Some fifty years ago, the Sons of Ragnar Lodbrok ravaged the Christian Kingdom of Northumbria, murdering the monks of Lindisfarne and Melrose, desecrating the holy sites and crushing all opposition, culminating in the murder of Ælla by the blood-eagle method and thus avenging their father, thrown aged 94 by the Northumbrian king into a pit of snakes.
Now, after decades of careful planning, sycophancy and light treading, Ælla's grandson Cyneric the Fat has restored the throne, throwing off the shackles of Norse rule and smashing Viking armies north and south of the border. Once-mighty Jorvik is reduced to a paltry three counties divided across the British Isles, and a teenage king, Dag, sits atop the throne. The cowardly boy has even converted to Catholicism after hearing whispers of a holy war to seize the rich lands around York from him. Meanwhile, the wily successor to Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, Guðfrið the Hunter, has been humbled, forced to concede the mainland in the face of the growing power of Alba and Nothumbria and to retreat to the cold north-western islands where he plots his next move.
The momentum is very much with the Christian Anglo-Saxons of Northumbria. My question is, what should I do next? I'm going to consolidate a bit and ideally get a bit richer, but I never really expected to survive the invasion of the Great Heathen Army, let alone restore the kingdom in only two generations...
Now, after decades of careful planning, sycophancy and light treading, Ælla's grandson Cyneric the Fat has restored the throne, throwing off the shackles of Norse rule and smashing Viking armies north and south of the border. Once-mighty Jorvik is reduced to a paltry three counties divided across the British Isles, and a teenage king, Dag, sits atop the throne. The cowardly boy has even converted to Catholicism after hearing whispers of a holy war to seize the rich lands around York from him. Meanwhile, the wily successor to Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, Guðfrið the Hunter, has been humbled, forced to concede the mainland in the face of the growing power of Alba and Nothumbria and to retreat to the cold north-western islands where he plots his next move.
The momentum is very much with the Christian Anglo-Saxons of Northumbria. My question is, what should I do next? I'm going to consolidate a bit and ideally get a bit richer, but I never really expected to survive the invasion of the Great Heathen Army, let alone restore the kingdom in only two generations...
