Hanseatic Republics
Establishing Nation
I. introductions
It's an isolated land. You wouldn't think that anyone would choose to live here, but once upon a time they did. Many people have died for the belief that they were choosing to discover a better life here. But that was a long time ago. Far beyond an era in which people could even read or write.
I can read and write, but I'm working this story out mostly from my memory. I'm putting these memories to paper.
Today ships come in and out of Festning Ingaborg on an hourly basis. Most of them aren't full of anything beyond fish. Occasionally some have passengers. I came aboard a passenger ship like this once. They usually aren't very large and can be extremely dangerous in the winter time. Agderike only maintains one ship capable of breaking the ice. They only use it to connect Fey to the rest of Agderike. It was always deemed the responsibly of the Aren and the Suionians to keep the shipping lanes open. It's a loveless job and something that you'd think that the Aren and Suiones would refuse to do now that their economies have sunk. Fey's economy fell with them, while Agder has relatively prospered in comparison to the rest of the North. Fey in return has become the forgotten island, a place where His Majesty's Navy comes to visit on what seems to be a weekly basis, but otherwise unimportant.
Fey maintains an interesting place in our history. It was deemed large enough to be considered part of a duel kingdom of sorts. King Haakon V maintains the title King of Agder and Fey. Yet the petty kingdoms of modern Agder were always more prosperous in the era in which Fey was once independent and free. Freedom is rather trivial though. Something to always be desired but never obtained. Don't let the republicans, communists, post-delegationists or otherwise trick you. We are never free. I have been to these places and nothing is any different. You are always at the mercy of your needs. No political system can change that, they can only change how you might satisfy your needs. Be that satisfaction easy or difficult, it has no impact on freedom. I don't believe anyway. Perhaps I'm starting on the wrong foot though. This is a very complicated world after all and grandiose cover all and catch all phrases won't change the fact that I'm hungry, and have been since last week.
I've been watching the fishing ships come in and out of Husavik Harbor for quite some time now. I've been waiting for a special boat. My friend Jens operates that boat, he helps keep me fed. I offer him a Rigsdaler and he'll give me half of a fish. Sometimes that fish will be free. It all depends on how many he has caught. He has to keep some around for the winter after all. Winter can be harsh and unforgiving. We here in Fey are the northern most place of human civilization that matters. The cost of maintaining this distinctive title is the winters that have no mercy. 'Next winter won't be as easy as ones previous.' That is the motto of sorts that the people of Fey uphold. All 1 million of them. It has given them character, but also makes them rough around the edges. I still have no real friends here. Friends are a luxury, and luxuries can only be obtained by birth right. Hard work will give you luxuries in a literal sense, but not friends. Not any friends that I would want anyway. I've left those friends behind long ago.
Jens boat is coming in late today. The sun is still up, but he should have been back an hour ago. It's so cold waiting outside.
He gives me a half fish for free today. He also invites me to play poker again with him tonight. I politely decline. He occasionally invites me. Originally he refused to sell or give me fish, but I won that right in a poker game. I think he always wants to win it back. I put what's between my legs on the line, and I demanded in return I demanded food. I won with pocket Kings. A man from Fey will keep his word. He shall not break an oath. It's part of the honor system that exists here. It once existed in Agder too, but Christianity in combination with Merican and Germanian culture slowly eroded that away. The traditions of old and the stories of past, they all disappeared. But they remain here in Fey.
I return to my factory dwelling that I share with Rebecka and Audun. They have been married for about five years. They agreed to take me in because of who I was. Who I haven't been in years.
Rebecka came home with potatoes and Audun came home with a paycheck. That kept the electricity on and the wood stove burning.
The factory dwellings were the former lodgings of those who worked in the fish canneries that once boomed in the early 20th century. This relatively short period of steady work disappeared in Fey after cheaper canneries in Himyar and Oceania opened up. They were just simply closer to population centers. Today there is only one major cannery on Fey. Audun works there.
The potatoes were particularly good with the fish today. But I only get one real meal a day, so everything tends to taste good.
Rebecka and Audun went to bed early. Meanwhile I went out. There is a small bar near the factory district where I make some money playing the piano. I'm saving the money to leave Fey. I get free mead for my work too. Most of them don't pay any attention to me though. I've cut my hair short. It's safer for a girl to work in those kinds of conditions. Otherwise you end up upstairs with the prostitutes. Mikkel the barman is probably the only man who knows I am a girl. He's also the only one who I talk to. Most others might think I'm mute. Perhaps even a musical genius then.
Today is an odd night though. The bar place is nearly empty. Mikkel tells me of rumors that a navy ship will dock in Husavik Harbor this night. This usually keeps the locals out of the bar. I don't like it when sailor come into town. They bring a certain sense of entitlement. They often drink more than they can handle and get into fights. The locals usually go to bars further inland on these days.
Sure enough sailors soon arrive at the bar. This night is different though. Today officers are in the bar. They are separated by rank which gives the bar a different feeling tonight. The atmosphere is mostly subdued and easy going. Until a drunken fight opens up. I spur it on by playing a fast catchy tune which gets more people rallied up. Yelling and screaming suddenly stops when a pistol is fired. The man appears to be high ranking. He separates those involved in the fight and quickly gets them brought back to the ship.
He walks over to me while I play another tune and grabs my shoulder.
The Captain: "Why are you playing music that incites my men and encourages this sort of riff raff?"
I'm quite visibly startled. Nobody talks to me, much less touches me. I'm speechless because I know if I speak it'll be obvious that I'm a girl. The last thing I need a room full of drunken sailors. Mikkel takes notice of what is going on and slowly walks over to the piano. The high ranking officer then leans into my ear and whispers.
The Captain: "Well, the rumors had gone around the court, but I never believed them to be true. I know exactly who you are."
The girl: "My name is Rikke Landsnes, who do you think I am?"
Captain: "Well, I think you are an alias."
Rikke: "What is an alias?"
Captain: "You don't play dumb well either. I know who you are. You may change your hair, length and color, but you cannot change your face Your Highness."
By this time Mikkel had walked up to the piano and asked what the problem seemed to be. The Captain turned and and told him to go away. Mikkel was not particularly fond of being told what to do in his tavern.
Mikkel: "I'm afraid you are going to have to leave, because you are disrespecting my pianist."
Captain: "I will agree to leave, but your pianist is coming with me. You see, there is a very large price for her."
Mikkel: "You aren't taking my pianist anywhere, engage in your sex trafficking affairs in another bar."
The Captain was none too pleased with the confrontation and accusation upon his honor and pointed his pistol at Mikkel. I wasn't sure what to do here. I feared that my cover had been blown and that I was now under the threat of being forced to return "home" with this military captain. So I ran. This clearly caught the captain off-guard as I promptly ran for the exit. A detachment of seven sailors promptly ran after me. I ran through the alleys, climbed over a fence and kept running until my legs couldn't go anymore. I think I had lost them and crept back into Rebecka and Audun's home. I couldn't sleep that night.
It's an isolated land. You wouldn't think that anyone would choose to live here, but once upon a time they did. Many people have died for the belief that they were choosing to discover a better life here. But that was a long time ago. Far beyond an era in which people could even read or write.
I can read and write, but I'm working this story out mostly from my memory. I'm putting these memories to paper.
Today ships come in and out of Festning Ingaborg on an hourly basis. Most of them aren't full of anything beyond fish. Occasionally some have passengers. I came aboard a passenger ship like this once. They usually aren't very large and can be extremely dangerous in the winter time. Agderike only maintains one ship capable of breaking the ice. They only use it to connect Fey to the rest of Agderike. It was always deemed the responsibly of the Aren and the Suionians to keep the shipping lanes open. It's a loveless job and something that you'd think that the Aren and Suiones would refuse to do now that their economies have sunk. Fey's economy fell with them, while Agder has relatively prospered in comparison to the rest of the North. Fey in return has become the forgotten island, a place where His Majesty's Navy comes to visit on what seems to be a weekly basis, but otherwise unimportant.
Fey maintains an interesting place in our history. It was deemed large enough to be considered part of a duel kingdom of sorts. King Haakon V maintains the title King of Agder and Fey. Yet the petty kingdoms of modern Agder were always more prosperous in the era in which Fey was once independent and free. Freedom is rather trivial though. Something to always be desired but never obtained. Don't let the republicans, communists, post-delegationists or otherwise trick you. We are never free. I have been to these places and nothing is any different. You are always at the mercy of your needs. No political system can change that, they can only change how you might satisfy your needs. Be that satisfaction easy or difficult, it has no impact on freedom. I don't believe anyway. Perhaps I'm starting on the wrong foot though. This is a very complicated world after all and grandiose cover all and catch all phrases won't change the fact that I'm hungry, and have been since last week.
I've been watching the fishing ships come in and out of Husavik Harbor for quite some time now. I've been waiting for a special boat. My friend Jens operates that boat, he helps keep me fed. I offer him a Rigsdaler and he'll give me half of a fish. Sometimes that fish will be free. It all depends on how many he has caught. He has to keep some around for the winter after all. Winter can be harsh and unforgiving. We here in Fey are the northern most place of human civilization that matters. The cost of maintaining this distinctive title is the winters that have no mercy. 'Next winter won't be as easy as ones previous.' That is the motto of sorts that the people of Fey uphold. All 1 million of them. It has given them character, but also makes them rough around the edges. I still have no real friends here. Friends are a luxury, and luxuries can only be obtained by birth right. Hard work will give you luxuries in a literal sense, but not friends. Not any friends that I would want anyway. I've left those friends behind long ago.
Jens boat is coming in late today. The sun is still up, but he should have been back an hour ago. It's so cold waiting outside.
He gives me a half fish for free today. He also invites me to play poker again with him tonight. I politely decline. He occasionally invites me. Originally he refused to sell or give me fish, but I won that right in a poker game. I think he always wants to win it back. I put what's between my legs on the line, and I demanded in return I demanded food. I won with pocket Kings. A man from Fey will keep his word. He shall not break an oath. It's part of the honor system that exists here. It once existed in Agder too, but Christianity in combination with Merican and Germanian culture slowly eroded that away. The traditions of old and the stories of past, they all disappeared. But they remain here in Fey.
I return to my factory dwelling that I share with Rebecka and Audun. They have been married for about five years. They agreed to take me in because of who I was. Who I haven't been in years.
Rebecka came home with potatoes and Audun came home with a paycheck. That kept the electricity on and the wood stove burning.
The factory dwellings were the former lodgings of those who worked in the fish canneries that once boomed in the early 20th century. This relatively short period of steady work disappeared in Fey after cheaper canneries in Himyar and Oceania opened up. They were just simply closer to population centers. Today there is only one major cannery on Fey. Audun works there.
The potatoes were particularly good with the fish today. But I only get one real meal a day, so everything tends to taste good.
Rebecka and Audun went to bed early. Meanwhile I went out. There is a small bar near the factory district where I make some money playing the piano. I'm saving the money to leave Fey. I get free mead for my work too. Most of them don't pay any attention to me though. I've cut my hair short. It's safer for a girl to work in those kinds of conditions. Otherwise you end up upstairs with the prostitutes. Mikkel the barman is probably the only man who knows I am a girl. He's also the only one who I talk to. Most others might think I'm mute. Perhaps even a musical genius then.
Today is an odd night though. The bar place is nearly empty. Mikkel tells me of rumors that a navy ship will dock in Husavik Harbor this night. This usually keeps the locals out of the bar. I don't like it when sailor come into town. They bring a certain sense of entitlement. They often drink more than they can handle and get into fights. The locals usually go to bars further inland on these days.
Sure enough sailors soon arrive at the bar. This night is different though. Today officers are in the bar. They are separated by rank which gives the bar a different feeling tonight. The atmosphere is mostly subdued and easy going. Until a drunken fight opens up. I spur it on by playing a fast catchy tune which gets more people rallied up. Yelling and screaming suddenly stops when a pistol is fired. The man appears to be high ranking. He separates those involved in the fight and quickly gets them brought back to the ship.
He walks over to me while I play another tune and grabs my shoulder.
The Captain: "Why are you playing music that incites my men and encourages this sort of riff raff?"
I'm quite visibly startled. Nobody talks to me, much less touches me. I'm speechless because I know if I speak it'll be obvious that I'm a girl. The last thing I need a room full of drunken sailors. Mikkel takes notice of what is going on and slowly walks over to the piano. The high ranking officer then leans into my ear and whispers.
The Captain: "Well, the rumors had gone around the court, but I never believed them to be true. I know exactly who you are."
The girl: "My name is Rikke Landsnes, who do you think I am?"
Captain: "Well, I think you are an alias."
Rikke: "What is an alias?"
Captain: "You don't play dumb well either. I know who you are. You may change your hair, length and color, but you cannot change your face Your Highness."
By this time Mikkel had walked up to the piano and asked what the problem seemed to be. The Captain turned and and told him to go away. Mikkel was not particularly fond of being told what to do in his tavern.
Mikkel: "I'm afraid you are going to have to leave, because you are disrespecting my pianist."
Captain: "I will agree to leave, but your pianist is coming with me. You see, there is a very large price for her."
Mikkel: "You aren't taking my pianist anywhere, engage in your sex trafficking affairs in another bar."
The Captain was none too pleased with the confrontation and accusation upon his honor and pointed his pistol at Mikkel. I wasn't sure what to do here. I feared that my cover had been blown and that I was now under the threat of being forced to return "home" with this military captain. So I ran. This clearly caught the captain off-guard as I promptly ran for the exit. A detachment of seven sailors promptly ran after me. I ran through the alleys, climbed over a fence and kept running until my legs couldn't go anymore. I think I had lost them and crept back into Rebecka and Audun's home. I couldn't sleep that night.