SCANDANORDIAN
VOLUME ONE
SVALBARD  TO  AN  UNKNOWN  SHORE
 

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SCANDANORDIAN IS THE GIANT NORDIC SAGA, TO BE TOLD OVER FIVE EPIC NOVELS, OF FOUR DIFFERENT FAMILIES AND GROUPS OF PEOPLE, SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY OF SVALBARD, WHO ARE NEEDING TO FLEE, TO PROTECT THEIR LIVES AND THOSE OF WHOM THEY LOVE. IN DOING SO, THEY JOURNEY AIMLESSLY, UNTIL WASHING ONTO AN UNKNOWN SHORE, WHERE THEY THEN FIND THEMSELVES UPON THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND AND SMALL COUNTRY CALLED MAGGISTONE. IT IS AN EXCEPTIONALLY GREEN COUNTRY, FULL OF MANY MYSTERIES AND POWERS. AN ISLAND FULL OF SUCH WONDERS, SEEPED IN AMAZING AND YET TO BE DISCOVERED HISTORY; A PLACE SOME GODS HAVE CALLED HOME! A PLACE WHERE THE FUTURE CAN BE KNOWN AND BRING FORTH AN ASTONISHING AND NEW BEGINNING. SUCH A PLACE IS BEGGING FOR NOT ONE, ... BUT TWO KINGS AND TWO QUEENS, TO GOVERN SUCH ORGANIC POWERS AND KNOWLEDGE! OH WHAT WONDERS AND PERILS AWAIT THEM, ESPECIALLY WHEN DEALING WITH INCOMING ENEMIES, ... AS WELL AS THE GODS! 

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 First few pages of Chapter One  -  Suffering a Primitive Life

 

When all the men and the greatest Shield Maidens would go on raids to the east and the west, the women and children that were left behind in one of the townships of the cold, icy country of Svalbard, were very vulnerable to the elements, as well as to the cruelty from the remaining men; as harsh weather, limited food, including no future prospects, can make men bitter. So women learnt early on, that they must be resilient, sly and use all their ways to survive.

Therefore, shortly before the year 850 AD, the Shield Maidens in some villages, took it upon themselves to train up all of the children, twelve and under, even as young as four, including all willing women, as they were the ones that assumed full responsibility, when they could clearly see that standards were quickly declining in their village, including the surrounding ones; as life had become cheap and a person could easily be put to death, for no significant reason.

To prepare them, the women made the younger ones, half sized shields, also small wooden daggers and swords to train with, as well as smaller bows and arrows. The women wanted the children to become more powerful than any that had ever gone before them. They wanted them stronger than the greatest hero’s ever spoken of, … so as to be said that they were descendants of the Gods! Thus forth, and so it was that through the women’s loving devotion: by feeding and protecting them, also training them incredibly hard to the point of exhaustion, their mission being that so in the future, if the time should ever arise, the formidable maidens had a secret and loyal army, at the ready, not to be ever underestimated!                                              

Consequently, with the typical life in the village of Harlinbard being so, that when the poorly behaved men, had all passed out, as they often did in the late afternoons, due to their excessive drunkenness, well at these particular times; alternating women signaled slyly, then gathered all the younger ones, thus swiftly leading them to a hidden place, known to only the trusted few, as it was an incredibly large, underground cave, but nonetheless, the women had amazingly managed to keep the entrance hidden. It was a place of refuge, that the women had managed to keep secret for two hundred or more years, especially for in needy times, as a salvific haven due to sexual misuse or violence.  

Due to life in Harlinbard, being so often merciless, this was the very reason that for so long, the cave had remained secret from the men, even from good husbands, … because men when they drink, they tell many stories and the women could not afford to have no refuge at all, so the pact to keep it concealed was constantly renewed, mainly due to a tremendous fear of nowhere else to go, when in dire need.

Even though the men believed; due to pride, that it was them themselves that were building up the younger boys, when they would occasionally train them to become great warriors, it was in fact the women, with their tough but loving duty, to pass onto the children and younger adults, great values and new and cutthroat combat-ready skills, to give them a fighting chance. The reason for this was as civil unrest, unjust laws and invasions were a common and increasing concern; there was much instability, so therefore they had to be ever ready to fight! The women who were trusting these new young boys and girls, down to the age of four, into their circle, made them swear blood oaths to the Gods, by cutting their hands and then running the blood down in a line, on the inside of the cave wall, akin to a blood signature. They made them do this, so as not to break the oath, or hence they would face the wrath of the Gods! They feared their Gods more than death itself and thus, they all acted smart and nothing was ever divulged!

The younger ones built up their strength with farming and fishing, as well as training often with their cunning combat skills. They learnt fast and were eager to please the mothers and the older women, who were drilling them hard with even more inventive battle science, but they could never let the men see exactly what talents they were now harnessing, … due to the fact that they may need to use these new skills against them one day; in advancing future days. 

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