1032-1035
In Thorkellsborg Bjarny had begun to entertain the Idea of invading Elgurland under the pretense of removing dishonorable usurpers and defending the Christian faith against the people there who were very anti-christian and even had Lynched what little Christians had remained. It was not long until large resentments between the two lands had grown, Bjarny Leifsson had organized five Saeturland ships to go to Elgurland and attempt to resolve hostilities or raid if this was not possible. The ships had stolen Twenty seven cows and taken eleven pounds of gold, no attempt at resolving hostilities were made by the raiding party. Half of the gold went to the party members and three quarters of the cows went to them as well, the rest had went to the Allthing but in reality the Paramount Chieftain had control over the Allthings treasury alongside the person he chose for the position of treasurer but due to the low Organization and population of Vinland he was able to control the treasury for the most part. Bjarny had used much of this new found wealth to build more "Great Ships" and to also gain more immigrants from Iceland and Faroe.
In Elgurland the response to this was an outrage, however they knew that in a war the fief of Bjarny could easily wipe Elgurland off the map just in terms of sheer manpower, mass amounts of quality armor and weapons, and ships so large that firing lines of archers could do devastating damage to their ships or even to the coast; The military of Bjarny Leifsson could even take a European army for a run on its money. The response to this was Ake Carrson enticing the production of armor and weapons, his strategy was not to Invade Bjarny by sea but by crossing through the dense forests and invade Saeturland by land.
In Norway Olaf Haraldson had begun to arrest people who he knew had supported the invasion of king Canute and promoted those who had supported him. He had heard of his brother Harald Sigurdsson aiding him by stretching Danish attention over a larger area and this made Olaf more at ease, however things were not alright as the people of Norway had mostly enjoyed being ruled over by Canute. In response Olaf had sent a message to Bjarny Leifsson and his contacts by saying according to the Sagas: "The people of my Kingdom do not respect it's rightful ruler, as I have seen you need men to cultivate the land I will send these dissidents to you if you provide transport". Bjarny had immediately Organized a great many ships to go to Norway to collect the people, however he kept half his fleet because they had raided Elgurlad not too long before and he wanted enough manpower and ships left to defend against them should they decide to attack. Olaf Haraldson had also hired men from Orkney to fight and also bought tremendous amounts of rations from Iceland, Faroe, and Shetland and forbid sacking any Norwegian towns and villages in an attempt to curry favor with the People and Nobles. Olaf had also started to use the snake poison from the "Shaking Snake" that was native to vinland and had a highly venomous poison of which there was no antidote to be found and had sometimes tipped their arrows in this venom for night raids but could not be done in mass as poisoning blades would often corrode them/give risk to harming the user of the poisoned weapon; However these were more effective than killing enemies as it had them bedridden and the enemy army would have to feed and care for them even though they were useless and could not fight.
In Denmark Canute had decided to let Olaf prance around in Norway while he dealt with his younger brother Harald, Canute was also fearful of an insurrection in England and always had a standing army there that he was afraid if he had recalled would mean he would lose England, this had meant he was alone with his medium size army against Olaf's sizable army with their elite core of Vinnish Skraelings who at this point were experts capable of going through hundreds of miles without being noticed and able to slip through enemy lines and create enough havoc to allow the main force to break the enemy forces. To counter this Canute had redesigned the formation of his army creating one that did not rely on the back and if given chaos could form back into rank easily, along with his core of veteran warriors who had no formation at all and Chaos would not be as harmful to them; No matter this could not counter the Skraeling corps that could: "Make any patch of brush or trees a small fortress and move through the densest brush with ease,". With the mountainous terrain of Norway this had led to the defense of all the passable valleys and traveling though rough terrain was a death sentence, which only left the option of the Sea.
Harald had been defeated at a small town on the eastern coast of Jutland, he had fled with only a quarter of his men and had tried to go north to Norway to meet with his brother but was stopped at a blockade which left him the only option to go east into the Baltic where he had raided settlements for paltry treasures that were barely able to feed him and his men. He had tried later than year to break through the blockade and get to the North when yet again he was forced back east however instead of going to the far east he had found the Limfjord was little defended and had easily broken through. A Large storm had thrown him west and he was not able to go North to Norway and found himself in England where he raided any and all undefended settlements he could find, even a few well defended ones were sacked. He had then used the new found wealth to travel North to Orkney where he had bought three ships and warriors to ride them. He had then decided to go east to Denmark and attack the western shore of Jutland and their settlements, primarily farms that had been promised protection from the King and Harald had sacked them and burned them to the ground to spite Canute. Harald was eventually cornered by the Danish fleet where he escaped with only six ships and their men, he then headed for Nidaros to meet with his brother. Olaf was happy he had gained such a powerful ally and that his (half) brother had been alive, Haralds forces had been incorporated into Olafs and while only being seven-teen years of age Harald was made a General of Olaf's army.
In Elgurland, news of the new arrivals that were exiled from Norway had arrived. Ake Carrsson had planned to convince them to join their side but Bjarny Leifsson had predicted they would attempt this and had them settled in Karlsfjord, Skraelsigrad, Einarstad, Bjarnystad, Leifsfjord, and many other small settlements on Vinland and some of Markland. Bjarny had used the excuse of the growing hostilities with Elgurland to enact a travel law which only permitted people who had been in the colonies for five years or more to travel for the mean time with the exception of ships leaving for fishing, this was to prevent any new (possibly pagan) arrivals from joining to ranks of the Ake Carrson. In actuality the exiled arrivals did not wish to be caught up in any conflict and only wanted to live quietly and perhaps return home to Norway if they ever got the chance, however with their entire families there and their home villages destroyed or inhabited by others there was little reason to go back there other than to spite the state of being exiled from it.
In Thorkellsborg the news of a possible war between them and Elgurland had caused an Eruption in weapons and armor production, the same in Saeturland but instead of metal it was with warships and even shields. Hnetaland had been producing large amounts of grain and other foods and ready to ship them to the other colonies; The Vinnish were prepared for war. Bjarny Leifsson had launched fifty seven warships to attack Elgurland, he had another fleet of forty three at Leifsbudir if they were needed. When they reached Snorrisborg they found it nearly abandoned with only some sick and old left, they had immediately sent out many search parties and found a camp up river that the people had been at and had palisades and was apparent they'd been there a while. They put up a fierce resistance and had buried gold under the dirt they slept and lived on, Bjarny had distributed all the gold fund then among the men and reinforced the palisades with earth and stone. Some sources say that Bjarny had killed every man women and child in the camp, other sources say he had just put them into slavery, the real answer will probably never be known. Bjarny had heard from the people there that they were marching for Saeturland, in shock Bjarny had sent half his force to Leifsbudir to warn the people and had forty five men guard the camp there, the rest that included the Skraeling corp had marched after the Pagans march. The Pagans were approximately three weeks ahead of them but due to the clear tracks of footprints in the mud it took Bjarny only two weeks to catch up with them and with what the Skraelings did when marching long distances that consuming maple sugar would restore many of the calories lost which allowed Bjarny's force to catch up to Ake Carrsson.
However when they caught up was when the Pagans had already begun to lay siege to Nawahlid not four days before. The walls of Nawahlid were river stones packed with clay and had trenches dug in front of the wall making it not too easy to assault. The Siege had gone uneventful, the Pagans had tried to wait them out as Norse warfare was never very effective against fortifications. Bjarny had engaged them in battle and while he was on the edge of defeat the soldiers inside the walls of Nawahlid had come and reinforced him. The Pagans had retreated but Bjarny's men were exhausted, so Bjarny then took command of the Nawahlid militia and chased after them while the original force took a rest. The Pagans had been forced Northwest by the Nawahlid Cavalry, it should also be noted that this is the first reference in Vinnish military history of the Glaive being used. The Pagan forces under Ake Carrsson had a few Icelandic horses but they were nothing compared to the German, Frankish, and English breeds that were bigger and faster than what little horses the Pagans had. The battle was wrapped up quickly and Ake Carrsson had been captured, however Bjarny had let the pagans lived provided they pay the Allthing (and by extension Bjarny) tribute in gold every year, to not attack or assault Christians, Priests, or Missionaries, never to produce weapons or armor, and to never build ships; as an add on he had all the shipwrights and their families forcibly moved to another parts of the "Great Fief" as it was called. The damage to Snorrisborg was great, many of the cows, goats, and chickens were stolen not to mention the gold.
The followers of the Aesgir had been ashamed, to make them more so Bjarny had erected a grand soapstone Church in the town center and purposely put it next to the puny and wooden Hof (Norse Pagan house of worship). Due to the high chance of revolt by the Pagans he had left a standing army there that was paid in gold dust, he had also decided to send free barrels of Vinnish wine in an attempt to prevent another revolt. For the first time in the History of Vinland all the Norse lands west of Iceland was controlled by one man, a few European sources refer to Bjarny not as Paramount Chieftain but as "King" as he controlled more territory than nearly all European countries. In practical terms Bjarny didn't assume the title as the former Icelanders would dislike it and more chance of revolt against him.
In Norway Olaf Haraldsson (Olaf II) had been leading campaigns against Canute but finally Canute was able to finally face him in battle near the Oslofjord, the battle went on for three hours with Olaf Haraldsson receiving a shot to the neck where he bled out and died. Harald Sigurdsson then took command of the army and surprisingly instilled enough morale to push back the Danish and win the battle, however morale plummeted when the battle was over and the Danish forces returned two days later with a boosted Morale that came from killing the enemy General and the second battle was a Danish victory, more specifically a Pyrrhic Victory where the Norwegians retreated while still having the least amount of loses in the battle and the Danish were forced to pull out of Norway. With Olaf's heir Magnus still in Vinland, Harald Sigurdsson was crowned King of Norway at only eight-teen years old and already a battle hardened warrior, he then sought to building a more efficient military by mimicking Byzantine military ideas such as training new recruits for five weeks before exposure to any combat. Harald had also used his brother's old contacts to communicate with Bjarny Leifsson across the Atlantic and Harald had gained a large portion of wealth by privately diving into the Vinnish slave trade and made such a profit that taxes were much more lax on the Norwegian people than they ever were before and soon accepted his reign over the Land. Canute with his Danish Army in ruins had no choice other than to let Harald have Norway for the moment at least, with so much of his power and much money drained he was nearly bankrupt and was forced to lay low and wait for a time when he was more flexible, Harald however was plenty flexible at the time. Harald Had sponsored many attacks on Danish farms and towns, his goal was not to invade or heavily attack Denmark but to cripple it's very foundations, he had stopped after half a months of doing this so as not to prevent giving Canute a reason to create war taxes and lead a counter-attack. This had worked in making Canute's empire weaker, the English nobles were contemplating revolt with some actually revolting but the majority staying silent waiting for a better time, the ones that did were swept up quickly by Canute's standing army in England.
Bjarny Leifsson had decided to begin minting coins for the "Vinnish Empire" as it was sometimes called, copper was abundant in Saeturland and with the masses of gold from Elgurland and the deposits in the rest of the Great Fief there was enough gold for gold coin currency, however there was little tin and little silver. The base currency was simple copper with a portrait of Erik the Red, the next coin was a copper alloy with lead that was valued of four copper base coins with a Portrait of Olaf Thorgilsson, the next was a Bronze coin made with imported tin that was from either Galacia, Brittany, or Cornwall; it's portrait was of Leif Eriksson, the next coin was the silver coin which was rare and hardly ever used that had a portrait of Ragnar Bjornsson, and the Gold Coin was a portrait of none other than Bjarny Leifsson. As one can assume these coin's portraits were made to please and curry favor with the important people at the time. The coins were hardly ever used except for large purchases such as boats, slaves, or Armor, even then barter still remained king and the coins barely ever left the large towns, another unique point about these coins is that the copper ones were not round but square.
In Saeturland the small farms around the rapids had increased in number leading it to be fully able to portage over them and allow mass exploration into the lake, Ragnar Bjornsson had decided to go to the Skraeling village he had once seen years ago along the Hitvur river along what was named Vatnidland that stretched to the first rapid of the great river along all of the coast of the great lake and to the first rapid of the Hitvur river. It was here Ragnar Bjornsson had built a new village at probably one of the biggest waterfalls of the world (OTL Niagara falls). He had put much effort into building the houses to not be practical but stylish and make in his words: "Every House a small Mansion". He named the village Storfoss after the giant waterfall and had integrated the Skraeling village he saw many years ago into his village, instead of growing grain they found it more productive to grow Gulurskera (once again, Corn/Maize). They had advertised the village not on it's resourced but of it's view, this had attracted some people but not too many, but enough to establish portage routes allowing further exploration into the great lakes.
In Hentaland nearly half the trees on the west side of the North island had been cleared / burned and most of it wasn't even being cultivated. Grain was abundant and shipped as far as Faroe due to the sheer abundance of it. But with Skraeling attacks in the other colonies and the abundance of food production it had motivated Bjarny to create a permanent semi-professional standing army in all the colonies to be coupled with the militia would allow full defense against both Skraelings and other threats like rebels or Invasion (Invasion is not really feasible at this point in time). For this army Bjarny had chosen mostly Veterans of many conflicts including the veterans of the war with Bjarny's brother Thorkell and people who fought in Norway and England, the others were Skraelings who too were veterans of the conflicts and raw recruits who were in their teens that were to be trained and used as backup on battlefields to gain experience without being in overwhelming danger.
Harald Sigurdsson had called for his nephew Magnus to return to Norway, at eleven years old Magnus had already was able to handle and fight with his fathers battle-axe (This is OTL actually). Harald had managed to drive out Canute and his son Svein, he was planning either an attack on Denmark, or if he moved most of his troops to Denmark an Invasion of England. Part of his plan was to place Magnus on the Throne of Denmark. However for the moment the plan was to lie in wait
In Greenland, Iceland, and to lesser extents Faroe, Shetland, and Europe had begun to develop a taste for sugar and syrup. The Nobles of Norway and Orkney had syrup and sugar on their meals and nearly every common man in Iceland had eaten sweet Saeturland pastries at least once in an attempt to get more people to immigrate to Vinland. It was also around this time in the Great Fief that "flat cakes" had become a common foodstuff in the winter, it was wet dough put on a pan and cooked until solid and flipped over until cooked and then with sugar or syrup put on it. It was effective at restoring calories on a cold winter day. The Mead made from the Maple was extremely strong and was mostly mixed with water, they would sometimes use the mead as a disinfectant for wounds. Gaellio-Norse Immigrants from Ireland and Scotland had introduced using flowers and other plants used for making medicinal wines and mixtures, combined with skraeling remedies they were able to create medicine that could combat: Indigestion, extreme fever, Infection, burns, poison and venom, and even a Rose wine that supposedly mixed with powdered charcoal could help Pneumonia.
In Bjarnystad the Islands had begun to overpopulate, Bjarny had sent most of the poorer people to the settlements in Hnetaland and Saeturland; he also sent a group of about thirty people to Storfoss. Around this time was when Bjarny and the Allthing had grown comfortable, wealth and food were on the table, very few enemies, and enough Land and power that would be equal to any country in Europe. This had itched at Bjarny the sagas say as he believed that trying to gain too further power quickly would result in ruin as had so many Kings in Europe had shown; Bjarny spent this time slowly cementing his rule and influence in the Allthing further while putting men loyal to him in key positions and even at the base positions. Bjarny at this time had two sons and seven daughters. His first son, Gudbrand was eleven years old and his brother Birger was nine years old. Bjarny had seen to it that they had tutors and teachers had seen they were proficient in reading Norse, speaking and reading Latin, and were educated heavily on the history of Europe on details from Charles Martel to Alexander the Great to the Roman Empire; they were also educated in the Bible and the history behind it. It is probable Bjarny imported these tutors from England or Kiev but little mention of the Tutors themselves is found.
Sorry for the lateness but things happened, anyways criticize and discuss.
