Vendel

I've continued my Iron Age project and narrowing the timeline down. The perfect mix of interesting architecture, culture, and cinematic conflict seems to be around the Vendel Era. This is a time that is represented by famous stories like Beowulf, Ynglingatal, and the Völsungsaga, and gold, treasures, carefully ornamented weapons, armors, and tools in archaeological findings. Sagas tell of great kings - who often did pretty strange things - and all kinds of unearthly things lurking in the shadows. The written language was the elder futhark which has survived mainly on runestones. I'd like to think that literate people wrote on materials that have not survived until today, but the general opinion is that these people did not keep a written record of events which adds another layer of mystery.

My hometown Uppsala as I imagine it about 1,500 years ago, with a bit of subjective skew to it. It is likely it was called something like Upsal (the raised hall) as there was a great hall raised on a terrace close to where the church in Gamla Uppsala is today. The picture above has at least 2 barrows behind the great hall, the west mound might not have been constructed yet.
For cinematic purposes I've exaggerated the topography somewhat because I have some ideals when it comes to camera angles, but I don't want to drive that too far since the characteristics of Uppland is the expansive landscapes. 
And yes, my poor rider is still mounted on his tired horse... Maybe he'll find hospitality down there. 

The hall is based on a reconstruction of a hall in Borg, Norway from the same era. It is about 50 meters long and I imagine some intricate decorations within the hall based on how other items usually were detailed. Can't wait to get started on that interior..  My vision of Uppsala is a planned landscape with pleasant pathways, gardens, monuments, and pastures connecting living areas. Beyond that lies deep forests and wild places visited at your own peril. 
Scandinavia is very colorful except maybe in wintertime, but then you might be surprised by some dancing northern lights, so I'm aiming not to make it gloomy by default. Unpredictable and dramatic weather will take care of that though. 

A large boat has been pulled up on shore along the river. Already in the year 98 CE Tacitus wrote what skilled seafarers the Scandinavian people were...   later some became vikings who pillaged and destroyed... anyway, it's all ancient history. 
The sea level was much higher than today since the landscape rose late after the last ice age. Back then people could travel by ship on waterways that are now barely noticeable in the landscape. I'll have these rivers run out into Mälaren in the south, so almost half the map ends naturally in the ocean. 

Planning the map is a puzzle. I'm trying to fit in a couple important places between Uppsala in the south and Vendel in the north and I would like those to be in the same map which is 4x4km. I ended up going the miniature-route where the landscape in between landmarks is squashed into a 1/8 scale version. There will be hill forts and villages everywhere, but I think this compromise is kind to player patience and still gives enough space to feel expansive.  

A funny thing happened as I am working on this thing..  I check the news the other day and see that archaeologists in Gamla Uppsala found the largest monument ever in Sweden from this time. Under the road I took to school for 10 years was a row of 150 postholes that ran for 1,000 meters. The posts would have been massive, maybe 10 meters tall, and so I had to update the scene to accommodate for even a miniature version of that..  It is pretty cool though because no one has a definite answer yet to what this was or what it looked like. So I can play around with any idea until they figure it out. For now I just sculpted poles carved with designs inspired by figurines and decorations from the time. 

More to come, stay tuned!