Alfheimr Renaissance

Sailing to Borgarsandr, day 16

Borgarsandr (Göteborg)

It's early morning and I feel better. It must have been quite boring in the cabins the last days for all four women have braided hair, in what appears to be fairly advanced patterns with fabric and other things braided into their hair. They also seem to have talked a lot with each other because they behave a little different and seem friendlier than just a couple of days ago. I've really not been paying attention to them at all.

Yep, we're in Stenungsund, even though this settlement is called Lysesund, and the islands are called Tosra, Mosra and Orusingen. Now I at least know what island Liv meant when she talked about that autumn meeting.

Hmm, maybe I should consider putting the Academy on an island? It's stupid to be on an island, as it requires a boat to and from, but any place that is physically separated from the mainland would be nice, and it doesn't really need huge areas even if a couple of square kilometers with changing land and decent fields would be good. I would need plenty of water from high ground to use for smaller hydropower or maybe a trompe for compressed air, which should be difficult on smaller islands, but if there isn't any options a collection reservoir should be possible, if the ground is suitable, but it becomes very weather dependent.

Skiringsalr might be a good option, and I might convince Jarl Skiringe to let me have the whole peninsula that lies after my land. It's just a couple of days to travel back, but I intend to end this journey first, both for principle and to see opportunities in the capital and gain more experience in culture, area and just general life. I also don't want to set foot on a ship for the next couple of weeks. I hate sailing in this era.

Further south is also further south, and Halland or Skåne should be even more arable fertile land. But there are no larger islands along the coast, and too far inland becomes problematic. The coast is probably the most populated area too. Which means harder to buy land.

It would be interesting to make a longer journey inland in the future to see what it is like, and what they call their regions. The landscape I come from in Midgård is called Småland, but the word Småland itself is the typical Swedish way of combining words to describe things, and basically mean 'small land' or 'small countries' and it consist of several older 'small countries' such as Finnveden, Värend and others. They, in turn, are modern paraphrases of older words whose meaning have disappeared in history when language changed, and it's unknown why they were called so.

A modern Midgård Swede would link the word Finnveden to Finns, ie the people of Finland, but the word 'Finn' may have had an older meaning that disappeared but survived to eventually give it's name to the modern country Finland. The word 'veden' in Finnveden is the same as wood for a fire in modern Swedish, but it's probably more the word 'heden' historically, which would mean moorland in modern Swedish and part of it might have been. But that wasn't the old meaning, and it's sort of been lost in time like a lot of other things. But what do I really know? I think the oldest description of the Finnveden area is from some Latin writing from the 5th century, but people have lived there for millennia before. Considering that settlements are larger here than I expected, there should be more people inland in Sweden too. Someone should accumulate history and descriptions about this culture before it's eventually lost in time.

Lysesund isn't a metropolis like the last two cities were, and is mostly a coastal village because it is a good natural harbor here, and is a longer days sailing or traveling from Borgarsandr. Lysesund feels a bit like Hildifjoer, ie Eidfjord, where I first stepped on this ship. Apparently Danr have a cousin here and some goods are loaded, and other things unloaded. But it goes really fast and we leave before breakfast.

It's been a nice day with good wind and weather while we sailed along the coast, inside lots of islands in the archipelago. Beautiful nature. It's evening when we stand by the railing and watch the ship sail up through a bay with islands that become a river with fields, animals and small farms around cliffs. After a while we pass a small stone castle north of the river, and then in to the long and large harbor on the south side of the river. It feels very similar to how Gothenburg probably was in the beginning, and so far Alfheimr is a nature copy of Midgård, which feels extra absurd. Very practical, but absurd considering geology, tectonic plates, etc. But considering I'm an interdimensional traveller or something by chance, I should just shut the fuck up, and be happy. It could've been so horrible.

Borgarsandr is much like Skiringsalr was in terms of construction but it's much larger but a little more elongated with many ships and boats lying along quays and piers, many cobbled streets and stone buildings. Lots of people in motion. I can see the larger royal castle further inland along the river, for Borgarsandr is the seat of the royal family and the kingdom's capital. Iselin, Alith and Bodil are very excited to finally see the capital, and Danr proudly points out what things are and gives descriptions. Apparently the idea of a capital is new, and even though Borgarsandr has been here for a long time, it became the capital just a generation ago. Before that, the kingdom didn't have a capital. It's quite a good chance that this kingdom is a travel kingdom, where the King's entourage travels around most of the time. Most European kingdoms were such until quite late in history.

This is the furthest any of my company have traveled. It feels pretty absurd when I could drive this whole journey in a day, especially if I started in Stavanger, and I have zig-zagged all over Europe in my car, and almost literally flown to the other side of the world for a few weeks vacation in New Zealand. Quite a different perspective.

This is the end of two and a half weeks of travel since I got to Alfheimr, which has been a hell of a change from my previous life. A new world, where everyone is an Elf, in some mix of Viking or late medieval era. A new career as 'Sejdmann'. I have a maid and a slave maid who are both young beautiful women. And two armed guards, where someone is always close by.

In any case, I'm soon back on the Swedish mainland, even if Sweden doesn't exist. Now I have to do the best of my situation, and create my future. Stay here or continue travelling? It will be a long winter and limited time to prepare for it.

Even if the lyric as a whole doesn't fit, I start to hear Iron Maiden play in the back of my mind with Bruce singing the chorus in 'Stranger in a strange land'.