To understand the Oestvikingae, you need only look at our name…
The OESTvikingae are Easterners, hailing mostly from Gotland. Gotland is an island of merchants and traders, pre-eminent in controlling the trade around the Baltic Sea. Gotland is ruled by the Kings of Sweden, under the terms of an agreement reached in the 7th century that allowed free trading access for Gotlanders to all of Sweden. The archetypal Gotlandic man is a farman (aka farmaðr or farmann), combined sailors/merchants, landowners and (when needed) warriors, who often sail across the Baltic and beyond in search of new wealth. The Oestvikingae are mostly farmen who’ve now sailed West, to England.
The OestVIKINGAE are Vikings, in the true sense of the word: we are marauding raiders and pirates, members of the Great Heathen Army, and whilst we are in England we are staying only in temporary camps. As such, we’re really the only proper ‘Viking’ unit in DAS- the Westmen are settled on the Isle of Man and the Holmbyggjar have their homes on Osea Island in Essex, whilst the Oestvikingae are just here to raid & pillage not to settle!
So that’s the Oestvikingae- wealthy merchants and pitiless raiders, here to get rich and then return home to Gotland. We fight hard & party hard, and flaunt our wealth with the best of them- we’re known for our Eastern-inspired costume, arrogance and bling. We welcome new members, and as a marauding warband / group of travelling merchants it’s obviously particularly easy to fit new characters into our unit’s story- there can always be new people coming over from Gotland. Dare you join us?
Slack Viking who's not been around for a couple of years but lurks on the egroup
