The Legacy of the Vogelius Dynasty - The Rising Raven

[Groogy]

The King decides to raise his crown authority yet again. Then finally, the news Grim has been waiting for so long finally arrives, Karl comes home to his brothers saying he has managed to acquire a claim to take Bornholm for the Vogelius family. They immediately use it, however now that the "crusades" and the new age of the cross's holy orders has come to fruition, the Bornholm troops does not stand alone. The Knights Hospatilier is recruited by the Bornholm to defend them against their Norse subject trying to take their land. This war is not going to be an easy one.

The Knights Hospatilier starts the war by traveling over to Skåne, Grim decides to engage them outside of Uppåkra. Starting with numerical superiority and never having faced a holy order before, Grim expects this to become an easy battle for him to win. The battle goes as a stalemate on the left flank, the middle flank manages to overwhelm the holy order's grandmaster but Grim's right flank takes heavy casualties and is being heavily outnumbered by the Knights. The right flank gets outmanoeuvred by the enemy heavy cavalry, these Knights proved to be formidable on the battlefield, the middle flank engages the right flank and Grim's troops was forced to fall back to not loose too many soldiers.

Taking huge losses, the victory seems narrow so the troops are instead ordered to fall-back to the fortress of Ringsted and regroup instead of losing more men to the Knights. For some reason the Knights Hospatilier gets drunk on their heavy victory and chases after the Scanian's over the Sound, this became the mistake that won Grim the war. The enemy was heavily reliant on Knights to charge and crush any heathen army that stood to confront of them. However now they were forced to ship over to the shores of Sjælland and unable to organize a proper charge into the ranks of The Norse troops that stood prepared on the beaches, the ensuing battle was a slaughter of cross worshippers and the war was won as the remnants of the Holy Order was cut down by Grim's axe-wielding Housecarls.

As no opposition remains, Grim marches to Bornholm and lays siege. His concubine, the Princess of Poland, tells him that she is with child and nine months later the baby boy of Yngvar is born. Shortly after that, Jens offers his surrender to the Vogelius family.

With the crushing defeat of what is supposed to be the Cross-worshippers Vanguard against the heathen, Grim and Karl goes to the Bishopric of Lund and stands in-front of the God on the Cross.
"Is this the best you got? Is this everything you have to offer? The Scanian's shall pillage your people, we shall slay your children and we shall rebuild the temples of Odin, Thor and Frey! We shall make all of them pay for what you did to us by a thousand." And then the whole church was sacrificed by fire in honour of their war god, Odin. Tales of how both Odin and Thor rode alongside Grim and Karl fighting their enemies and putting their housecarls in an unstoppable frenzy spread all over North Europe.

 

[Groogy]

Chapter 8 will be coming later today.
In the meantime here's a picture of the current Realm of Denmark

 

[DKM]

Looks like your doing pretty good so far Groogy. Make sure to do a reverse Northern Crusade.

 

[Attalus]

Well restore the Norse religion so late in the game provides you with a nice challenge for sure

 

[Groogy]

Grim and Karl has come a long way since their father departed for Valhalla. They've taken together in arms the island of Själland, the core of the Danish Kingdom in their grasp and our story left of with them taking Bornholm, making them hold half of the land that is considered Skåne. Despite the Vogelius conquests and adventures they were still fairly unknown in the courts of Europe, even Northern Europe. However what they did next was both unexpected, daring and what would forever put the Vogelius on the maps of Europe, claiming their rightful position in the history books.

The King of Denmark held 3 counties that should have belonged to Grim and his brother Karl. For first there were Desmond, the old land in Ireland that was illegally taken from Karl by the mad king of Denmark that Grim later made denounce his throne to his successor. The two other were the Scanian lands of Halland and Blekinge. The only outcome could be the only way Grim and Erik knew how, war.

The Estrid family would be of no concern, being too busy squabbling amongst themselves, the corrupt king continuously revoking the land of his own kindred. But no matter how much land the Danish king takes, he is nowhere near to defend against the Skåne, facing an opponent that has both a stronger army and a stronger economy their only hope lies in their ally in the Polish King. But Grim did not fear, his own daughter is the Queen of Lithuania, and his daughter in law were sister to the High Chief of Zemigallians and he had been assured they would answer his call for aid.

Grim sends a messenger to his liege, with a message telling him that the Chieftain of Skåne demands Desmond and Blekinge and that his Heathen army will move immediately to seize the provinces from the King's control. Of course he didn't expect the King to comply, before the messenger even had left Trelleborg the army of Skåne, Själland and Bornholm was already assembling and moving in on Halland to capture the Royal army. King Einar's biggest problem is that the crown demesne is spread across the Kingdom of Denmark and rallying his troops becomes a nightmare. As the troops in Halland are engaged he tries to reinforce them with troops from Blekinge, but they are too late and the Halland levy is crushed by Grim and later chased down in the Småland forests of Värend. Half of the Danish army devastated already in just a few days, Einar of Estrid's only hope is the Polish army which is spotted outside Gdansk heading for Denmark.

His Majesty still has his troops from Fyn and Holstein to fight Grim with, as they cross the Sound the Scanian troops sets to engage them. Grim worrying about the Polish army however recruits a mercenary band of Irish origin to have enough troops when they finally reach him. A few Irishmen are left to siege Blekinge while two thirds of the company joins with the Scanian army to fight the Danish. The outcome is the only one possible, the Danes have no army anymore as they are chased down and finally killed off in Fyn.

Grim prepares with the mercenaries to fight the approaching Polish, however the months pass and no troops show up. Rumours are that the Polish King moved his troops back home to combat a heretic uprising in one of their provinces.

A year passes, with both the Danes and Poles being very quiet and inactive. Grim and Karl see their victory within their grasp, but then the vile Swedish king shows himself declaring a holy war on Skåne, also pulling in the experienced professional Norwegian Army into the fray.

"CURSES", Karl screamed, "These Christians do not fight like men, may they all rot in Hel and have their nails pulled out by her rusty tongs!

No it does not look good for the Heathen army, the Lithuanian King hesitant, the Livonian tribe refused but the spirit of Grim did not dwindle, the zealous chieftain refused to give up hope and continued to direct the war effort with a steady hand.

The Danish, reinforced with money from the Pope and the Polish troops engage Grim in Blekinge, 7 000 men against 5 000 go ahead against each other, both sides taking heavy losses. Next to Blekinge in Skåne the Swedish assemble their 7 000 strong men army. The battle for Blekinge starts of quite well for the defenders, inflicting heavy casualties on the right flank of the Danes, who break soon enough. However their luck turn and the left and middle flank gets crushed by the attackers and the Scanian army is left devastated.

Of course the Danes are not just going to let the Swede's take Skåne away from them. The Swedes are quick to take advantage of the weakened army of Denmark and engages them in Blekinge and makes quick work of them before returning to Skåne to siege. Eventually Grim's Son-in-law arrives with his 8 000 strong army from Lithuania and engages the Swedish besieging army.

The battle is lost however the Swedish and Norwegian's war capacity greatly reduced as they took the most casualties, losing more than half their army. The Heathen armies are forced to retreat as their morale dwindle, but immedietly marches upon Skåne again to eradicate the Swede's.

VICTORY!

To be continued in the next part....

 

[Scotsman_01]

The people demand an update!

 

[alxeu]

We literally just got one today.

 

[Scotsman_01]

We literally just got one today.

I want the one that is coming with the map.

 

[loup99]

That was not an easy win!

 

[Groogy]

But as expected the Christian lords refuses to surrender to a mere Heathen chieftain and the Norwegian troops land in Bornholm to fight the Lithuanian troops and later moves to engage the Scanian troops in Skåne. The Norwegians even manages to wound Grim of Vogelius gravely in one of the skirmishes. Also as salt in the wound the Swede's founded by papal money arrives in Bornholm before a humiliating defeat can be brought to the Norwegian troops.

The brave Norwegian troops hold the line and the Swede's arrive in the nick of time. The Scanian troops, skilled as they are, are getting tired from having to fight yet another army bigger than them, the battle is becoming quite dangerous for Grim to let go on. Its extremely close throughout, but Grim manages to break the flanks and surround the middle flank. The Norwegians are no fools and adopts a shield-wall tactic and nearly wins the battle. The battle is won to the Heathens but much more costly as they do not have the church wealth to rely on.

With the Swedish and Norwegian forces crushed for now, Grim ignores his wounds and heads to Själland to engage the Polish King Army numbering about 3 000 men. Despite his condition he decides to lead the army from the front line, saying that he refuses to watch from the sidelines. His courage and persistence inspires his men and the Polish troops are crushed beneath the Viking furious charge.

However the Danish King, with more money from the pope, recruits Irish mercenaries to aid him and captures the Heathen army of guard and disorganised dealing a heavy blow to Grim's progress of victory.

All of the participating nations are tired of this long war that has gone on for 5 years now, their coffers are empty and the milking tit of the Pope has stopped feeding the cross worshippers. As a pleasant sight for sore eyes, the Lithuanian's and the Livonian tribes return to the Danish lands with reinforcements, now outnumbering the Polish, Danish, Swede's and Norwegians all together. The following two years are followed by several minor skirmishes, after all these years of constant piss and bloody war, Grim has come out more determined, more experienced and with more fervor than ever before. Trough pure experience he has learned tactics and methods to fight his religious enemies and become quite known for it as well.

The Swedes unable to sustain more troops, and the Norwegians tired of fighting their distant relatives war forces them to make peace with Skåne, paying huge amounts of wealth in war reparations.

What had been a war for survival becomes a winnable war for Grim and Karl, having nearly forgotten that it all started to take Blekinge and Desmond. The Heathen army rushes in and kill off the last Polish troops making a last stand in Halland. As no able bodied man of Denmark nor Poland remains, King Einar settles with the Vogelius brothers and surrenders to their terms. This day is the one where the Christian lords of Europe hears of how a small chieftan of Denmark manages to beat the large realms of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Poland into submission and how the Viking warriors of Skåne never bulked, never surrendered, never yielded to the demands of the cross.

LONG LIVE THE VOGELIUS! BY GRACE OF ODIN WE HAVE ACHIEVED VICTORY!

As this victory can't have come in any way other than having been given to them by the gods, Grim and Karl sets up for a great blót immediately to celebrate their unlikely feat. Several Christian subjects refuse, some pay a token tribute to be exempted but the great halls of Trelleborg still received numerous of visitors to celebrate. The war had brought them several spoils of war, among them were noble men and subjects of the Swedish and Norwegian kings. The sacrifice of these men was both religious and as a message to the Catholics around Grim. After the sacrifice to the gods, the feasts begins!

As the feast goes on, Grim interrupts the festivities, his guards help him stand up to address the crowd, still being badly maimed by the great war and now being nearly 60 winters old didn't help, his brother stands up with him. He tells the tale of how the land of Skåne and the land of Desmond was divided between them upon his father's death. How they were content with their part of life and how they wanted to safe-guard the legacy of their father. He tells them that he will raise a runestone in his honour and give back the title of Desmond to his Brother who is the only man it belongs to.

He says he shall defend his brother's land to his deathbed in his power as Jarl of Skåne. Whispers start in the great hall and an earie silence follows it. Then the Marshall and his housecarls feasting on boar meat start clanking their cups into the wooden tables and they start singing of the glory from the great war praising the Jarl's relentless courage.

....

By the axe he swung,
As if by Odin's might,
His enemies he hung,
The God-on-the-cross plight.

The Valkyries there to take him,
Odin calling this great warrior to his halls,
The fire in the heart of Grim,
Burns trough the enemy walls.

Maimed, destroyed and broken,
Grim grabs his axe and charges,
His spirit has just awoken,
With sheer will he barges,

....

 

[Groogy]

I want the one that is coming with the map.

He is just complaining because he made the map

 

[Groogy]

The world of 1130




The Reconquista has come to a standstill as the kingdoms are too busy fighting each other. However despite the conflicts of the Peninsula, they have nice food, nice women and nice gold, 9/10 on Ragnar's Raiding Scale.

Estonia seems to be looking for forming the kingdom of Finland. Its cold and miserable, quite poor so Ragnar gives it 2/10 on overall of his scales.

The Eastern Roman Empire has been fighting back and forth with the Muslims a lot, both gaining victories and losing land. However they seem to be incredibly stable this game and haven't revolted down to a bunch of small split states. There are great tales out of the Eastern Roman Empire that all of the Norse know, serving in the Varangian guard seen as a great honor, however its more or less very unprofitable to raid but a good place to visit and relax in so Ragnar gives it a 10/10 on his migration scale.

And last but not least, my current Demesne, how it has grown since start

These were the more interesting things I could find, the center of Europe is dominated by a really strong and stable Holy Roman Empire so not much going on there, the two French states haven't fought them yet and so far it seems like they are living quite peacefully together.

 

[Willum]

Well done, that's a nice start to things. This, like all good AARs, makes me want to play the game. It's also nice to see a Norse AAR by someone who has more than a passing knowledge of the mythology. Seeing Muspellsheimr on the map made me smile.

 

[Attalus]

Well the followers of the Allfather are rising again. Hope you won't get a Crusade once you become king

 

[Scotsman_01]

He is just complaining because he made the map

I like the map. It looks really elegant. Whoever made it should be given South Africa in the Trade of Kings o

 

[Potassium]

Very interesting AAR!

 

[Groogy]

Alright, let's get this one started again.
Will post a long overdue update within the hour hopefully.

 

[loup99]

Yeah, it is about time for an update to this!

 

[Attalus]

[video=youtube;P3ALwKeSEYs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ALwKeSEYs[/video]

 

[Groogy]

Grim's knowledge of battle, having fought on the battle lines with his housecarls prompts him to improve on how they fight. This surely will give Skåne the tools to continue their success in the future. However this proves to be the last thing he dies from the wounds still aching him from the great northern war he fought to protect the integrity of Skåne and his family. The Vogelius estate is divided up among the children of Grim, the leading position of the family goes to Sivard, Grim's favorite son who fought in the battles together with his father who just as his father took damage in the battles protecting his kin from the invading cross worshipers which still pains him.

Inge, the second son of Grim however a shame upon the family, during the wars he betrayed his father and converted to the worship of Christ to increase his influence with the Danish king. The Danish king of course wanted to reward Inge and when it came upon the matter of succession the Danish king enforced that Själland would go to Inge and not only Bornholm. Sivard worrying that his little brother might not be accepted by the men in Blekinge he ignores that headache for the moment.

A year later when the situation stabilizes in the duchy, Sivard reminds the King the previous errors of the Danish kings when they opposed their strong nobles in the land and then pushes trough his demands to seize back Själland which is his by birthright. Inge being left to the wolves in Skåne has nothing to oppose his older brother and the war is short and without blood as no one dares to oppose the experienced troops from Trelleborg.

Shortly afterwards news reach that the Duke of Jylland inherits Somerset in England, the old Norse involvement in the British Isles still exist pretty strong in both the Norwegian and Danish noble families, with both having several belongings there.

The Pope becomes a puppet of the Emperor of Germany, or as they call it the Holy Roman Empire. To add salt to the injury his Imperial Majesty decides its fit to name the Pope his Master of the Horse. The dealings of these southerners in the eyes of Sivard was indeed weird and he found it distasteful that these had come to replace the Norse faith.

After some scribbling with notes between the Polish and Danish thrones, it comes forward that right now it looks like as if the Danish young King will inherit the Polish crown. It still a distant future and it might never happen but Sivard feel for his family's sake he can't let it down to chance and orders the improvement of Trelleborg's Housecarl training ground even though of the expenses it would pose to the treasury.

Many years pass, with nothing of note happening. The blood in Sivard and his men starts to boil as the time passes with no conflicts, the urge to draw their swords became ever so greater. And even though ill-prepared and without reason Sivard decides to invade their neighbour, Sweden, for their island of Gotland.

At the same time as the declaration of war happens, a Polish noble of the family Piast who had a claim on the Swedish crown sees his opportunity and tries to seize it. He promises Sivard that if he gets the Swedish crown that Öland shall be made his if Sivard supports Maslaw claim to Sweden. Sivard immediately heads of with his most trusted troops towards the battle taking place in Värend to support the pole.

The battle is large and bloody as thousands upon thousands of troops clash together. Sivard makes a name for himself as The Berserker of Värend, striking fear into every Swedish man that opposed him. Fueled by his anger and the blessings of Odin he ignores his grievous wounds from the past wars and fights remarkably and devastate the Swedish army together with the Piasts.

With the Swedes defeated the nobles of the Kingdom forces their King to give up his throne to the claimant as the Stenkiling proved to not be able to defend his realm. However as Sivard goes to King Maslaw of Sweden to remind him of his debt, he tells the Jarl that he should be happy that he isn't executed for being pagan filth. Furious Sivard takes his men and invades Sweden yet again, even going so far to emptying his coffers to hire Bulgarian mercenaries.

Even though deceived and betrayed Sivard rage refuses to settle and Odin demands the blood of his enemies...