Scandinavian leftovers

22

The war between Rome and Dacia caused the trade on the Black sea to decrease. This due to the hinder of commerce at the markets at the Danube. There were also uprisings around the Rhine frontier. The decline in trade was detrimental to the income of the Scandinavian nobles. King Arvid passed was killed two years earlier by an assassin that was send by the Cimbrian court. He was succeeded by his son whom he begot with his Korean wife. His was called Borgus, he was 25. Borgus married a half sister, the daughter of Arvid's wife Dagmar. This was agreed in order to keep the wealth within the family. They had two sons and a daughter together. The marriage between the children of the two rival wives reduced tensions at the court. Dagmar remarried a Norwegian nobleman with whom she had another daughter. Josephine returned to Korea where she remarried with a young chieftain. She conceived a son. Borgus forced the Norwegians to pay double taxes in order to expand his lavish lifestyle. He imported many exotic animals, ivory jewelry, Egyptian sculptures and Indian artifacts for his court. He also spend much money on public games. Dagmar's new husband was inexperienced and filled with self-doubt. This gave Dagmar the upper hand upon him. He was only 29, while she was near her 70's. She, nevertheless, lied being only 28. She used her non-aging body in her advantage. Dagmar's husband had much too lose. His marriage to Dagmar was to secure his financial survival and social status within his community. One day, Dagmar wanted to migrate to Britain to be away from the tensions within Norway. Her other children were upset with her. Including her son that she had with her half-brother. Dagmar's other relatives were estranged from her and they abhorred her introverted personality. One day, Dagmar's husband received an offer to visit Caledonia, which was conquered by Rome. Caledonia was set up as a separate province from Roman Britain. Agricola was both the governor of Britain as of Caledonia separately. The new province needed policy makers and skilled workers from abroad. Dagmar pressured her husband to take the offer as a senator in the Caledonian senate. He would be paid 100 Denarii a month. He would also reside in a fortified Roman town at the shores. Her husband departed for Caledonia. After a year, Dagmar visited him. The Caledoni were strongly opposed to Roman rule, yet they got along with the small Roman administration that was installed in their region. They were happy to have their own capital and not to be subjected to London's administration. Agricola decided to install a client king over Caledonia as a unifying factor for the new province. The British senators in London didn't know who to install as a client king. 

''Hold on...'' one of the senators said ''There's a woman living in Caledonia, Dagmar, together with her new husband. She was the wife of King Arvid of Scandinavia and she is a wealthy woman. Her daughter is the consort of Arvid's son who succeeded him in Scandinavia. We all know that Arvid was a very wealthy man. His son is now wasting much of his inheritance on vanity. He still will remains one of the most wealthy men in Europe. His mother-in-law is experienced and she has quite some control upon her new Norwegian husband. The Norwegians and the Caledoni have a similar culture and they have similar traditions. Also, they have been allies even before the Romans emerged as a maritime power. We can make that man, Friso, King of the Caledoni, and his wife Queen of the Caledoni. Dagmar has a weakness for materialism. We can use that to use her to keep her husband in check.''

''Good plan. How and when will be do this?''

''We do it immediately!''

Friso was called by the London senators to London together with his wife. There they offered him the throne of Caledonia. He, under the pressure to please his wife, agreed. Within a week he was formally installed in the capital of the province Caledonia. The Caledoni were surprised, much more when they realised that he was so young. Dagmar was excited that she was endowed with status one more time. Her daughter, Queen of Scandiania, congratulated her with her new life as a Caledoni princess. Her son-in-law, son of Arvid, wasn't happy with this. He saw this as betrayal to his father's estate. He was nevertheless not angry against his mother-in-law, but against Friso. He saw his acceptance of the throne as a way to compete against the household of Arvid. This moment changed Borgus' attitude. He stopped wasting money and began investing in diplomacy. With the Scandinavian trade on its lowest due to the lack of trade in Eastern Europe, forced Borgus to focus on the new client kingdom of the Caledoni for trade. 

The new kingdom was also in the need for commerce. Borgus had nothing to offer but Scandinavian leftovers from the time of his father's greatness. He send two fleets of each 10 ships with much commercial goods. They were accompanied by a third ship with tribute to King Friso of the Caledoni. The goods were sold not for money - for the Caledoni were not used to Roman currency. They instead send the fleet back with female slaves, much cattle, much warfare items and many spices as payment. Dagmar's age came out, but most of the Caledoni didn't believe it. They thought it was slander from envious Caledoni people who didn't want to accept Rome's client. For the next four years trade between the two countries continued. When the economy of Scandinavia collapsed Borgus became frightened. He instead occupied the Baltic tribes and his troops taxed the people on natural resources. Also, he attacked the Finish tribes and looted many of their villages. These wars did give relief to Scandinavia, but it didn't fix the problems. Next, Borgus used much of the taxation money that came in from Norway to occupy the kingdom of Friso. He couldn't use military power, but he did managed to control all the sea ports of Caledonia. He also bribed the Roman legion in Caledonia in order to comply with his whims. Furthermore, Friso became sick and he died. Borgus forbid his mother-in-law to make this public. Friso was never seen by the Caledoni public, not even the military personal had a clue how he looked like or sounded. While Friso was buried in Scandinavia, Borgus send an agent to aid his mother in domestic rule. That agent was nobody else than a former lover of Dagmar whom she cheated on while being married to Arvid. It was one of the grandchildren of Princess Pianna (Pianna being the childhood lover of Dagmar). Dagmar would retain her position as queen, while pretending her husband was still alive. Instead, it was Borgus that now governed Caledoni without neither the Romans in Britain, nor the Caledonii, nor the Scandinavians being aware of it. Borgus used the wealth of Caledonia to compensate for the loses in Scandinavia. This without anyone nothing anything. The child that Dagmar had with Friso died also. It was an genetic disease. The kid was only seven years old. Dagmar had no ability to give birth to children anymore. She realised that the Caledoni had no heir for their new country. She also realised finally that she won't be living forever. Her body may still be youthful but her actual age is only increasing. Her lover didn't even want to have sex with her anymore. He was too busy raping young Caledoni boys. Dagmar became lonely and depressed. She began to miss the good times when she was living in her father's palace in Jehuda town. She, for the first time in almost four decades, longed back to the unnatural love affair she had with Pianna. It was a weird phase in her life.