Our Jarl, Sivard, great news of the year 1145 is that his concubine gives birth to two healthy babies, twin brother and sister. Less so great seems to be that the cross worshipers was successful in their holy war against the moslem about a city in the land of sand. The main contributor of these wars were the German Empire, the emperor declares the Kingdom of Jerusalem, named after the city and places one of his dynasty members, a Salian, on the throne.
I created and released Jerusalem manually later, thought it would be more interesting.)
The Jarldom rarely saw peace and as such Sivard saw it fit to expand upon the training grounds to field a even bigger and stronger army of housecarls. The loss of the holy city of Jerusalem was taken quite hard by the local nearby Arabic rulers and the caliphate soon enough decides to strike back at the German invaders.
However Jarl Sivard has been struggling with his horrible wounds from previous wars and finally succumb to a horrible fever. His two sons inherit this titles and the new Jarl of Skåne is his oldest son Gnupa. Long live Jarl Gnupa! Amusingly the one that takes the place of Regent for Gnupa is the last descendant of the af Bornholm family, the catholic family that once ruled the Duchy of Skåne that fought against the Vogelius.
Christian Jensen, the last living of his family has since long realized his fore fathers mistakes and adopted Norse paganism as the one true faith. Being highly skilled in stewardship he had served as the late Jarl's steward for a long time. And now he continues on in service of the Vogelius Family as the regent of Gnupa.
However being a young boy holding Skåne the King Ernst of Denmark hopes that this would make Skåne weak and with a regent of a former catholic and rival family that the matter would be easy to push trough. However he was wrong, Christian shows his zealous dedication to the new ways he had adopted and his loyalty to the Jarldom of Skåne and refuses the demands of his liege. The war is over before it even started, Christian charges with the troops into the capital of the Danish king situated on Halland.
Rumors are spreading from Desmond that the Vogelius member placed there to rule has been out raiding and brought back home loads of gold. The Danish king just been defeated can do nothing to enforce his law to the distant parts of his realm. The regent decides that a member of that part of the line would make a suitable wife for Gnupa as he grows up. The sister of Martha of Desmond is chosen, a quick little girl that would serve the coming Jarl well.
Even though as an achievement raising a rune-stone is, it is quite cumbersome as new ways to write down history are conceived. The latest fad being to write down using ink and parchments. The people of all of Scandinavia quickly adopts this new revolutionary way of writing. However Regent Christian is very inclined in still teaching little Gnupa in how to write with runes as per tradition, so all that changes for the Jarldom of Skåne is the medium on which it is written.
While Gnupa is still being educated in Trelleborg Christian sends of a Viking commander eager for adventure to fight in Finland and grab more land before it gets taken by someone else.
Gnupa don't know what Zoroastrian even is but he is still taught how the Mazdaki, once a heresy, has come to replace the Zoroastrian faith.
Gnupa as a young boy loves food, more than anything giving his guardian various of problems to deal with. While the young boy is having fun in the kitchen Christian launches an invasion of Åland, aiming to get a beach head on the Swedish capital for the next time they have a war and end it quickly before the future allies of Sweden can come to her aid. As the Scanian troops gears for war, so does the rest of the Catholic world as the Arabs declare their holy war for their sacred city.
So much blood for a city in the sands, it puzzled the Vikings of Skåne. however it couldn't have been better timed as this meant that Sweden would have no holy orders at their disposals in order to fight the pagans invading their island.
The first battle does not bode well, the Swedes have the advantage in numbers and military expertise. However the soldiers of the battle spoke off how an one eyes old man rode with the cavalry to victory against all odds. A second wave strikes against the Vikings however their morale was soaring from the initial victory and they chase the Swedes back down to the water and follows them to Uppsala.
While the Scanians are busy fighting Sweden, King Ernst find it perfect time to raise the law of crown authority in the kingdom.
The education of Gnupa continues, however he grows a quite bad trait for being the leader of the Vogelius family. He grows cynical of the norse ways and starts questioning the Gydja's of their practices. Luckily the Guardian takes notice of it and beats this horrible behavior out of Gnupa.
Though suddenly the Queen of Poland passes away, wife of Einar of Denmark, Father of King Ernst "the Fat" of Denmark and the only legitimate heir to the Polish throne. As such King Ernst realm more than doubles in the blink of an eye.
Now.... The Jarl of Skåne is no longer the largest ruler in the no longer weak Kingdom of Denmark....