So on a scale from one to ten how would you rate this TL? What do you hate/like about it or whats unique about it?
1027
In Vinland many attempts have been made at turning Maple sap and Syrup into alcoholic beverages, while several different methods were tried at getting the right amount of concentrated sap to syrup amount usually ending up where more fluid; It was extremely strong to say the least (science note: because maple sap has such high sugar content the yeast that would convert sugar to alcohol create more to the point where yeast cant survive and some sugar is left behind leaving it very strong but sweet as well). Bjarny exported it to Iceland and Norway in the hopes it may convince people to come to the distant land, while he welcomed all colonists and many had come to colonize the land but with his vast swathe of territory it was difficult spreading them out evenly and he had considered sending ships to convince people from the Norse cities of Ireland to come to Vinland.
He had also encouraged having children and cultural acceptance of Skraelings into Norse society, it was even said it was cheaper to Hire local skraelings to do work for you in exchange for menial amounts of Iron tools and cloth than it was to own slaves in Hnetaland and parts of Saeturland. Bjarny Leifsson also passed a new controversial law that said if a Thrall converts to Christianity then exactly three years after he converts he must be either let free or allowed to buy their freedom, however if a captured slave is christian then three years after purchase must be let free and trying to sell the slave before the three years is up will receive punishment. This was probably the most controversial act of Bjarny's career and while he never enforced this law it had laid the groundwork for Vinnish Christianity's view toward slavery and its views to pagans.
In Hnetaland Olaf Thorgilson used the Grand ship to sail south, he hit a land he named Grunnland (land of soals) (OTL Main and New Hampshire), then after a few days south he came across a huge cape he called the hook (cape cod) and he named the land there Thorskurland (land of cod) (OTL Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, long island). He had ventured further south but a storm had strewn him to the east when he eventually got back to the shore he was obviously very far south, he had went to the coast in a large river when one of them men came back injured from when he was in the water as put in the sagas: "It was a gruesome sight, something had bit down hard on the mans leg and twisted it as a child would twist a piece of bread apart". This was the Norse's first encounter with Aurdreki (mud dragons), believed by some to be offspring of the great serpent Jormungand. Olaf had his men unleash arrows at it but it could not pierce the skin, the saga says: "One of the warriors had picked up a spear and threw it at the Aurdreki with such force that it had pierced the tail and nailed it to a root where it died".
Olaf had ordered the pelt from the Aurdreki to be collected and loaded onto the ship where they headed north for Bjarnystad where they would show everyone the pelt and the stories of their discoveries, however they did not make it to the Norse colonies but where pushed far east by the westerlies so far to Islands which he called the Heitteyjar (the warm Islands) (OTL the Azores). They had done small repairs on the ship and decided they were closer to Europe than to Vinland and had traveled further east, reaching the northern part of Iberia and had traded there and from there headed to Ireland, from there to Iceland, and from there back to Vinland. When he again met with Bjarny in Skraelsigrad (which the population was around seventy civilians) and they discussed the Heitteyjar and the possibilities it could have, another subject they thought about were the Aurdreki of Aurland as the land was now named. Bjarny had seen it's pelt and it's skull with its elongated snout, teeth and jaws that could easily rip a man to pieces both interested him and made him unsettled, there had been many beasts in Vinland like the Bear and various cats that could tear a man's throat out but the skeleton of the Aurdreki was something that could only be rivaled by the jaws of a Shark or Orca. The pelt and skull could be sold at an incredibly high price in Scandinavia, Olaf Thorgilson realized this and headed for Nidaros in Norway where he sold them for fifty pounds of gold and thirty pounds of silver to none other than the king of Norway Himself Olaf the second; it was said that he had fashioned the skull to the front of his ship instead of the dragon head that was sometimes used and the pelt was made into a cloak that he wore. Olaf Thorgilsson had bought ninety female slaves which he shipped to Vinland where he sold them for twice as much, he later decided to make use of this and again he bought thirty female slaves from Denmark which were captured in the Baltic and sold them in Vinland and made a Profit. He had used much of this new money to construct a new colony in a strait at Hnetaland (OTL strait near Port Hawkesbury) that cut through a large island which he populated with people he had invited with him on his trips to Europe and some of the assimilated Skraelings who were interested in Nordic culture and technology. This was a necessary point as anyone wanting to go south would have to go through the shortcut unless they had business on the east side of the strait.
In Elgurland Snorri Thorfinnson had a growing problem on his hands, other than slaves there was no immigration to Elgurland. Most people who had heard of it thought it to be cold and harsh like Heulluland, another problem he had is that he was encouraging missionaries to come and convert the pagan majority living there. The pagans have had enough of Christian missionaries from their homelands in Iceland and a few of the Missionaries had been murdered and Snorri had investigations but when the investigators had probably also been as suspect as anyone that made it extremely difficult and the murderer(s) were never found and missionaries eventually stopped coming and the Christian minority slowly but surely left Elgurland after some murders of them started to happen. Snorri had put bans on leaving but the Christians had bribed merchants to smuggle them away and while the followers of the Aesgir had welcomed this Snorri had found himself one of the few Christians in a Pagan land, naturally the Pagans were unsettled by a Christian being the one in charge but dealt with it as out of fear Snorri had not immediately taken any action to this problem.
In Saeturland it had become a norm to have acorn bread dipped in syrup for breakfast during the winter, maple Sugar had been exported to the rest of the Nyrfold and the Farms around Nawahlid had been prosperous and attempted to export their grain but the rest of the Nyrfold was as productive as they were other than Markland and Northern Vinland. They decided that with the excess grain they would import it not east, but west to the Skraeling villages. There were already plans to make farms along the rapid points of the great river and the Rapids of the Hitvur river already had a skraeling settlement in which portage could be done. Saeturland and it's enormous trees were able to produce another ten grand ships but with improved rudders and better sails, it was as long as a Normal Knarr but was stockier and much taller. Other ships had been built that had been able to explore the gulf around the river and eventually the main export of Saeturland was Sugar and ships, from Leifsbudir to Iceland Saeturland ships were prized for their quality wood and craftsmanship.
On the Bjarnystad Islands nearly all wood was cut down, the farms were productive and little to no chance of attacks from Skraelings. Walrus and seal hunting were great and there was plenty of bog Iron, however for the finer tools such as plows, armor, and weapons were made from the finer Ore from the Thorkellsborg area. The Nyrfold has become very trade based and while the term "Dark Ages" had been used to describe Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, while Historians debate if it was as dark as they say but at any rate it is agreed upon Dark Age enthusiasts that the Nyrfold was outside the Dark ages and the common man's standard of living was much higher than those in Europe, traveling by ship to visit relatives across the gulf was not uncommon and the Average male had at least once been to Europe for trading or for purchasing a female slave for a wife.
In Gudridsfjord the population was declining with three immigrations out of it for one immigration into it, it quickly became a backwater and the major export of it was colonists. However in other parts of Markland to the North a Great Fjord known as the Leifsfjord (discovered by the now deceased Leif Eriksson) it was at least as big as the Nidaros Fjord had a few settlements in them that now grow due to some skraeling migration from the west had developed a great fur trading there and they even would hunt loads of meat for small copper rings (which became the de facto currency, while Barter is still the main source of trade) and Iron knives. One of these settlements was approved by Bjarny and by extension the Allthing and was made the seat of power or Capital of Markland. It was at a key staging point to ship Timber to Greenland and to parts of Iceland.
In Greenland nearly nine out of ten people left for Vinland, only those who for some reason or another disliked the people from Vinland or wanted to take advantage of the amount of wealth that traveled from there to Iceland and the rest of Europe, but for a few years now the more competent sailors have been making the jump straight to Iceland with only the less experienced sailors coming the Greenland colonies were dying, the estate at Bratahlid was close to being a ghost town with only sixteen people living in it and the smaller farms had banded together in the two towns of Bratahlid and Herjolfnes. The Chief of Greenland Bjarny's brother was a Drunk who was content with wealth, his female slaves, and drink; he cared little for politics and only decided to settle small disputes leaving the bigger ones to his older brother Bjarny. Many ended up settling in Vinland, others bought slaves in order to keep the colony running but eventually in the year 1027 The western Greenland settlement was abandoned and there were only a couple dozen people living in Greenland.
North of the wall (now named Bjornsvirk after the commander in charge of the warriors there) new settlements bloomed, Bjarny Leifsson proposed and advocated the deforestation of all trees North of the wall and the construction of roads from Leifsbudir to Skraelsigrad and behind the Bjornsvirk linking the East and west coast of the Northern Arm, the road was planned to be built using wooden planks and as time went on paved with gravels. He didn't build the road yet due to the sheer cost it would take but he did however have thirty seven of his own slaves continuously at work cutting down trees near Leifsbudir while he constantly moved from town to town for business and to deal with any arising problems, later this same year he launched an attack on the Skraelings south of the wall but it yielded no significant advantage.
In Thorkellsborg, Bjarny Leifsson had spent no slack in the obtaining of Frankish Blacksmiths as slaves most of which were later freed but with nowhere to go eventually settled in Thorkellsborg and made a decent living as free blacksmiths creating hundreds of Axes, Spears, Swords, Mail, Plow parts, Arrowheads, Mining tools, Carpentry tools, and miscellaneous Iron or Steel Items and even a few men knowledgeable on Copper and Copper alloy working created the mass production of copper rings and necklace pieces that had become standard for trading with natives. Ragnar Bjornsson had taken a few hundred of these copper rings and necklace pieces with him when he went to the western lands.
, going to edit those parts then lol EDIT: only had to change two mentions of him so not too big a mistake