A THOUSAND YEARS ago, there was more to Norway than Netflix would have you believe. There were real people, apart from the pirates, and they led raw, real lives. Some were nobles bedecked with gold, governing districts from their sprawling estates. Others were ordinary thanes, landowners small and great, tilling the earth and minding their own business. There were outlaws in the wilderness, merchants, fishers, poets, salt burners, and slaves. Many would never sail the seas, apart from rowing from fjord to fjord for business or visits. And of course, there were the professional Viking leagues, the underworld of ancient Norwegian society, with their cutthroat sea-kings.
The Sword is a story about these people- the slaves, the thanes, and even the seakings who lived in the largest and most powerful kingdom in 10th century Europe. Whether born on the mainland or in a colony abroad, they would live out their dramas amid one of the bloodiest upheavals in Norwegian history, with rival royals battling for the crown.
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