NorsePlay.

After a deep hunt for the Arnold J. Toynbee appendice The Forfeited Birthright of the Abortive Scandinavian Civilization (mentioned as an inspirational piece for Vikingverse author Ian Stuart Sharpe in our interview ), NorsePlay has decided to present it in its entirety here. First published in A Study of History , Volume II, from Oxford University 1934 CE, this appendice gives one much food for thought about how historical outcomes sometimes turn on a tíuaurar , and quite possibly how the seemingly tenuous & malleable society of today could also be directed in the now. _____________________________ THE FORFEITED BIRTHRIGHT OF THE ABORTIVE SCANDINAVIAN CIVILIZATION Having observed the narrowness of the margin by which the abortive Scandinavian Civilization failed to achieve its manifest destiny, let us now imagine to ourselves that the historic encounter between the Vikings and the Civilizations of the South had ended, not as it actually did, but in the other of the two possible...

Branding is like 80% of sales in the cigar industry. Every year new lines launch at cigar industry shows dressed up with fancy labels in classy boxes to compete for shelf space at tobacconists everywhere. Naming products after titans or gods to add appeal and have positive associations is nothing new, but I was delighted to run across these Norse God cigars : Odin totally strikes one as a cigar smoker. Any cigar lounge could possibly be considered a Sessrúmnir, or "a hall of many seats". And of course some Thor named offerings: Given feasting culture , and Viking halls as both centers of religious & secular power, the idea of lighting up Nordic-themed cigars after these grand meals isn't out of the question. And in the what-if world where the Vikings retained beachheads in Vinland, perhaps they would have found a tribe with proto-cigar smoking customs from whom to import tobacco back home to Scandinavia , and then labels such as these would've be more prolific,...

There are points where history turns on a dime, that if an event had occurred with only a slight variation, outcomes of things could be radically, and sometimes wonderfully, different. NorsePlay draws your attention to the might-have-been Neo-Iceland of 2172 CE. Historically there was a mass exodus from Iceland in the late 1800s when the population suffered a marked poverty due to a run of bad weather, volcanic activity, and some less-than-attentive Danish rule. The  overflow of indentured workers and welfare resulted in actually offering one-way tickets to the New World. Given the strong & proud tradition of Icelandic citizenry, this was subject to much criticism & debate, but new lands & opportunities were overseas, so thousands left to find better lives for themselves, provided they survived the harsh attrition of a bare bones Atlantic ship crossing and the long unfamiliar trek to potential tracts hundreds of miles away from whichever docks they landed on...