Colonization, Trade and Factionalism

A New Era of Colonization (1040 CE - 1099 CE)

Following the death of Thorkyr Liefson, the defeat of the usurper Jarl Haakon of Vinstrihof, and the establishment of the reign of Jarl Cnudson I in Thorkyrsbudir, a power vacuum developed in the established settlement of Hop. With the former chief dead, the regent killed, and the usurper jarl defeated, Hop was left in a tumultuous period without a ruler. In order to elect a new leader, the settlers of Hop established meeting of all the major families of Hop called the Thing. Utilizing his family prestige one of sons of Chieftess Vilbma's marshal, Sheounki, rallied enough support to be decreed Jarl of Hop. These developments were much to the chagrin of Jarl Cnudson of Thorkyrsbudir, who initially wished to retain the wealthy port. However, due to a critical lack of manpower following the campaign to defeat Jarl Haakon the Usurper, Jarl Cnudson was left with no choice but to relinquish his claim to Hop.

By the Summer of 1042 CE, Hop was largely returned to its pre-conflict prosperity, with many knarrs and cogs making voyages to Thorkyrsbudir, Vinstrihof, Liefsbudir, and Brattahild. Due to the vast distance between the settlements and Europe, news of the tumultuous period had never reached Europe. These fledgling settlements on the edge of the world were of little consequence to most Europeans. Even the de jure ruler of the islands, King of Norway Harald Siggurson III, did not send any envoy or tax collectors to the new settlements, being more focused on local courty affairs. The only European head of state to address the settlements was Pope Gregory VI.  Upon learning of the settlements in Greenland and beyond, he sent a mission of 34 priests and 20 Augustinian monks to Hop and the Mossfells with the express instructions to establish a cathedral for a new Bishopric.

Over the next 50 years, the seats of power in the Mossfells crystalized in several key towns. In 1095 CE, Hop remained the powerhouse of the region with Jarl Sheuonki's son Jarl Karoulk I at the helm. Specific details of Jarl Kaourlk's reign are sparse, but it appears he ruled over the other vassal-Jarls of the islands magnanimously as long as they acknowledged his primacy as High Jarl. 

In the Mossfells proper, Thorkyrsbudir found itself renamed Kristinnbaer due to its high population of Christian worshipers and was led by the charismatic Jarl Olfinna Freyrdottir, second daughter of Jarl Freyr Cnudson. Jarl Olfinna's domain extended from the islands of St. James, St. Anne, Nishsystir, and parts of Isle of Hens. Her domain contained the burgeoning port town of Kristinnbaer, the pilgrimage site of Sudhof, and the newer settlement of Hollskekjor.  To the east, the rest of the Isle of Hens was largely uninhabited, with small villages and farmsteads spread out in the fields and forests largely isolated from each other. 

Fernbank and the eastern coasts of Neffannafjall were also largely uninhabited save for small bands of escaped hopfling slaves which established refugee settlements deep in the swamps. The rest of Neffannafjall was ruled by Jarl Olfinna's elder sister Jarl Suna Freydottir. At this time, she oversaw her domain from the ever-growing settlement of Freyfjord, and several farms and homesteads grew beyond the town into the fertile mountainsides of Neffannafjall. Beyond the mountains, her domain also encompassed the small fishing town of Hvankji in the arid drylands around the Lake of Tears. 

The rest of the islands of archipelago were allowed a great degree of self-governance as long as they continued to respect the primacy of the Jarl of Hop. On Mossfellheim many small hamlets and the Augustinian monastery of Brennijksteijn only ever interacted with the Jarl's law men twice a year for taxes. Further north past the uninhabited island of Tyrkimani, hopfling settlers in Vinstrihof established their own small chiefdoms. Now free from the cruel shackles of Jarl Haakon, the hopflings of Gasmensyi entered an age of prosperity. Perhaps due to indigenous customs, the hopflings of Gasmenysi found great success at domesticating several of the unique flora and fauna found in the northern islands of the Mossfells. Animals such as the tyrduck, vattenkanin, and blue pheasant became common sights among cattle and goats. At the same time, plants such as the Idunn apple, jasmine bean, and tunna gourd helped feed an ever growing population.

Shades of Triangular Trade - 400 years before Columbus

During the Mossfell Golden Age the Jarldoms of these settlements quickly skyrocketed in population. Unfortunately, that ever-growing population was largely sustained by enslaved labor. Due to permissive attitude towards slavery in hopfling culture as well as a disdain for skraelings (i.e. non-Christian Amerindians) among the Norse, the practice of forced labor was common in Hop and the Mossfell Islands. Slaves were often captured during raids among the last remaining "skraeling" villages of the Georges Bank, in raids on Algonquin villages on the coasts of modern-day New England, or even brought from as far as Ireland and Scotland by the few Norse who still practiced Viking piracy. 

Slaves were put to work building houses, tending to animals, or harvesting crops. Through this forced labor, raw materials such as timber, produce, animal products, and metals were extracted and allowed settlements to expand rapidly outward. Many of these extracted materials would then make their way to the burgeoning city of Hop where artisans, metalworkers, and traders from far-off lands congregated. Hop, due to its virtue as a large trade port, could both host many guilds of skilled workers as well as export these goods to Europe. The Siggurd Codex specifically mentions incenses arriving from as far as Tehran, and gold crosses being shipped from the Pope in Rome. Likewise, precious gemstones, and timber from the Mossfells would be found shipped to Greenland and the courts of Europe as well as to indigenous skraeling collaborators which worked with hopfling raiders to procure more slave labor.

This practice of resource extraction via forced labor and the subsequent refinement of resources in order to capitalize on these investments eerily mirrors the triangular pattern of slavery and resource extraction/refinement which would be commonplace in the Atlantic during the Age of Discovery. However, while the patterns in the Mossfells do mimic the Triangular Trade, they were greatly limited by three important factors. 

First, the procurement of slave labor was hampered both by the hesitation of Hopflings and Norse to continue the practice. Slavery of fellow Christians was considered sinful by the Church hierarchy, and as many descendants of slaves considered themselves Christians the practice of chattel slavery which characterized Brazil and the American south never caught on in the Mossfells. 

Second, trade was simply never as lucrative across the Atlantic compared to routes to the Mediterranean. While the Mossfell Islands did produce high quantities of timber, furs, metals, and gemstones, trans-Atlantic travel was simply too perilous. Only the most dedicated (or risk-taking) merchants were willing to stake a high risk/moderate reward voyage. By around 1150 CE, the fervor of trade with the Mossfells largely died down in favor of safer eastern routes. 

Third, while Hop initially retained its status as a city of artisans and skilled craftsmen, eventually other towns in the Mossfell Islands began to develop sufficiently robust economies and their own artisanal communities. This would even lead some merchants arriving from Europe to even bypass Hop in favor of trading with settlements in the Mossfells. This is in contrast to the European colonial powers of the 16th and 17th centuries, which were able to limit the development of their colonies. As trade with Europe stabilized and declined, and Hop lost much of its initial primacy, the stage was set for increasing divisions of power in the Mossfell Islands.

Jarls, Burghers, and Warrior Monks (1100 - 1200 CE)

In the 1100s CE, trade with Nordic settlements in Vinland, Greenland, and with Europe continued to decline, due in part to increasingly hazardous travel conditions in the North Atlantic. Scraps of parchment from the Brennijksteijn monastery dating to this period remark that between the years of 1099 and 1120 CE only ten voyages arrived in Hop and the Mossfells from beyond. One monk noted that the existence of the First Crusade (1095-1099 CE) would have brought many supporters from the Mossfells, had its existence been known of. Due to this increased isolation from Europe and the outside world many of rulers of the Jarldom looked increasingly inward and toward each other's land, resources, and people.

Despite growing autonomy from its vassals, the High Jarldom of Hop still reigned supreme through the 1100s. The Karoulk Dynasty continuing to exert its influence on the sinking isles of the Georges Bank and over its established vassals in the Mossfell archipelago. Fragmentary reports from this era describe two rebellions by petty lordlings in both Gasmensyi and the Isle of Hens which were swiftly quashed. Beyond the short campaigns, the jarls of the Karoulk dynasty appear to have been well-loved throughout the isles. The Karoulk Jarls, noting the rise of their vassals' influence, attempted to demonstrate their power during two meetings of the Hoptheng each year, once during the spring and fall equinoxes. During this week-long meeting, jarls, burghers, and chiefs would settle feuds, arrange marriages, and overall "be a of a merry sort". According to records from the Brennijksteijn monastery the Karoulks were "fond of festivals, eager to revel, and made themselves well-endeared among noble and smallfolk alike". The biyearly meetings of the Hoptheng likely prevented the Karoulk Jarls from facing irrelevance until the turn of the thirteen century.

In the Siggurd Codex, the various vassals and thanes which pledged themselves to the High Jarl of Hop are detailed extensively. As in the late 1000s, the Jarls of Kristinnbaer and Freyfjord were the highest ranking of Hop's vassals. In Mossfellheim, the monastery of Brennijksteijn also rose to prominence. From a courtly hall in the monastery, Abbot Tsulla Friggson struck fear into the people of the volcanic island. Abbot Tsulla was intolerant of many of the syncretic beliefs worshiped by the Hopfling and Norse settlers on the islands, and essentially sought to remove this "pagan presence" from the islands. Within his domain, he set to work eradicating heretical worship sites and executing heretics. His actions were divisive on the islands. Many hopflings in Gasmensyi, the northern wilds of Neffannafjall, and Fernbank shunned the Abbot for these actions. However, many members of the courts of the jarls of Kristinnbaer and Freyfjord found themselves sympathetic to the Abbot's cause. These divisions in society would only continue to widen throughout the century.

In Gasmensyi, the survivors of Jarl Haakon's slaves had established themselves in nearly every corner of the island and even began fishing on the beaches of Tyrkimani. The "wild" hopflings of Gasmensyi were described  in the Siggurd Codex as "living much like their old ancestors on the isles of Hop or even as the still savage skraelings do on the great coast... they have great long-houses where the village all lives... the women and children mill about the village as fowl, goat, and hare pick at the ground... they hunt deer in the forest and still pray to each stone and brook". The exception to this lifestyle was in Vinstrihof, with its large stone fortress and surrounding farmland. In the fortress, an individual referred to as the Chief-Thane acted as both lord of the wild Hopflings as well as direct vassal to the High Jarl of Hop. 

Within the realms of the Jarls of Freyfjord and the Jarl of Kristinnbaer, many lesser thanes and burghers presided over small mottes and towns. A notable vassal was that of the Lysna the Commoner, Prioress of Sudhof. Unlike in Mossfellheim under the Abbot's inquisitorial thumb, the Prioress was an advocate for fusion of hopfling, Nordic, and Christian beliefs. A religious woman who described herself as wise woman who saw visions of the divine, she was beloved by common-folk and hopfling wild men alike. She quickly developed a small coterie of followers which greatly angered the established jarls as well as Abbot Tsulla. Despite the political shunning of Sudhof by most rulers in the isles, it quickly became a pilgrimage site for many adherents to the newly developing Vadartinn religion.

In the forests, scrublands, and arid deserts of the Isle of Hens, Fernbank, and Neffannafjall many small towns under both Jarls thrived. Hollskekjor on the Isle of Hens was led by the Hollstheng, consisting of the chief of the town, and several wealthy burghers. Likewise settlements along the northern coast of Neffannafjall and within the Hvanjki desert often elected a representative among the established family clans of the town. Lastly there were settlements and hamlets on the isles which were governed by no thanes or jarls. In the swamps of Fernbank and the high volcanic mountains of Nefannafjall, small groups of settlers often elected to live away from the taxation and rules of their lieges. Many would also turn to banditry, leading to several pacification campaigns led by the Jarls of Freyfjord. By the late 1100s, very few of these "lawless men" still prowled in the highlands.