Norsemen

Norsemen, otherwise known as "vikings" by the Crusaders, are men native to Scandinavia, Iceland, and Greenland. They have been known to make some of the strongest and most brutal soldiers in the world, and undoubtedly the best in Europe. This would be an advantage for them if it wasn't for the fact that Scandinavia is always at war with itself.

Origin
The Norsemen were a part of a large, migrating group of men who believed that there was great fortune in the colder lands of Europe. When they found what was possibly modern day Finland, half of the group of people went westward into Scandinavia, while the other half (who would become the furries) went east, hoping to find rare animals to eat.

When the men entered, some began to make small settlements, while others kept going west, until the reached the end of modern day Norway. After this, the men began to male their own settlements, which grew over time.

History
As the Norsemen grew, they began to establish trade, hunting parties, and education in their small villages. Traders wanted a way to show proof of buying certain products to ensure they didn't get raw deals, and began making symbols that meant certain things. As more villages used these symbols, the number of them grew, until they had so many that multiple village chiefs held a council to create a standardized writing system. These early symbols led to "modern" runes.

With writing, trade and agriculture booming, farmers started to get more food than required to survive, and began to use their supply to create bigger and more decorative houses. Soon, these farmers who had the most land and supplies became the new chiefs of villages, the old chiefs being made into personal bodyguards, as early Norse villages were ruled by strength rather than wealth.

When rulers of villages began to have free time on their hands, they began to explore. Explorers would tell their tales of their adventures, usually telling of great men and women who had divine powers. This lead to the Norsemen believing in higher powers watching over them, rather than a single "chief" who ruled the world from above.

As exploring became a great way to become rich, many people tried to find different ways to travel. One village, on the coast of Norway, who was known to be a large fishing village, sent their boast south to find lands either unknown or previously discovered but abandoned. This lead to the small village finding modern day Denmark to be overall uninhabited, and began to colonize it. The people who live there now are the descendants of the village (which was later destroyed by Crusaders during a small war between a small Crusader king and a Norse Jarl), which is now home to one of the biggest clans of Scandinavia.

After people heard that lands were ripe for the pickings, many other villages began making ships to sail in hopes to find free lands to colonize. This lead multiple parties west. Later, Iceland and Greenland would be discovered and colonized (and later fought over).

But while some found uninhabited lands, others found Crusaders cities and villages in Europe. This lead to the first ships of Norsemen who found Crusader villages outside of their home to trade goods with the Crusaders. Norse villages took advantage of this by sailing back to lands that they'd traded with to get more rare goods that were scarce in their homeland. In turn, Crusaders began to sail to Scandinavia to trade commonplace items for goods that were rare in their lands.

But because of the massive trade, rivals of villages trading with Crusaders began to compete, offering lower prices to the foreign men, which lead to the opposition to lower their prices. This was great for the trading Crusaders, but bad for the Norse, who's pride made them lose much supplies in exchange for dealings with the Crusaders.

Thus it was one fateful day that a Norse clan decided to create a ship meant for battle rather than trade. When a rival clan was sailing to Crusader lands, the clan sent many men onto their new battle ship to steal the supplies meant for the Crusaders. The result was amazing for the Norse at first. Soon, though, other clans followed suit, and eventually, clans had to train soldiers to protect their ships from other Norsemen. This lead to larger armies, and more employment, loyalty, and power. The rulers of these large groups of soldiers dubbed themselves Jarl's after a rich son in a famous poem.

For years, Norse soldiers pillaged each other by land and sea. But one day, one clan decided to make a new, entirely different move: rather than attack a boat full of strong Norse soldiers, they attacked a merchant ship, owned by the Crusaders. As expected, many began to follow suit, and soon the Crusaders began to strengthen themselves against Norse attacks at sea, which eventually lead to the establishment of stronger armies in Crusader kingdoms.

Legend also has it the Norse found a huge land filled with strange people far west, but left upon conflict with the natives. What was this mysterious place? Perhaps a certain Crusader will find out in 400 years or so...

Important Norsemen
This is a small list of Norsemen and their brief description.