Creating something new, day 46
The gift & Ting
Its early, and still dark outside. We quickly wash, as we make our way to the great hall for breakfast the sky has just started to become brighter. Only three other guests are awake besides my company and the Jarl's family, although I guess they're only here because we are. Röthny, the female Storman, is one of them. It is a fairly quiet and peaceful breakfast, and the food is good.
Jarl Naeswulf hope we've slept well and are rested for our long journey, which I can only confirm and thank for the room. We got something like 6 hours of sleep and we didn't feast so hard. He regrets that our early withdrawal yesterday didn't allow him to give me a small gift for my excellent show of sejd. Such a splendid and impressive show is difficult to match in gifts, but he has tried to match the two rockets and hope that I can find the gift useful, at my Academy, if not for other purposes.
He signal, and from the side, two young women walk forward. Slaves according to their neckrings but still quite nicely dressed and beautiful, so I can imagine what other purpose he refers to. I'm not happy about having more people given to me, and this actually give me a flashback to Jarl Steinnes. Another Jarl who gave me a woman for showing sejd - Iselin. Does this mean that Jarl Naeswulf know who Iselin is, or is it just that common to give away pretty slave women to a man? Does it have anything to do with me being an older man that never married? All of the above? I dislike there being possible complex layers to a gift.
Anyway, I realize that they propably are really exotic slaves far from away. They have a slightly different skin tone and appearance, even from each other, and one has black hair while the other has brown. The black-haired one curtsy and introduces herself as Jalida, the brown-haired one as Elvira, and Jarl Naeswulf says that in addition to being good maids who can speak the language here, they also speak their native languages, which are major languages far away across the sea, on the other side of Frigonia. So the iberian peninsula?
I really have no choice but to thank Jarl Naeswulf for the gift and accept, as it is an insult to refuse even an unwanted gift - and the gift isn't bad or an insult according to their culture. Others will see the gift as valuable and exotic even if the womens value is relative, and no matter what I think of it, I need maids for my Academy and their language skills can be practical as interpreters. But just giving away people like that just feels so wrong, and before accepting invitations to feast or similar gift likely occasions, I really, really have to inform that gifts in the form of people are not appreciated. They walkover and stand behind my company when I thank him.
I'm more surprised when Jarl Naeswulf and an older man who reintroduce himself as his uncle Storman Maurr give me one more gift each. Land to establish two reaction ferries across the river, one closer to Laxlanda where Storman Maurr seems to reside an own a lot, and one here in Elfrhamr, as well as the rights to charge a transport fee and without paying tax to Jarl Naeswulf. Yesterday, I talked a lot about the river, transport, canals, locks and other things, and among other things I mentioned that there is probably enough constant current that a reaction ferry can be made across the river. Of course, I didn't explain the details of how it would work, I just said that a ferry can use the current instead of fighting it. Since all transportation crossing the river is row across in a Knarr or Faering, it is cumbersome to transport goods and larger items, and the traffic is limited.
A reaction ferry in its basic form, is as simple as it is to make a ferry, because it is a boat without propulsion that is attached with a wire further upstream. When its ferryman want to take the ferry to the other side, he angles the boat against the current via the rudder or the arm to which the wire is attached, and the current push the ferry over to the other side where it is attached to the jetty. No rowing, sailing or hard work. Just let the current push the ferry. To summon the ferry if its on the other side, a simple bronze clock can be used on each jetty, and the ferryman can live in a small house by one of the jetties. The river seem to lack any good islands to use as a central mounting point for attaching the rope, and I don't want to sink something large and heavy enough to anchor it on the bottom, as maintenance won't work. The river is also usually very wide with long wide bends, so attaching on one side and using a bend so that from the ferrys point of view, the rope is attached in the middle, won't work. There is also the problem of a taught rope blocking boats when its on one side. Its also a bad idea to have the ferry just above rapids, since when the rope finally break, it will probably be with a full load and people onboard, which might die in the rapids.
My idea is to attach the guide rope high enough above the river so it is possible to sail under, but it is not necessary if no one sails there anyway due to the rapids, and the rope will last better in the air and be more maintenance friendly. On the calmer narrower parts below or between the rapids where no one is sailing, it should work well with reaction ferries.
A couple of reaction ferries will make it much easier and faster to cross the river, and properly designed, a larger ferry could be made of two longer boats that are used as pontoons with a platform on top for wagons and horses. Of course, I understand that Jarl Naeswulf and Storman Maurr have a personal interest in giving me this gift. I get a reason to visit their lands, and it will probably increase the transport of goods through their area, which increases their income, influence and status. A small patch of land on either side that didn't really have much value is definitely worth it for them. It is not even a mantal, because the land will probably lack arable land, and isn't large enough to feed a family. The ferry crossings toll will support the ferryman and give me a small income.
The breakfast is over and we fetch our luggage, and Jalida and Elvira pick up a simple shoulder bag and follow, while helping to carry our packs. It just feels wrong to let the maids carry everything, so I take my own pack, and I ignore the quick and slightly displeased expression from Kari and Iselin. Bodil is driving our carriage, and after a gesture, Jalida and Elvira climb on up in the cargo area in the back. They're not cargo, but there is room and its just unnecessarily tiring that they walk along, as we have to travel something like 30km. And we need to make good speed and use all the daylight we can. I should build an odometer for the carriage with a hundred meter resolution. It can loop at 99.9 km, or 999.9km, but I should add a simple reset.
Jarl Naeswulf, his sons, Storman Maurr and some of their guards and maids ride along, so that I can be shown land and be able to choose where it suits the ferries best. Storman Maurr will also return to his home in Laxlanda, and will ride along as an escort to show the land there.
----------------------------------------
Its almost noon before we're aboard the Millennium Eagle, with horses and carriage loaded and we're casting off.
Hopefully I'll be able to send someone to act as the construction manager of the whole project and its rope support, ferries, jettys and a small 6x4 house in each place, so I can just come and inspect it before its inauguration. Each ferrycrossing will include a small amount of arable land as well. Jarl Naeswulf owns much of the land along the river, and wants me to return to Elfrhamr, so the land there will be worth a mantal, but with quite a lot of forest and mountains. Most of the region around Elfrhamr are rocky hills and forest with patches of farmland, and its also nice that it include hunting and fishing rights. Thats usually the case, but not always. Naeswulf will ensure that there are plenty of logs and stones available for the constructions at Elfrhamr, and that there will be an extension of the roads on each side to the ferry. I guess if this is successful, the canal and lock might be a possibility, but that is a huge project that will take many years as there are lots of rock that they have to cut through to make a canal. Especially at Trollhättan, where 3/4 of all the fall meters are. However, Jarl Naeswulf and his eldest son seem to see it as a possible prestige project, which will also make them richer in the long run if large ships start sailing all the way to Storsjön.
Storman Maurr is definitely interested in that, since the cargo on the river still has to be transported by road the last 30km, it is actually closer to reach the sea from Elfrhamr by going west to a coastal village northeast of Orusingen. The same actually applies at Lysesund, as it seems to be around 25km going by the road through the forest valleys and over the hills between Lysesund and Laxlanda. Sailing down via Borgarsandr and back up is four times longer, but for most goods, the destination is Borgarsandr, and for that the river is safer, faster and more protected water.
Storman Maurr was even more generous, and seems very enthusiastic about the project, so the land at Laxlanda is 2 mantal, although much less forest and rocky hills, and I got the land south of the rapids and just north of Laxlanda. The first reaction ferry is likely to be constructed at Laxlanda, as its closer for me to travel there from my islands, by simply riding from Lysesund through the forest valleys. I'm welcome to visit Storman Maurr when convenient, and he's looking forward to future business. Maurr will ensure that the site for the foundations of the rope's support and its anchorage are cleared to the bedrock and constructed. Maurr seems really eager to be involved, and happy for something exiting happening in his life. He always visits the Tosra autumn meet, and I can give him sketches and drawings then, on both the supports and the ferry. He knows a good local boat builder a little further down the river, and the closer the better. Maurr will also prepare building materials, as he own a lot of those forest covered hills and I overestimate a bit, as there is a lot to be built, and the support and jetties need to be good and stable.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
----------------------------------------
The rest of the day's journey will take us down the river, past Borgarsandr and out to sea, then further south something like 40km. It will go relatively quickly. It is downstream in the river and those 2-3km/h help, and Asta is happy with the wind direction and strength. As I understand it, the next feast is at Storman Radgeirrson farm somewhere inland by Modern Kungsbacka, so something like 120km left, which is a really long day trip by sailboat, plus an hour or two on land, but Radgeirrson knows we can be late. We already knew about Jarl Naeswulfs feast when his messenger came, and we havn't heard anything about a changed date. But it's nice that Asta knows the sea route, and Kari and Iselin know the land route. Iselin has already been there once for the installation of the sundial.
I have welcomed Elvira and Jalida into my service, and asked my company to try to get them use to their future service on my new mansion. We need maids for the mansion, so its better they start there, and the Academy's construction hasn't even started yet. If we want other maids in the future, they can move to the Academy. They will accompany the ship to our destination, and we will probably bring one to the feast because it gives a better impression. We simply don't have time to drop them off in Borgarsandr, although they could certainly have found their way to the farm themselves. Sure, they might run away, but I don't think they will, but Gunhild wouldn't trust them anyway. Why would she? They are two unknown women, and I don't really know how to solve that here and now. I can't call or send an SMS, and write a message in English that only Jane could read, is a bad though working idea. We should establish a simple crypto system for communication between me, my girlfriends and guards, so that we can send secret messages, and verify via the crypto that the message is from the right person. Urk! It will be an bother to do it right, because how do you make a good crypto when they don't have a real alphabet? No specific order that the letters always come in, and they also lack fixed spelling of words. However, its slightly easier for us since most use the same alphabet, and Kari thought me and Ciara, so it is not that difficult for us as a small group. Only Iselin needs to change.
We have to solve the maids sleeping arrangment until we move to my mansion, and there is one week left. It felt crowded in the borrowed house before Jane showed up, and now there are two more living there. Although they don't need their own beds, and certainly won't expect it. Maids sleep on the floors of the kitchen, of their owners room, the main hall or the barn, depending on their social status, and Jalida and Elvira are slaves. My sambos know, however, that all personal in my mansion will have their own bed, even if the staff and guards will have bunk beds. I havn't told them that they will have down mattresses as well. It is not a large cost and those mattresses lasts a long time, and it should help keep down on insects and bedbugs in the mansion, since if they're somewhere in there, they will end up everywhere.
Damn, I'm really surrounded by women in my life right now. Ten. All probably 18-28 years old, and Gunhild is the oldest at 28, followed by three years younger Jane, followed by three years younger Kari, and the remaining seven are probably between 18-22 years old.
I take one of the new deck chairs and sit in the sails shade up on the stern deck and look at the landscape that quickly glides by.
----------------------------------------
The drawings and schematics of the odometer and its parts have been completed, and there will be a manual lever for reset. Thinking about the carriage have made me realise that I will store a leather roll with tools that may be needed for the carriage, and also try and hide a shovel on the underside. We've had no problems so far, and the latest journey went without any incidents, but eventually there will be problems. The roads will be quite bad in winter, and its best to be prepared for mud and problems. If there was room, I would have like to include a simpler plank solution with grooves for two wheels as well, pretty much a medieval version of those plates you use to get the car out from being stuck in sand or mud.
My sambos have accompanied me in their own deck chairs. Everyone has appreciated the deck chairs and that the craftsman got four ready before departure. We've already ordered wooden frames for twenty more, and fabric with the Academy logo on fourteen, and my logo on six. Along with other things. After trying them out while we were at Naeswulf's feast, Asta appreciate that the ship will permanently have those with the Academy logo, and that the crew can use half of them if they want when they're off duty, even if we or guests of course will have priority. They don't take up much space when stored.
We're sailing past Ting's hamn. Its very descriptive, as its the harbor for this region's Stor Ting, and the Kingdom's governing body the following day, Northmen Ting. In half a year, I'll be there. It will be a hell of an experience, even though I will just have basic voting power. My land in Skiringsalr gives me the right to vote in that regions local Stor Ting, but also in the Kingdoms Northmen Ting. Before I got those gifts from Jarl Naeswulf and Storman Maurr, I wouldn't have any voting power in this regions Stor Ting, but I will only have three mantals, so I will be in the back section. I may be my own king, but since the islands no longer a part of the Kingdom, they don't count, and even at the Northmen Ting where all property in the kingdom is included, I still have to stand in the second zone from the back along with those with up to 9 mantals. I should try to buy more land, as I only need two mantal to get to the next zone.
Even though this isn't a full democracy, I still like how the Kingdom is ruled, and that it is a form of democracy in which both men and women participate. The local residents meet in a Ting, an assembly, where those who own land they can live of, have the right to vote. The larger the region and Ting, the more orderly it becomes. The King is elected, and retains the position until he loses the trust of the people and someone else is elected. It might be a Queen too, but so far that has never happened from a Vote. If the King dies and doesn't have a son to take his place until the next Northmen Ting, the Queen rules, followed by a secondary Queen. Followed by brothers, daugters and lastly sisters. If they're all dead, then the Gods obviously want no-one to rule until the next Northmen Ting.
But once elected, the King then rules until the next Northmen Ting, and the King is the one who decides on Jarl's titles, agreements between countries, raids, wars, etc. But the King can't make Laws. Laws are voted on at Stor Ting or Northmen Ting. The Kingdom is an elective monarchy, except in the southern most part thats small hereditary monarchies, where the elected King of Northmen Ting is their King, but is a person to whom the Counts individually need to swear fealty. Which they always do to keep their power, because otherwise they become a target for the other Counts, and the Counts know that the new King can also declare war on them if they don't swear fealty, and might be offended. The King will get the rest of the Kingdoms backing. If they lose, it will be the end of that County, and the land becomes part of the Kingdom, with Stor Tings and the like. So I'm not surprised that they so far have always sworn allegiance to the chosen King. Especially as the kingdom supports the Counts against the Daes hope of conquest.
Its kind of funny, but the Norse do respect the Law and the Tings decision. According to Kari they might argue like hell before, and there might be lots of dirty tricks to delay or just ambushing people traveling to the Ting - which might be an innocent third party just to change the balance of the Vote. But once on the Tings ground and the Vote have been made? Then that is that. Better luck next time. Sure, killing someone is bad, especially if you get caught, but if you travel to the Ting and get killed? Well. You really should have prepared better and traveled in a larger group, and the Gods didn't favour you anyway. Quit whining, and man the fuck up.
Voting rights and power at a Stor Ting are from mantal land you own in the region, and to make it clear how important your vote is and make it easier to count, its all about the distance from the center. There are only six zones that are separated by stones laid on the ground in arcs, and for the Stor Ting is:
The people without the right to vote at the back. Then up to 9 mantal, followed by up to 27, up to 81, up to 243, and closest to the middle over 243. The numbers sound strange me, but like much else its based on 3, 9 or 27, which are important numbers and a symmetry that seems to appeal to the culture. The actually exact limits doesn't matter, but each zone forward makes the vote worth three of the one behind, and on smaller Things the same applies but can start with up to 1 or 3 instead of up to 9. The system makes it much easier to count votes, and limits the voting rights of the absolute richest who own thousands of mantal. I guess its with weapons and dirty tricks that the richest have been forced from that right in the past, or its simply that it has only grown from the smaller Tings. Kari and the others don't know. In general Midgard history, it was with the hereditary monarchies that it was established that the King owns everything someone else doesn't own, and have all the rights unless granted to someone, and it seems that this has never happened here, except in the Counties to the south. And even there, if you own the land, you own the rights unless it was sold without it.
Then again, it takes 81 of those with the smallest vote to equal someone furthest in, but only 27 of the next level, and up to 9 and up to 27 are without a doubt the largest groups. Those with only one or two mantal rarely go to the Stor Tings, simply because they can't afford it or consider it worth it.
In the two front zones you're allowed to sit on a simple X chair without a back. Being able to sit in the first or second zone at Stor Ting, is what gives one the right to call oneself a Storman, a Great man, even if the person happens to be a woman. It probably used to be called 'Stor mantal' which means Great Mantal, but it sounded funny to say and has naturally been shortened to 'Storman' in everyday speech which has since stuck. There are a couple of other older titles as well, but they have almost disappeared in everyday speech and social rank. However, the King can still award someone these titles, and it is sometimes done as a reward for something important or really impressive. If the King expect to keep the throne, he will need to motivate his decision from the last year. Its a bit like a company board that needs to justify their decisions to the share holders.
I should try to buy a few more mantal so I can move forward a zone at Northmen Ting, and it would be nice to sit down as they might take hours, but more than 81 mantal is a lot of land. It will be difficult to buy and expensive, and it will also make people think I should have more wives and concubines. I can endure a few hours of standing at the Stor Ting and Northmen Ting. Large voting power would be nice, but influencing and persuading those who actually have more voting power is far more important.