BALANCE OF POWER:
VIKINGS
"How the young pigs would squeal if they knew what the old boar suffers!"
Sound the horns, lock the gates, hide your women and children: the Vikings are coming! At long last, having plagued the coasts of Britain and Europe for decades with remorseless pillaging and raids, the Viking jarls and adventurers from across the North have begun to join their forces. Farsighted leaders draw warriors to their banner, promising the young and landless of the Norselands of the wealth of petty raiding that shall pale before the fortunes they’ll earn as lords of lands of their own across the sea. But in England in the northern kingdom of Northumbria, one legend has been brought to an end, and in a terrible misjudgement by its ruler King Ælla, he has unleashed a storm of carrion birds who converge on England as a new legend begins. The legendary Ragnar Lodbrok was cast in a pit of snakes in a bid to end the ceaseless Viking raids on Northumbria, but as news returns swiftly over the sea to Scandinavia, his sons swear their revenge and a reckoning not seen since the time of the Gods. A new and terrifying era is about to begin over the lands of Christendom, and the time when walls were shelter from the passing storm of the Vikings is over. The Vikings are coming, for vengeance, for silver, for land, and from the British Isles to the lands of the Rus, and on the winds of burning churches and cities the domination of the Danelaw and the Old Gods will unfold its wings across every river and every shore.VIKINGS
"How the young pigs would squeal if they knew what the old boar suffers!"
But this is a time not just for those who go a Viking on the wild waves of the North Sea; across Europe and its borders, great events are unfolding that the Vikings themselves only begin to comprehend. In the British Isles, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms feud among themselves as ever, unaware of the maelstrom about to descend upon them, while in Ireland, a golden age of monasticism, learning, and illumination that has preserved the knowledge of the ancient world thrives against the struggles of petty kings and the ravaging storm beating from the North Sea. And far, far to the East beyond the borders of the long-past Roman Empire, from the homelands of the Huns far past the borders of civilization, a new stirring is arising. Restless hooves stomp and warriors on horseback pace anxiously bound for a homeland to call their own as Europe, unknowing, awaits the coming of the last great nomadic migration from the far steppes of the Magyars, whose wild ride will take them on raids from the Asiatic Steppe to the far ends of the continent before their wild hearts, satisfied with blood and plunder, settle in a land to call their own.
But beyond the lands of petty kings and ruined walls, light shines through the veil of this so called Dark Age. In the heart of the true heirs of the Roman Empire in the East, despite hardship and turmoil the Byzantine Empire has survived the fall of their Western cousins and held out against the worst of every storm, and on the verge of this decade, by the leadership of Empress Theodora would heal the ravages of the Iconoclast Controversy, and under the aegis of a new dynasty begin to revive the lost splendor of the Roman Empire. The Frankish Empire of Charlemagne is split in twain, divided in the inheritance of his grandsons who squabble among themselves. And far across the waves of the Mediterranean, the Dark Ages give way to the light in the flowering enlightenment of the Islamic Golden Age in the Middle East, from whence from madrassas and universities of the Near East the learning of the Ancients is given new birth by scholars and holy men along with brilliant new works of rarified philosophy, science, and mathematics. But discord is on the horizon, and this age of learning and arts may be coming to an end at the hands of a new race of warrior, who will come to define not just the politics but the entire face of the Islamic world in the centuries to come.
Above all, this is an age of adventure: of high drama and politics, of war and raiding, but also of exploration, of trade, and the expanding of the borders of both knowledge and clan. New worlds and new kingdoms await, and by the fire of warriors and the light of learning this Age is anything but Dark. Welcome to the Age of the Viking, and chose your kingdom wisely.
Empires:
Abbasid Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Carolingian Realms:
West Francia, East Francia, Lotharingia
Kingdoms:
Cordoba
Khazaria
The Magyar Horde
Great Moravia
Bulgaria
Armenia
Italy
Aquitaine
Asturias
Wendland
Petty Kingdoms:
Ireland:
Meath, Ulster, Munster, Leinster, Connacht
England:
Wessex, Northumbria, East Anglia, Mercia
Wales:
Powys
Scotland:
The Picts, Strathclyde
Italy:
Emirate of Sicily, Amalfi Republic, Papal States, Emirate of Bari
The Norse:
Jarldom of Jylland
Jarldom of Sjælland
Kingdom of Vestfold
Jarldom of Hålogaland
Jarldom of Agder
Jarldom of Hordaland
Kingdom of Sviþjod
Kingdom of Vestergautland
Viking Adventurers:
The Sons of Ragnar
Rurik
Ingólfur Arnarson
[Create your Own!] (Maximum three)
Welcome, prospective players! As evidenced by the title, a good focus of the game will fall upon the characteristic actors of the age: the Vikings, and their more immediate victims, foes, and rivals. That said, and to great emphasis, I would like to draw attention to the great events transpiring in the mighty empires beyond their immediate reach, which would have great impacts on history and civilization, extending hundreds of years down the line, even to today. All told, for Balance of Power: Vikings I'm looking for a total of 12-15 players. Countries marked in bold have the host's priority for being filled for the sake of gameplay: bolded Petty Kingdoms must preferably have at least one kingdom represented by a player for the game's start. Please choose only one petty kingdom per country! The template for applications is presented below;
The Country Application Template:
To all, I pray glory and wealth, and hope to begin our adventures together soon!
