then search for a new Jarl, on what grounds should he forfeit your titles ? No, my advice would be, to sent marshal Stenkil with a thank you note to king Olaf, saying that we are sorry to say that we won’t be fighting in this war, and since Stenkil is so eager to fight he may then offer his sword to king Olaf if he wishes.’

‘Yes, well Stenkil, I think I already know your advice.’

‘Yes my lord, I would go with Gunhild on this, but with just one addition, your lordship will have to come with me and personally command his troops, king Olaf and me and my men, wouldn’t expect anything less. Now currently the army consists of some 300 men, which I might be able to raise to about 400, though not much, I know that every Faereyarian will fight as good as 10 Cumans.’

‘Well my dear councillors I have heard your advice and I will think the matter over for a while and ......’

‘Honey-pie ?’

‘Yes, dear ?’

‘Aren’t you going to ask my advice ? I thought that as a steward I was a councillor to ?’

‘Of course dear, but you are still new to that job, you will first have to get to know the ins and outs of that job.’

‘I have already studied the books, my dear, which isn’t that much work. Now, you currently have 25 gold in your treasury, you are now earning 0.75 gold per month, if you mobilise the 400 men, as marshal Stenkil suggest that will then cost you 3 gold a month, you will have to pay for the transportation, which will be about 10 gold, so that means that after 5 months you are broke.’

‘So your advice will be to not go to war ?’

‘No, that would be foolish since that would certainly harm your relationship with king Olaf, my suggestion is that if king Olaf wants you to fight for him then let him pay for it. That way you won’t get broke.’

‘Very smart thinking my dear ! So your advice is to sent marshal Stenkil and the army to king Olaf and let Olaf pay for.’

‘Not entirely, honey-pie, marshal Stenkil is correct, king Olaf will expect that all his vassals will command their armies personally, so I am afraid you will have to you yourself.’

‘But sweet little darling of mine, I can’t leave you behind, who will be here to protect.’

‘That is up to you to decide, honey-pie, but maybe Stenkil here ?’

‘My lord, please no don't leave me behind ! Take me with you please, how long have I been waiting for this’ shouted marshal Stenkil.

‘Easy, Stenkil, calm down, I haven’t decided anything yet. I will think about the whole matter and will tell you my decision as soon as possible. Now are there any other urgent things we need to discuss ? I hope not, cause me and my wife have some important other obligations.’

‘No, my lord, that was all’ said his three councillors.
‘Shall we go then, my dear ?’

‘Sure, honey-pie and good day to you all’

‘A good day to you to sires.’

Margrethe and Leivur walked back to their personal quarters

‘And my dear, what do you find of my councillors ?’

‘They are very interesting, do chancellor Margareta and spy-master Gunhild ever agree on anything ?’

‘No, smart of you to notice that, as soon as I find another chancellor I will sent Margareta away, I am so sick of her constant squabbling with Gunhild.’

‘Why just Margareta ? Why not Gunhild also ?’

‘Gunhild is good at her job, seeing her work gives me great joy and pleasure, I can’t image having a council without her.’

‘Now what do you have in mind for this evening my dear ?’

‘Well I am a bit tired, why don’t we go to bed ?’

‘But isn’t it to early to go to sleep ?’

‘Sleep ? Who said anything about sleep.’

About 30 minutes later.

‘Honey-pie ?’

‘Yes, dear.’

’I will really miss you if you are going away and I am also a bit scared to be alone here without my man to protect me.’

‘I could just stay here, you know.’

‘No, the king will expect that you come.’

‘Maybe I can leave some of the guards at home ?’

‘But you will need almost every men, my dear,’

‘One or two won’t matter, I can leave Ulf ‘the Fat’ behind he is almost useless anyway.’

‘So you want to leave a useless guard behind to protect your lady, oh Leivur you can’t mean that !’

‘It was just an idea.’

‘You know I have an idea to, why don’t you leave Stenkil at home ?’

‘Stenkil ? No, he is my marshal I need him to help me command my troops.’

‘But you know honey, what people then will say, they will start to say that you are not fit to command the army and then everything you will achieve will be credited to Stenkil, in stead of to you, my strong hero.’

‘You might be right, dear, people don’t give me much credit and Stenkil has already shown his disrespect for me a few times.’

‘You see, now what would be better in leaving him behind, that will teach him.’

‘But I thought you didn’t like him ?’

‘I think he is an awful man, dear, but I will try to get along with him to help my honey-pie in achieving the great successes that he deserves.’

‘Hmm, yeah well, I will have to think about it.’

‘Yes you do that honey-pie, now are you refreshed again ?’

‘Phh, you are insatiable, dear. ’

 

[Ayeshteni]

Poor Stenkil. A man's pleasure being ruined by a woman, again. Ah it is always thus eh?

Aye.

 

[The Danish King]

Looking good.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Tales from Faereyar and Away

Recruit of the Faereyar Guard




Stenkil av Suduroy​

A week has past since the last council meeting and Jarl Leivur still hadn’t taken a decision.

‘NO, NO, NO, you fool, you are not chopping wood here with that sword, you must stab.’

Stenkil grabbed the arm of the young recruit.

‘Stab, stab, stab, you see ! And keep your shield up, your shield is there to protect your comrade on your left while the shield of your comrade on your right protects you. Now keep it high, or else your shield-wall will be broken with ease.’

‘Marshal Stenkil ?’

Stenkil turned around, ‘ah the new lady of Jarl Leivur, what does that woman want from me, she comes here almost everyday to look at the training of the recruits’

‘Yes, my lady.’

‘Are these the men who are as good as 10 Cumans ?’

‘Once I am ready with them, they will be, my lady.’

‘But why do you train them here, in the courtyard ? In Vestisland we had special training-grounds were the soldiers could train on dummies and so on.’

‘Yes, I have seen those, I have often have asked Jarl Leivur to built those training-grounds here to, but he says he doesn’t have the money.’

‘Well, my husband isn’t very rich, marshal Stenkil, but once I have the finances of the Jarldom in order I will see what I can do.’

‘That would be fantastic, my lady. Has Jarl Leivur made a decision yet about the request of king Olaf ?’

‘No, he hasn’t I am afraid.’

‘He needs to hurry, my lady, I know that king Olaf doesn’t like to wait.’

‘You know our king personally, Stenkil ?’

‘I have met him a once, my lady, but he wasn’t king then, just a prince in his fathers court.’

‘Just a prince ? My dear, marshal Stenkil, before my husband I never had seen a Jarl before let alone a prince. That must have been very exciting, why were you at the kings court ?’

‘I had just married, my lady and me and my wife were on our way from Halland back to Faereyar.’

‘Ah yes, your wife, she died a few years ago, isn’t it ?’

‘Yes, my lady.’

‘What a tragedy that must have been for you, if you ever want to talk about it Stenkil, then you can come to me, I am a good listener they say.’

‘Thank you, my lady, but I don’t think that will be necessary.’

‘Well if you ever change your mind, you know were to find me. Now I won’t keep you from doing your work any longer.’

‘Thank you again, my lady.’

When lady Margrethe walked away, Stenkil turned around to his recruits again, ‘would he ever be able to make real soldiers out of them ?’ he sighed.

‘All right men ! Enough for today, we will continue the training tomorrow. ULF !’

‘Joh, Stenkil, what is it ?’ asked Ulf ‘the Fat’ who was sitting on a bench watching his marshal train the recruits, while he was eating a saucage .

‘Get on your feet man, and address me properly. Make sure that the recruits hand in their weaponry with the constable. I have some other business to do.’

‘Yes, Stenkil, to your orders, Stenkil.’

‘That man was a disgrace to the guard.’ Stenkil thought, but he was just one of the few soldiers with experience he had so he had other choice then to keep him on. But even though Ulf had some experience he was not a man with who Stenkil would discuss military matters.

When bishop Halfdan was still alive, Stenkil often had discussions with him about those things. Bishop Halfdan had been a wise man who had travelled a lot and also had read a lot of books. Hopefully the Church would soon sent another bishop, but since Faereyar was such an outpost that might take a while.

‘Why I am stuck on this outpost ?’ was a question Stenkil often asked himself. His brothers, not his real brothers of course but his fellow Norsemen, were all over the world setting up kingdoms and conquering new lands, like duke William in England or duke Robert in Italy and then there were the Varangian’s in Rus and the Empire. ‘Hopefully, Jarl Leivur takes a decision quickly and sends me to king Olaf and then to the land of Rus, so I can fight and proof myself to.’

Stenkil knew that he wasn’t just a good fighter, he was also a good tactician, he knew how to defeat in enemy in the field but he also knew how to take a castle our town, since what good would it bring to let an defeated enemy retreat into a castle or town were you couldn’t reach him anymore. No, Stenkil knew, that knowing how to successfully conduct a siege was one of the most important things a soldier needed to know. He therefor had been trying to get his hands on any book or scroll that could teach him something about the latest siege-techniques in the world. Hopefully the new bishop would bring with him some new books or scrolls.

The only other man, with who Stenkil could have a decent conversation with was shipmaster Olaf, so after each training-session Stenkil walked to the small harbour of Thorshavn to meet with Olaf, and this day wasn’t different.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Nikolai
Thanks

Ayeshteni
At least in all the saga's it is

The Danish king
Thanks

 

[angryclown]

Damn, you're a fast mover! I'm afraid I haven't been able to follow your Habsburg one as closely as I would have liked - hopefully this time things will be different.

That's a long way to travel to aid your liege. Don't forget to keep your receipts.

 

[stnylan]

That woman needs to be watched. She's dangerous.

 

[Specialist290]

What I find interesting is that your Chancellor is Deceitful yet Trusting, while your Spymistress is Honest yet Suspicious. Also that they have almost exactly the same stats. They must make quite an interesting duo: The one can't tell a lie that the other would believe, while the other doesn't have the moral fortitude to tell one the first would almost certainly fall for

 

[Ayeshteni]

What I find interesting is that your Chancellor is Deceitful yet Trusting, while your Spymistress is Honest yet Suspicious. Also that they have almost exactly the same stats. They must make quite an interesting duo: The one can't tell a lie that the other would believe, while the other doesn't have the moral fortitude to tell one the first would almost certainly fall for

:rofl: :rofl:

Now that is highly amusing, almost Shakespearean!

Ayeshteni