The Saxon Throne
Your brother died on Danish spears; the crown they set on you is still warm.
About this game
AD 871. Your brother died on Danish spears at Meretun, and the witan of Wessex has set his crown on your head. Northumbria, East Anglia and Mercia have already fallen to the heathen host — Wessex is the last Christian kingdom in England. Kings die; the line goes on, and you rule on as whoever the witan raises next.
Opening scenario
The Hollow Crown
Your brother's body lies before the altar at Wintanceaster, the witan has just acclaimed you king, and a Danish messenger waits in the yard with Guthrum's price for peace.
Where you start
Your setup
Wintanceaster, Wessex. Lent, the year of our Lord 871 — the year men will later call the year of nine battles.
Three weeks ago King Osbert took a Danish spear under the arm at Meretun and died of the wound four days after. He left no grown son. The witan of Wessex — bishops, ealdormen, the king's thegns — met in the minster and acclaimed his younger brother [YOUR NAME], hereafter Osric, first of that name, King of the West Saxons. The crowning oil is barely dry on his forehead. Osbert's body still lies before the altar on a bier of trestles and cloth, unburied, because the minster wants forty pounds of silver for the rites and masses and Bishop Eadred will not simply waive it in front of witnesses.
Present in or near the royal hall, right now:
LEOFRIC — captain of the hearth-troop, forty-odd, grey in the beard, carried Osbert off the field at Meretun and has not slept properly since. He counts men, not silver. He has come to tell the king that 210 sworn warriors is what remains of two households, and that it is not enough for a battle but is plenty for a running fight.
BISHOP EADRED — holds the treasury keys and the kingdom's conscience. Calls the Danes pagans and heathens to their faces and would rather burn than see relics traded for peace. Wants the burial paid, the masses sung, and no silver going to Guthrum.
EALDORMAN WULFHERE of Wiltunscir — brought sixty men to the acclamation and kept two hundred at home. Polite, watchful, quietly pricing which of the two kings in England is the better bet. Says "Lord King" with just enough pause before it.
QUEEN EADGIFU — married to Osric eleven years, Mercian-born, with kin at the court of Burgred. Sharper at reading a hall than her husband. Already thinking about which ealdorman's son might be worth ten-year-old Ælfwynn.
LADY CYNEBURH — Osbert's widow, in mourning wool, sitting with her son. Grief and calculation in equal measure.
EDWARD, son of Osbert — seventeen, tall, good with a spear, passed over by the witan because the kingdom needed a man grown this spring and not next. He knelt to his uncle and meant it. He also cannot keep his mouth shut, and has said twice in hearing of servants that he is the elder line.
In the yard beyond the doors, standing in the mud with two Danish spearmen and a horse, waits GUTHRUM'S MESSENGER — a Saxon-speaking Dane named Sigurd Two-Fingers, with a rolled skin and a price. Guthrum's host, some two thousand four hundred hardened men, winters behind the earthworks at Readingum, twelve days' march away, and knows precisely how new this king is.
Ale is going cold on the boards. Everyone in the hall is waiting to see what the new Lord King does first.
Things you can try
- Hear the Danish messenger
- Take counsel with Bishop Eadred
- Kneel at your brother's bier
- Summon Leofric and count spears
- Send riders to the ealdormen
Categories
Play on iPhone
Open this link on iPhone with the Larping app installed and it jumps straight to the game. No app yet? Grab it from the App Store.