Aftur í Vínland

Age of Loftur

Loftur Sæmundsson came into power in 1132 and he and his developments in Vinland were only the first of many. He formed the Vinland Militia which compromised of a group of trained men who would act as the standing defense force. Vinland was poor and insignificant until the arrival of a Norwegian fleet in 1136 which had been damaged by a storm, also originally heading for Vinland for exploration, and subjugation. The head of the fleet asked for the assistance of Loftur and the Vinlanders. He gratefully accepted and over the next few months the Norwegian officials along with many of the brave Icelanders, explorered the majority of Vinland and found the island of Eriksland which they named after their forefather. The experience the Norwegians got from their stay inspired them to leave Vinland with a vision. A vision where all of the unknown Western lands could bow beneath the crown of Norway.

Vinland was heavily attacked by the Skrælings who had taken much of their livestock and supplies from the Norwegians. This forced the Milita to put to full use in summer 1139 when they completely ransacked entire villages of Skrælings, eventually causing much of them to cower in fear of the Vinlanders. But as always, fear turns to hate, and hate involves the masscring of your enemies. An army of Skrælings numbering more than the entire populace of Vinland settlement, attacked the embankment walls but was unable to break the siege. They turned to setting the walls on fire which easily ended in the Vinlanders dousing the fire. But as all sieges must end, a breach allowed the head of the Skræling army and his small band to enter the settlement where the Vinlanders were able to kill them with their advanced Iron weaponry (and obviously the good old beserker rage). Their leader was decapitated in front of them and instilled so much fear in the heathen army that they fled the scene, only to chased down by an somewhat scary mob of Icelanders. Vinland had been saved, and all were grateful to their leader, Loftur Sæmundsson.

With the populace of Vinland safe, Loftur returned to normal life, awaiting the arrival of the Norwegians, who appeared in 1141 under their new king, Magnus IV. Magnus had sent more settlers to Vinland who settled just outside the walls of Lofturs settlement. These people, mainly Norse exiles would form the basis of the lower classes of Vinland, despite their loyalty to a great Scandinavian kingdom. Loftur and the Vinlanders continued to expand their settlement as more children were born. Vinland was now numbering over 300 in population and was growing rapidly. Loftur had become older and decided to relax from martial acts anf focus on increasing the trade output of his settlement, as it would need to appeal to the mainlanders of Europe for anyone to invest in. Luckily for Norway, Vinland was prepared to become a export centre for all the goods of their seemingly alien land. They begun to export fish and timber via ship to trading partners in Greenland and Iceland who were amazed by the amount of fish they were able to farm from the sea. The tale of the great fishing stocks of Vinland spread quickly to Iceland and the rest of Scandinavia. The attention of Norway was upholded again and decided to continue investing in possible trading power. Vinland was no longer the legends of Scandinavian folklore, it was real. And it was growing.