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Boreal Saga Play

by The Boreal Times · Duna Press Editions

35 stories · 35 games

Viking Age

The sea was the road.

From the late eighth to the eleventh century, narrow ships carried traders, settlers and warriors from the North Sea to Constantinople and North America. Here archaeology speaks first: ships, swords, coins, runes and what we still do not know.

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Illustration of an artificial four-tiered grassy hill on a green plain on the Isle of Man, with a stone chapel behind it and a procession of people in dark and colourful clothes climbing to the top, under a blue sky with clouds Documented history · 20 Nov 2026 Tynwald: the Isle of Man assembly whose name comes from Norse and which still meets on a hill The name Tynwald comes from the Norse *þingvöllr*, "assembly field". Every year, on 5 July, new laws are read from a four-tiered hill on the Isle of Man. Read

Stories of this realm

Illustration of a market street beside a river in 8th-century Denmark, with rows of small timber houses and stalls, carts with barrels and furs, merchants in colourful cloaks bargaining and a silver balance on a table Documented history Ribe: the Danish market town that existed before the age of Viking raids Excavations at Ribe show a seasonal market from about 704, with glass beads, imported pottery and coins. In the 9th century the monk Ansgar received permission there to build a church. Read Illustration of a large grey runestone in a Swedish meadow at dusk, covered in runes and a carved serpent, with a woman in a headscarf and blue dress kneeling before it, and in the background a fjord with a warship departing Saga or medieval source Ingvar's stones: the Swedish expedition to Serkland that was carved in stone About two dozen Swedish runestones remember the men who set out with Ingvar around 1036 and died far away. One says they went in search of gold. Here is what the stones and the saga tell. Read Illustration of two armies meeting in a rain-soaked valley: on one side Anglo-Saxon soldiers with round shields and dragon standards, on the other Vikings in helmets and Scots with spears, under a heavy cloudy sky with a river behind Documented history Brunanburh, 937: the battle where an English king faced Vikings, Scots and Britons In 937, King Æthelstan defeated an alliance of the Viking king of Dublin, the king of the Scots and the king of Strathclyde. We know the battle's name, but not its exact place. Read Illustration of a large wooden boat with a carved prow moving up a calm river between dark forests, with helmeted men and round shields along the sides and a settlement of wooden houses on a mound by the bank, under a pale morning sky Saga or medieval source Rurik and Oleg: how the Primary Chronicle tells of the call to the Varangians that gave rise to Kyivan Rus', and what archaeology adds According to the Primary Chronicle, tribes in eastern Europe called Varangian princes to rule them. See what it says of Rurik and Oleg and what archaeology shows and leaves open. Read Illustration of a Viking harbour in a calm bay with broad-hulled ships at anchor, merchants weighing silver on a bronze balance before a wooden tent, crates, furs and clay pots on a jetty, low houses and a green hill in the background Documented history Kaupang: the Viking market of Skiringssal, in Norway, and what scales, silver and graves reveal Near Larvik, in Norway, excavations found Kaupang, one of the first Norse market towns, founded around 800. See what archaeology shows and how the name appears in Ohthere. Read Illustration of a narrow street in a Viking town with wattle-and-daub houses with thatched roofs, a craftsman working leather at his door, another carving a bone comb, children and a dog, and a river with boats in the background under a cloudy sky Documented history Jórvík: Viking York and the Coppergate excavation that found houses, crafts and even what the residents ate In 866 the Great Heathen Army took York, which the Vikings called Jórvík. Excavations at Coppergate in the 1970s revealed well-preserved houses and workshops. See what archaeology showed. Read Illustration of a broad beach at dusk with warriors in mail fighting among beached boats and a rising tide, a black raven banner flying in the background and a lone campaign tent on a dune Documented history Clontarf, 1014: the Good Friday battle in which Brian Boru died, and why it was not just Irish against Vikings In 1014, near Dublin, the High King Brian Boru died after winning the battle of Clontarf. See what the Irish and Norse sources say and why the picture of Irish against Vikings is too simple. Read Illustration of a dark-bearded Viking chief in chain mail beside a Frankish noble in a blue cloak, shaking hands before a tent on a riverbank, with dragon-prowed ships anchored behind and horsemen watching from a distance Documented history Rollo and Normandy: how a Viking chief received lands from the Frankish king in 911 Around 911, the Frankish king Charles the Simple gave Rollo and his men the region of Rouen. Here is what the chronicles say and what legend added. Read Illustration of a pale, cold-eyed Viking chief seated on a shield chair carried by four warriors, before a row of tents in a riverside camp, with campfire smoke and horses behind under a winter sky Documented history Ivar the Boneless and the Great Heathen Army: what is known about the invasion that changed England From 865, a Norse army moved across England for more than ten years. The chronicles describe the campaign, and the sagas link Ivar to it. What is certain, and what is not? Read Illustration of the stone ruins of a roofless medieval church beside a green Greenlandic fjord, with icebergs behind, sheep grazing among the stones and a clear late-summer sky Documented history Norse Greenland: four centuries of farms on the ice and the mystery of their end The Norse lived in Greenland for more than four hundred years. The last known document is from 1408. Scholars still debate why the farms were left empty. Read Illustration of a fair-bearded king with a plain crown seated on a wooden throne on a beach, hand raised before the incoming waves, with courtiers in dark cloaks standing watching and dragon-prowed ships far off under a grey sky Documented history Cnut the Great and the North Sea Empire: the king who ruled England, Denmark and Norway Between 1016 and 1035, Cnut gathered the crowns of England, Denmark and Norway. Here is how it happened and what lies behind the story of the waves. Read Illustration of a grey-bearded Norse chieftain beside his ship on an Arctic shore, watching a herd of reindeer led by a Sámi herder in a blue cap, under a pale late-afternoon sky Documented history Ohthere and the reindeer: an Arctic Norwegian's account to King Alfred In the 9th century a chieftain from northern Norway told King Alfred of England how he lived among reindeer and collected tribute from the Sámi. The account was copied into a translation from Latin. Read Illustration of the inside of a large wooden hall, with a lit central hearth, long benches, a traveller in a wet cloak being welcomed at the door and a hostess offering a drinking horn Saga or medieval source Hávamál and Viking hospitality: what the poem asked of those who arrived and those who received The Hávamál, a poem attributed to Odin, opens with advice for guests and hosts: fire, water, food and good conduct. It shows how a Norse hall received those from outside. Read Illustration of a fair-bearded man in chain mail crouching in a pale marble gallery of a great basilica, scratching runes on a parapet with the tip of a knife while light enters through a high window Documented history Halfdan at Hagia Sophia: the runes a Norseman scratched into the marble of Constantinople In a gallery of Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul, a runic inscription says that a man named Halfdan carved his name there. It is one of the rare direct traces of Norsemen in the city. Read Illustration of a medieval city on a river island, with a wooden tower by the bridge, while Viking ships line up on the river and catapults fire stones from a high wall Documented history The siege of Paris, 885–886: when the Vikings tried to sail up the Seine and met a bridge For about a year, a large Viking fleet besieged Paris. The city, on its island, held out, and the story was told by an eyewitness monk, Abbo of Saint-Germain. Read Illustration of a traveller in a turban and blue tunic, holding a parchment scroll, before tall fair-bearded men with green tattoos, beside a large wooden ship on the bank of a wide river Saga or medieval source Ibn Fadlan and the Rus' of the Volga: the Baghdad diplomat who described the Vikings In 921–922 an envoy of the caliph travelled to the Volga and met merchants whom most scholars consider Scandinavian. His account includes tattoos, rituals and a ship funeral. Read Illustration of a Viking port at dawn, with cargo ships tied to a wooden quay, stacked crates and barrels, thatched houses and a semicircular wall in the background Documented history Hedeby: the Viking port where the world's merchants met At the base of the Jutland peninsula, Hedeby was for over two centuries one of the largest trading centres of the North. Today its ruins are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Read Illustration of a short-bearded king seated by a hearth in a hut, lost in thought, while a woman watches him and dark loaves smoke on the embers, with marsh and mist through the window Documented history Alfred the Great, the king who lost everything and won at Edington — and the burnt cakes In 878 the king of Wessex fled to the Somerset marshes, gathered an army and defeated the Vikings at Edington. The story of the burnt cakes is a late legend. Read Aerial illustration of a circular Viking fortress of earth and palisade, with four gates in a cross and longhouses laid out in squares, surrounded by green fields in Denmark Documented history Trelleborg: the circular fortress the Vikings built with perfect geometry A ring of earth and timber with four gates, sixteen longhouses and a cemetery of young men. The fortress of Trelleborg, in Denmark, was raised in 981 and used for only a few years. Read Illustration of a large grey stone covered in runes on a Swedish meadow, with a wooden church in the background and low clouds, and a cloaked man touching the stone's surface Documented history The Rök Stone: the longest runic inscription in the world and the secrets it still keeps With 725 runes, the 9th-century Swedish stone is the longest known runic text. A father raised it for his dead son, and scholars still debate what else it says. Read Illustration of a narrow stone causeway surrounded by water in an estuary at dawn, with three Anglo-Saxon warriors with round shields defending the crossing against a horde of Vikings on the far side Documented history Maldon, 991: the battle that led the English to pay tribute to the Vikings On a causeway flooded by the tide, three Englishmen held a Viking army. The English leader then let the enemy cross, lost the battle and England began to pay the Danegeld. Read Illustration of a crowd of cloaked Icelandic chieftains gathered in a lava valley, before a raised rock where a man stands reciting, under a clear summer sky Documented history Althing, 930: the open-air parliament of Þingvellir and the man who recited the laws by heart Around 930, Icelanders gathered in a lava valley to create an assembly without a king. The Althing is named the oldest legislature in the world and has survived, with interruptions, to this day. Read Illustration of a giant Norse warrior with a raised axe, alone on a wooden bridge over a river, facing a crowd of English soldiers on a misty morning Documented history Stamford Bridge, 1066: the man who held the bridge and the battle tradition calls the end of the Viking Age On 25 September 1066, King Harald Hardrada was killed by an arrow in England. Of some 300 Norwegian ships, only 24 went home, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Read Illustration of a high-prowed ship arriving at a beach at dawn, with shield-bearing warriors jumping onto the sand, and in the background a small island with a stone church and retreating monks Documented history Lindisfarne, 793: the attack on the monastery that Europe remembers as the start of the Viking Age On 8 June 793, men from the sea plundered the holy island of Lindisfarne. The chronicle speaks of omens, and a letter from Alcuin shows the shock the attack caused. Read Illustration of a wooden burial chamber with a skeleton wrapped in silk, weapons, arrows, two horses and pieces of a board game, in lantern light Documented history The Birka warrior: the grave excavated in 1878 and the debate DNA reopened in 2017 For over a century, grave Bj 581 was taken as that of a warrior chieftain. In 2017, DNA showed the skeleton was a woman's, and archaeologists are debating what that means. Read Illustration of a Norse merchant in a tent, with a small pan balance on a cloth, silver coins cut into pieces and bronze weights, and in the background boats on a riverbank Documented history Caliphate silver, pocket scales: how Arab coins ended up in Viking hoards Tens of thousands of Islamic coins, the dirhams, have been found in Scandinavia. They show a trade network linking the Baltic to the East, and a money that was weighed rather than counted. Read Illustration of a Norse warrior dressed in a bearskin, eyes wide, biting the rim of his own shield, facing an enemy shield wall on a beach Saga or medieval source Berserkers: the bearskin warriors, the fury the sagas describe and the Icelandic law that banned it Poems and sagas speak of warriors who fought in a trance, biting their shields. No early source mentions mushrooms, an idea that only appeared in 1784. Read Illustration of a Norse navigator at the prow of a ship holding a clear crystal up to a gray sky, with a golden beam passing through the crystal and revealing where the sun is hiding Saga or medieval source The sunstone: the crystal that may have helped the Vikings find the sun in a cloudy sky An Icelandic saga mentions a stone that shows where the hidden sun is. Modern experiments show a crystal could work, but do not prove the Vikings used one. Read Illustration of a large Viking runestone with carved inscriptions in a green field in Denmark at dawn, beside a burial mound Documented history The Jelling stone: what Harald Bluetooth had carved in runes Around 965, King Harald had a stone carved at Jelling honoring his parents and telling that he united Denmark and made the Danes Christian. Read Illustration of two Vikings playing a wooden board game with bone and glass pieces by firelight in a longhouse Documented history Hnefatafl: the board game the Vikings played and no one knows exactly how it went Hnefatafl boards have been found from Gokstad to Scotland. The game was asymmetrical, with a besieged king, but its original rules were lost. Read Illustration of Viking warriors in mail dragging a ship over logs on a green riverbank, with the golden domes of Constantinople shining on the horizon Documented history The Varangian Guard: the Vikings who protected the emperor of Constantinople In the late 10th century, warriors from the North began serving as the personal guard of the Byzantine emperors. Some left runes on the stones of Hagia Sophia. Read Illustration of a Viking smith hammering a glowing sword on an anvil amid sparks in a stone workshop Documented history The Ulfberht swords: the name engraved on Viking blades and the steel mystery About 170 medieval swords bear the name VLFBERHT. Studies point to rare-quality steel in some blades and signs of imitation in others. Read Illustration of a richly carved Viking ship, with a dragon-head prow, inside an excavation under a burial mound. Documented history The Oseberg and Gokstad ships: two Viking boats buried with their dead Found in graves in Norway in 1880 and 1904, the Gokstad and Oseberg ships are among the best-preserved Viking vessels in the world. Read Museum-style illustration of a round iron Viking helmet, without horns, beside a chainmail shirt and a wooden shield. Documented history Did the Vikings wear horned helmets? What the Gjermundbu find shows No Viking horned helmet has ever been found. The only nearly complete one, found in Norway in 1943, is iron and round. The horned image is a 19th-century invention. Read

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New Hnefatafl in miniature Take the king to one of the board’s corners before the attackers surround him, in a small version of the Viking game. Play New Carve the runes Carve five runes by connecting the dots, as if chiseling the Jelling stone. Play The Ulfberht blade Strike the hot iron at the right moment and forge a sword bearing the inscription VLFBERHT. Play The Oseberg hull Drop oak planks at the right moment and build a Viking ship hull, as in the Oseberg and Gokstad ships. Play Digging at Gjermundbu Clear the soil from a Viking grave and uncover the iron Gjermundbu helmet, with no horns. Play New Drag the ship Pull the rope at the right rhythm to drag the ship overland and reach Constantinople before nightfall. Play New The sunstone The sky is cloudy. Move the marker along the horizon and find the hidden sun at the point where the crystal's two lights shine equally. Play New Stamford Bridge Hold Stamford Bridge with your axe and watch for the spear under the planks. Play New Berserker fury Build up the fury just right to fell each enemy without burning out. Play New The grave goods Find the pairs of objects from grave Bj 581 at Birka, the Viking woman warrior's tomb. Play New Row to Lindisfarne Row in the right rhythm and take the Viking ship to the island of Lindisfarne. Play New The merchant's scales Add pieces of cut silver until you hit the exact weight the buyer asks for. Play New Build Trelleborg Line up the spinning cross with the plan cross to raise the houses of the circular fortress. Play New Decode the Rök Stone Carve words by tapping the runes of the younger futhark, in the order of the letters. Play New The Lawspeaker Recite the law in the right rhythm by tapping the words that fall onto the golden line. Play New The Maldon causeway Defend the Maldon causeway, which is clear only at low tide, and stop the Viking invaders. Play New The port of Hedeby Stack the cargo crates on the quay of Hedeby without letting them fall into the sea. Play New The catapult of Paris Hurl stones at the Viking boats coming up the Seine before they pass the bridge. Play New Ibn Fadlan's account Separate what is in Ibn Fadlan's account from what was invented later. Play New Alfred's cakes Take the cakes off the fire at the right moment, without letting them burn, as in the legend of Alfred. Play New Runes in Hagia Sophia Find the runes hidden in the marble before the guards arrive. Play New Ohthere's reindeer Guide Ohthere's reindeer into the pen without frightening them. Play New Guests in the hall Welcome the guests with what each one needs, as the Hávamál instructs. Play New The course of the Seine Turn the pieces of the river and bring the water from the spring to the sea. Play New Cnut's waves Spread your colour across the board, move by move, until it is covered. Play New The shield wall Bounce the ball with Ivar's axe and knock down the shield wall. Play New Crossing the fjord Cross the fjord by hopping from one ice floe to the next. Play New The tide at Clontarf Sink the three ships fleeing down the estuary with the tide. Play New The layers of Jórvík Dig a plot in Jórvík without breaking the fragile layers. Play New Rurik's oars Row in rhythm, alternating sides, and steer clear of the river banks. Play New Kaupang's market Arrange the goods without repeating any in a row. Play New The field of Brunanburh Flip the opponent's pieces and win the field. Play New Carts at the Ribe market Unblock the street full of carts and clear a way to the quay. Play New Runes on the stone Carve the right squares of the stone following the clues of each row and column. Play New The steps of the hill Move the four discs from one post to another without putting a larger on a smaller. Play

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