In Age of Vikings, you create heroes that are deeply rooted in Iceland. Though the isle of fire and snow teems with opportunities for adventure, wealth, and renown, few Norse heroes can resist the powerful lure of other shores. The name of the game is Age of Vikings, after all, not Age of Farmers!
One of the first places an Icelandic viking might visit is another windswept isle at the edge of the known world —Ireland.
Here are a few reasons why the Isle of Saints and Scholars is a worthy destination for the heroes of your Age of Vikings saga.
Its About Family
Many Icelandic heroes have family connections to Ireland. Some settlers spent time in Ireland before coming to Iceland and many still have kinsmen there. For example, Auður the Deep-Minded, who settled the Valley Country (Dalasýsla) of the Westfjords (AoV p215), was the widow of Óláfur hinn Hvíti (Olaf the White), King of Dyflin (Dublin).
Two-fifths of the first settlers were enslaved Gaels from Ireland and Scotland, most of them women. Thus, many notable Icelanders have Irish parents or grandparents and kinsfolk. For example, several Icelandic families trace their lineage from Kjarvalr Írakonungur, otherwise known as Cerbhall mac Dúnlainge, King of Osraige (Ossory) in southern Ireland between 842 and 888.
The ready-to-play hero Njáll Þórólfsson (AoV p46) is notable for his Irish ancestry, his Loyalty (Ireland) Passion, and his yearning to visit his grandmother’s homeland.
Even if your hero lacks Irish ancestry – their forebearers may have forged links with Ireland. In Family History (AoV p25), the Battles of Cenn Fuait (Fuat’s Head), Corbridge, and Brunanburh (Wineheath), and the tale of Oláfur the Peacock all involve Ireland. Perhaps your hero’s ancestors lived there for a time, making bonds (or babies!). Perhaps they were slain in battle, engendering a Hate (Irish) Passion that passes down to your hero. Perhaps they earned the enmity of King Myrkjartan’s sons who can be powerful antagonists in your hero’s saga.
Adventure Seeds
- Your hero’s parents ask them to swear an oath to avenge the death of their grandparent in battle against the Irish.
- One of your hero’s forebearers made powerful enemies in Ireland, who have now killed or captured one of the hero’s kin.
- A stranger from Ireland claims to be your hero’s cousin. Exiled from their homeland, they beg the hero’s help in restoring their position and property.
- Before they died, your hero’s beloved (grand)parent made the hero promise to bury their bones in Ireland.
Word comes that an outlaw with whom your hero’s family has a blood-feud is now a wealthy mercenary (or a Christian monk!) in Ireland.
Traders…
The Norse towns in Ireland are important hubs in a trade network that stretches from the Jórsalahaf (Mediterranean) to the Austmarr (Baltic) and beyond. They trade extensively with Britain, Scandinavia, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and even the various Christian and Islamic realms of Iberia.
Heroes can trade Icelandic goods such as vaðmál, furs, and walrus ivory for rare goods and luxuries that are sought-after in Iceland. These include Irish jewellery (especially ringed cloak pins), English jewellery and ceramics, Baltic amber, Frankish wine, weapons, and armor, German gold braid, Byzantine silks, Italian glass, and spices from the Levant and beyond. Dyflin also has one of the largest slave markets in western Europe, selling people captured in Ireland and Britain, but also from further afield – France, Iberia, and even North Africa.
Adventure Seeds
- Your heroes and their neighbours pool resources to send a cargo of valuable goods for sale in one of the Norse towns in Ireland. Your heroes are entrusted to see the cargo safely to its destination and see the profits safely home.
- Your hero is cheated by an unscrupulous merchant with influential allies in Dyflin.
- Your hero buys a valuable item coveted by a powerful individual in Veðrafjordur who intends to purchase it with steel instead of silver.
- Goods that your hero purchased are stolen by Irish raiders. For more moral ambiguity, the “goods” are enslaved people, who have either been liberated by their kin or actually “stolen”.
- A merchant and friend of your hero is murdered in one of the Norse towns in Ireland, but no one there seems keen to find the killer.
…and Raiders
Ireland has long been fertile ground for viking raids. The isle is replete with Christian monasteries, which serve as economic hubs in an otherwise rural society. Monasteries range from tiny, remote hermitages to large and wealthy foundations. A handful rise above the others in size and importance. These ecclesiastical centers are the focus for the Christian church in the five Irish provincial kingdoms: Clonmacnoise in Meath and Connacht, Kildare in Leinster, Emly in Munster, and, largest of all, Armagh in Ulster.
Beyond the monasteries, there are no towns in Ireland aside from the Norse settlements. The strongholds of the various Irish kings present rich but well-guarded targets for their size. The main provincial royal centers are Aileach in Ulster, Cró Inis in Meath, Naas in Leinster, Cashel in Munster, and Rathcroghan in Connacht.
For Age of Vikings Raid rules (AoV p151-154), typical Risk/Reward Ratings (RR) for targets in Ireland are:
RR Type of Settlement
1: Single unfortified farm; local church; tiny Christian hermitage
2: Small group of unfortified farms; single ringfort; small-medium monastery
3: Cluster of ringforts; large monastery
4: Local royal center; small Norse village (Víkingaló)
5: Regional royal center; large Norse village (Veigsfjordur, Corchach)
6: Provincial royal or ecclesiastical center; small Norse town (Veðrafjordur, Hlymrekur)
7: Armagh, Dyflin
Note: Norse settlements and Irish royal centers always have at least a wooden wall. Some Irish royal centres are located on crannógs – artificial islands built on lakes.
Sellswords…
The kings of the Norse towns of Ireland command substantial war-fleets against their enemies. The core of these fleets are raised from the king’s hird (retinue) and the townsfolk. Such is the prosperity of the Norse towns (and the efficiency of tax-collection), that their rulers can assemble fleets of more than 50 ships by purchasing the services of Norse mercenaries. Many Icelanders serve as sellswords in these expeditions. Some return freighted with silver, while others become fodder for the ravens.
Adventure Seeds
- Your hero joins Hjörtur Helgason (The AlÞing, AoV p292) on his voyage to Ireland. There, Hjörtur joins the fleet of Oláfur Kvaran, King of Dyflin, in a campaign against his old foe, Domhnall Ua Néill, King of Ailech and Tara.
- The fleet your heroes sail with is defeated by the Irish of Connacht, stranding the heroes deep in hostile territory.
- The leader of the war-fleet asks for brave and cunning warriors to spy on the strength and preparedness of the enemy stronghold.
- A storm scatters the fleet. Your heroes’ vessel fetches up on a foreign shore in desperate need of repairs.
- Separated from the rest of the fleet by a thick fog, your heroes’ ship finds a small island – but it is not what it seems…
…and Pilgrims
Many Christians undertake pilgrimages to monasteries and holy sites in Ireland. Pilgrims visit monasteries to venerate the graves and relics of great saints. Thus, Armagh is the foremost shrine of St Patrick, while St Brigid is revered at Kildare. Many pilgrims climb the holy mountains of Slemish in Ulster, Croagh Patrick in Connacht, and Mount Brandon in Munster. Those atoning for great sins journey into the wilds of Ulster where a cave on a small island in the middle of Lough Derg is said to be the gate to Purgatory.
The gods of Asgard also have sacred sites in Ireland, of which Þorsskóger (Thor’s Wood) close to Dyflin is the most important.
Though the Irish have been Christian for more than five centuries, memories of the old gods linger in the form of the Aés Sidhe (Mound Folk). These magical beings are as perilous as they are capricious. The Irish have many superstitions to assuage or avert their ire. The Aés Sidhe dwell in ancient mounds built by the forgotten ancestors of the Irish. These are places of powerful and dangerous magic, but a few travel to risk their lives – and their immortal souls – to treat with the Mound Folk.
Adventure Seeds
- As penance for a grave sin, a Christian priest demands your hero pray for forgiveness at the gates of Purgatory.
- Vikings returning to Iceland bring back the relics of an Irish saint (possibly cursing the district). How far is your hero willing to go to return the sacred bones to their proper home?
- Your hero (or one of their kinmen) seeks to marry a Christian woman. However, her father (also a convert) demands that they undertake a pilgrimage to Ireland to prove their worth.
- After the local temple to Þor is destroyed by fire, your hero receives a vision showing the new temple growing from an acorn taken from the Þorsskóger in Dyflin.
- Your hero is cursed by the Aés Sidhe, and must enter one of the Mound Folk’s royal courts to free themselves of the malediction.
