Chapter XIII: Mother Earth, Father Thunder
By lightning conceived was I
The stars above became my eyes
Hvergelmir flows in my veins
My hair the mist across the never ending nameless lake
This heart winged, I am eagles son
Through storm and spite, untouched, it is pounding on
This sword, forged in fire and ice
The runes that trail its blade can be seen but by my two eyes * **
By lightning conceived was I
The stars above became my eyes
Hvergelmir flows in my veins
My hair the mist across the never ending nameless lake
This heart winged, I am eagles son
Through storm and spite, untouched, it is pounding on
This sword, forged in fire and ice
The runes that trail its blade can be seen but by my two eyes * **
Norse like to feast, both in Valhalla and in Miðgarðr
It was autumn of 1122, the equinox had passed, the days were much shorter, and the weather was getting cold. It was the time for the great blót. The large feast hall in Håtuna was filled with smells. Smell of fur and of people, smells of feast, meat, bread, mead, ale and fire. It was crowded, to the point of bursting, tables densely packed with guests. Huge celebrations and a large feast was going on, for after the great blot, came the feast. This one was even ore significant, because it was also a celebration of King Ragnar the Lionheart's victory in the war against Christian Germans. As a lone messenger entered the hall, he saw that In the middle of the table sat a man in his early forties by the look of him, although the envoy knew that early fifties were closer to the mark. His copper red hair was streaked with grey hairs, as was his beard, but his piercing bright eyes shone, as if they were not merely reflecting the fire, but as if the fire was burning behind them. Around him several women, sat closely, as well as his hirdman, his personal guard. His warriors, young and old were crowded around the tables, feasting on food and drink. By the look of them, several of them were even Christians. One wore cross around his neck, and the other was a famous warrior of house Estrid. There was Herra Bror of Njudung of House Bälbo, Jarl Ragnar of Bornholm, and Jarl Harald of Skåne, of House Akra, a great friend and chancellor to the King, one of his staunches supporters, even though he was Christian. Envoy approached bowing, but the King Ragnar gestured at him impatiently, to skip the formalities, and be done with it. He was sweating, and shaking, but he delivered his message, all the while trying not to look the king in the eyes. As he was going on with his message, King slowly turned in face, first pale, then red. As he was close to the king, only those few who set right next to the king could hear the message. When the messenger was done, King stood up and slammed his fist down on the table. He roared, a voice that would more suit an aurochs than a man:
"WHAT? IS THIS SOME KIND OF A JOKE? ARE YOU PLAYING A TRICK OF ME, YOU BLOODY FOOL? IS THIS MESSENGER SOME SORT OF A BAD JOKE FROM ONE OF YOU?" He turned, looking around the hall, at his vassals and friends, warriors and Jarls... they sat in shocked silence. None spoke.
"Sire. I have.. have a written message...with a seal.. if .. if it pleases you."
"GIVE THAT OVER HERE" He leaned across the table and grabbed the parchment from his trembling hands. As he read the message, it was the King who started shaking in turn.
"Get out! GET OUT YOU BLOODY IDIOT, OUT OF MY HALL NOW!" He roared at the messenger, and then took his drinking horn, filled with ale and threw it in the direction of the poor envoy, speeding up his hasty retreat towards the doors. He stumbled a couple of times but managed to reach the door quick enough, as well as avoid the horn and the ale that spilled from it. Horn smashed against the wall loudly, turning some candlesticks along the way, the sound that startled two young whelps that were sleeping in a cradle, behind the tables towards the back of the hall. As on some unwritten agreement, they both started screaming and crying together at once. At that moment King burst into laughter. "Poor fool. The way he tripped and run through the hall. Send someone after him, give him food and drink. He must be shaking with fear by now." But at that he turned, his face darkened.
"So much for enjoyable feasting, drinking and celebrations." Turning towards some of the women he yelled "Will you shut them up, I can't hear my own thoughts with the two of them crying like that".
"Well, if you haven't been screaming and smashing things around the hall, they wouldn't cry in the first place" said a woman, as she slowly took them away towards the chambers behind the hall. The rest of the guests looked at their king, with puzzlement and confusion on their faces. Several older children, sat in silence in the back of the hall, listening to what was going on. King Ragnar turned towards his Jarls and guests, his voice now the essence of calm and dignity.
"Well so much about the alliance with Lietuva. The bloody fool Mindaugas managed to lose his throne. Five years it took us to win the throne for him, and he lost it in two. Bloody fool, says he knew we were at war with the Christians, and didn't wanted to push his kingdom into a civil war he could not win without our help. So instead, so he bowed down when his chiefs demanded that Ringaudas the Lion be given back the crown of Lietuva."
A young, tall youth cried in anguish "Is he dead? I mean Mindaugas.. My.."
"No, he is still a chief of Lietuva, and Deltuvai. But Ringaudas once again sits the throne of Lietuva. Well he sat on the throne at least, before he died. Got to respect that man and his will to fight, if only he wasn't so stubborn. A man would think that after he executed so much of his kin, no chief would support his claim, but there you go."
The lad was visibly relived when he learned the news.
"Well, your father wanted to avoid the civil war in Lietuva, so he gave back the crown to Ringaudas. Small good that did to both of them. Ringaudas is dead, and now several chiefs are fighting for the throne. The very thing that I wanted to avoid by supporting him and crowning him King of Lietuva in the first place."
Kings of Lietuva
Korybutas 09.05.1122 -
Ringaudas the Lion 08.04.1120 - 09.05.1122
Mindaugas the Usurper 12.11. 1117 - 08.04.1120
Ringaudas the Lion 10.12.1096 - 12.11.1117
Ginvilas 06.02.1084 - 10.12.1096
Sotvaras the Just 05.01.1082 - 06.02.1084
King Ragnar left his table, and went towards the back of the hall, where his private chambers were located. As he entered, three women inside and six children. Beside his first wife, were his two concubines. Ragnar was a man of many appetites, and women were among chief of those. Liubava Mstislavovna Rurikovich was a daughter of Knyaz Mstislav of Novgorod, but she spent a good deal of hear years as a prisoner and a concubine of Lietuvan chief. When Ragnar's army took one of the holdings in Lietuva, they liberated her, but given her high birth took her back to Uppsala. She was the eldest of the three, but still pretty although lazy and prone to gluttony, she was happy to escape her captor Radvilas, known as Radvilas the Cruel, and even more than happy to allow herself to be seduced by Ragnar. Alison de Normandie was the mother of Ragnar's daughter Freyja. There were of course, Sotvaras and Vaiga, children of Mindaugas and Aslaug, Ragnar's niece and nephew. And at last, there was Ingrid, Queen of Sweden, and twenty four years younger than Ragnar, mother of his sons. Although, truth be told, Ragnar had some doubts about who was the father of the children, since he spent a lot of time waging war, and saw Ingrid only on few occasions, when she travelled to Denmark during the war against the Holy Roman Empire. This seed of doubt, and the age difference, caused that what begun as an idyllic relationship, turned sour. Although there remained a good dose of respect, Ingrid never forgot how hard Ragnar pushed her when he was her mentor in her youth, while Ragnar suspected adultery, as well as his dislike of her wroth nature and tendency to gluttony meant that this wasn't any more the relationship of joy and love. To Ragnar, who in retrospect remembered the relationship between his father and his mother, seemed that all kings were destined to sacrifice their personal happiness.
When their first son was born, King Ragnar's happiness was beyond words. He named him Björn, after Björn Ironside, the son of Ragnar Lodbrok. Finally he had an heir worthy of his Kingdom, and as the years passed, young Björn showed that he was indeed, his father's son. Soon however, things turned sour, when King Rangar went on campaign. During the years he fought in a war, he and Ingrid saw each other a few times, when she travelled south to Denmark. And although they did see each other, when a letter from Ingrid reached Ragnar, saying that she was pregnant again, he started having doubts as to weather it was possible that he was the father of his the child.
Björn Ragnarsson, named after Björn Ironside
Knut Ragnarsson, named after Knut the Great
Harald Ragnarsson, named after Harald Fairhair
Ragnar spent a decent amount of money trying to figure out if he was indeed the father.
A quick update, as I haven't played much during holidays, but I did get an heir I desired. A few too many I might say. Seems to me that this forces Ragnar to act much more quickly than I desired. I considered staying unreformed, to keep raiding, and keep the +50% retinue size for Norse... As the famous saying goes, "We princes make our careful plans and the gods smash them all awry."
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