Mythology

The Norse had beliefs about Rasmus, now long-lost to time. It was thought that a Ragnarök-like event had “reset” the cosmos, and that he was a deity reincarnated as a human. Golden-haired, gentle, and having been born in a sacred grove dedicated to the slain god, Rasmus bore a likeness to Baldr (or Balðraz in proto-German), the beloved god of peace, joy, beauty, and the summer sun whose tragic death triggered the very same Ragnarök.

Baldr, a son of Óðinn, was not just adored by his peers — his mother, Frigg, saw to it that he would never meet harm by begging all living creatures to take an oath that they would never hurt him. Frigg neglected to request an oath from mistletoe, and out of jealousy, Loki one day convinced Baldr’s blind brother Höðr to shoot an arrow laced with mistletoe at him. Baldr perished in front of all the gods, who were so distraught that a terrible winter befell the realm before the inevitable apocalyptic reset. Baldr’s fate was to return and inherit the new world, but only if all creatures wept for him.

This is all, of course, an open-ended interpretation. Very few traces of the beliefs revolving around Rasmus were recorded, and they are so vague that no one has realized they are about him. Needless to say, Rasmus doesn’t know any of this himself, as he was too young to understand and has forgotten a lot of his childhood anyways.

There are quite a few undeniable parallels, though. He happens to be allergic to mistletoe, was born in a grove thought to have been where Baldr’s temple was, and upon first waking up was holding in his hand a gold ring — similar to draupnir, the gold ring Óðinn sent to Niflheim with deceased Baldr.

VIKING AGE

• 872: Rasmus is born in a grove deep in the heart of Sognefjorden (probably present-day Leikanger) after the Battle of Hafrsfjord, which began the unification of Norway’s petty kingdoms. His mother Hæilví was a seiðkona representing the petty kingdom of Þróndalog, and his father Eyvindr was the petty kingdom of Hǫrðafylki. Rasmus does not remember his mother very well, and has no memories of his father at all; Eyvindr was away from his family nearly constantly on expeditions establishing Norse city-states and trading routes for his son to inherit down the line. At the time, resources in Scandinavia were sparse, so his travels were both for the prophecy of his son’s future and for the sake of their country’s people. In a way, Eyvindr could be described as a viking, as his methods were not always peaceful, per se…

• 890: Hæilví dies, and with Eyvindr overseas, Ras as a roughly nine-year-old is taken in by Fairhair and becomes a hird. He travels with Harald across Norway and lives with him & his family at their various royal estates, including Avaldsnes and Alrekstaðir in Bergen, which becomes his “hometown”. As a hird he learns how to fight, but most of his “work” consists of taking care of the various royal farms. At some point during their travels he meets his half-sister Idunn, whose parents were Hæilví and an unknown Sami man. (note this is also the year that the settlement of Iceland was complete. Rasmus does not know Iceland exists at this point, but Fálki knows that Rasmus exists, despite never having met.)

• 937: Eyvindr dies at the Battle of Brunanburh, which is said to have been the beginnings of English national identity. Unknown to Rasmus and Arthur, he’s slain at the hands of Arthur’s father.

• 961: He meets Aksel at the Battle of Fitjar, where they fight over control of Viken (present-day Oslo) and develop a rivalry. It was a Norwegian victory, but Håkon the Good died as a result of his injuries in battle, and it destabilized the country.

• 986: Battle of Hjørungavåg against Aksel. He clashed with him on the deck of a longship, helmeted, so Aksel could not even tell who he was fighting until he slashed his chest and knocked his helmet off. Stunned, he wasn’t able to dodge Rasmus’ counter attack. They received matching scars as a result and, although the Norwegians won the battle, the victory was sort of co-opted against him by Aksel, who became obsessed with their “red string of fate” scars and would not leave him alone after that point. After a while, Rasmus even forgets that he won this battle.

• 995: The final king of the Fairhair dynasty, Olav I, relieves him of hird duty in favor of receiving cleric education. He travels to England to learn at a monastery there and meets Arthur. They become friends and promise one another that they’ll become strong allied empires. As a member of the clergy now, Rasmus assumes a sort of diplomatic role, still traveling with the king but less for protection and more as an advisor. Sometimes he traveled on behalf of the king.
Up until this point his name had been Hári Haraldsson. Upon baptism, he was named Rasmus.

• 997: Ingebjørg, who represents Trøndelag, is born when Olav I organizes the trading area there into a town referred to as Kaupangen and establishes a royal residence at Skipakrok. Ingebjørg is Rasmus’ oldest “child”, and actually has an even older sister, Embla (Jämtland), who was born shortly after the Jamtamót was established.

• 999-1000: Battle of Svolder. He’s captured by Albin, who he meets for the first time, on his way back from Pomerania and forced to live in Viken under Danish rule. Olav I dies in this battle after jumping overboard.

• 1015: Allies with Olav II and defeats Jarl Sweyn at the Battle of Nesjar a year later. Olav becomes the king of Norway, later on the national patron saint, and one of Rasmus’ most important friends. Around this time he meets Ewan as well.

• 1018: Extends an olive branch to Albin as Olav II makes amends with Sweden. They become friends. Important to note here is that this is probably the start of the competitive schism between Aksel and Albin, as they both have personal interests in him and Norway.

• 1026: Battle of Helgeå in September. This is the start of Ras and Albin’s unified attempt at stamping Danish control out of the Scandinavian peninsula. It was ultimately a Danish victory, but it brings Ras and Albin closer. Danish King Cnute blocked the Norwegian ships from returning home, so instead they landed in Sweden and made their way back overland. They set up a winter camp near Sarpsborg and by 1028 were making their way back to Trøndelag.

• 1028: Back in Trøndelag, Olav II defeats Erling Skjalgsson, a chieftain concerned with the preservation of the þings as opposed to the unity the Fairhairs had brought, at the Battle of Boknafjord. This angers the local people and as a result Olav must flee to Russia. His kingship in Norway technically ends, making way for Cnute’s reign, and a period of union with Denmark.

• 1030: Battle of Stiklestad. Olav II dies, Rasmus and Albin are injured in battle. Another important note is that this is the origin of Rasmus’ current surname, Dalslåen: among Olav’s allies were the former petty kings of Hedmark, including one whose land comprised what is now Dalholen in Folldalen. A parcel of farmland was given to Rasmus as a gesture of loyalty and trust and he has owned it since. The site was simply called Dalrslǫn (valley grove) and was located off a road that led directly to Nidaros, then-capital of Norway. Ras’ farm was a rendezvous point for Olav, his allies, and Albin. The last place Rasmus shared a peaceful meal with Olav was this farm.

• 1046: Harald Sigurdsson (Hardrada) becomes the king of Norway. Harald was the half brother of Olav II and was a young teenager when he was present at Stiklestad — he managed to escape after being saved by Rasmus. This ends the union with Denmark that had been in place since 1028.

MEDIEVAL AGES

• 1048: Ole is born when the village of Ánslo (Oslo) becomes a recognized place of trading significance. Being in Viken, he is half-Danish, half-Norwegian, and considers both Aksel and Rasmus his parents. His early childhood is spent living primarily under Aksel’s care.

• 1062: At the Battle of Niså, Rasmus saves Aksel from drowning. Two years later Denmark and Norway officially make peace, due largely in part to Aksel and Rasmus’ influence.

• 1070: Åsta, Bergen, is born. She is the child living closest to him, so she’s often at his side.

• 1078: Rasmus is invited by Pope Gregory VII to receive training at the Holy See in Rome. He travels there and stays for upwards of a year, and eventually becomes a priest, then a bishop. He continues to return every once in a while for council meetings and to visit with Asterias. His reputation with the church grows very respectable all the way up to the Reformations.

• 1134: The Norwegian civil wars begin. This marks the start of a very rough and bloody period of Rasmus’ life, torn between the numerous pretenders to the Norwegian throne and thrown into destabilization. The wars last until 1240. The most important moment throughout the war for Rasmus personally are the Battle of Fimreite in 1184 – where he was pierced through the shoulder by an arrow four kilometers from where Baldr was also allegedly felled by an arrow – and the last year of the war, when Erling Magnusson, the final pretender, died. It’s said that “old Norway” died with him and it can be seen as the final realization of Harald Fairhair’s desire to fully unite the country. You could say this is Rasmus’ coming of age.

• 1152: Norway is given an archbishopric by the papacy, and Rasmus becomes the first archbishop of Norway. This is how he gained the title “archiepiscopus perpetuus norvegiae”, Latin for eternal archbishop of Norway, matching Saint Olav’s eternal king of Norway. Eventually as Nidaros cathedral is built a stained glass panel will be made of him and placed at the end of the cathedral, overlooking the heart of Norway, where its kings (including Olav II) are consecrated.

• 1171: Siege of Dublin. Hearing that all the Norse-Irish were slaughtered by a raid of King Henry’s on Dublin – then a city state in the Norwegian empire – Rasmus came the following year with several fleets of the leidang to attempt retaking the city. Their efforts failed, though, and it was the last time he saw Ireland again for several centuries. In the battle he received a scar that lingered well into the 20th century, and the incident created bad blood between himself and Arthur, who berated him for being weak and going back on his word that they would become strong empires together.

• 1178: After the Battle of Storsjön, Jämtland becomes Norwegian (it had been existing independently for some time). Embla is quite a feisty girl, and sort of resents Rasmus for taking her in at the time, but she grows to like him. She’s sort of like the “foster” sibling to the rest of the kids, half-Swedish the way Ole is half-Danish.

• 1261: Danish Princess Ingebjørg marries Norwegian king Magnus Haakonsson at Håkon’s Hall in Bergen. Rasmus and Aksel share their first kiss ahead of Rasmus’ journey to Iceland the following year to usher in the Old Covenant there.

• 1263: Battle of Largs. Scotland and Norway had been communicating on control over the Hebrides and Orkneys and the Norwegian king was ambushed by the Scots while he was on his way to what was supposed to be a negotiation. Ewan did not think Rasmus would be there since he’d heard of his trip to Iceland and saved him from being killed in the midst of the battle.

• 1299: With the completion of Akershus Festning, the royal seat of residence becomes Oslo, effectively moving the capital. Rasmus officially, permanently, moves from Bergen to Oslo.

• 1319: Personal union with Sweden. He has feelings for both Aksel and Albin, but mostly for Albin, whom he considers something of a partner. They never decided that they were necessarily in a committed relationship, but it was obvious there was mutual interest.

• 1349: The black death arrives in Norway. As a bishop, Rasmus does not back away from comforting the sick and giving last rites, leading him to repeatedly become ill himself. He dies a couple times, once in Albin’s bed. Albin tries to make him promise he will stop putting himself at risk but Rasmus refuses, as he is the only remaining member of the Nidaros clergy left besides one canon. Norway loses 2/3rds of its population to the plague and enters a long decline as a kingdom. As a result, he loses most of his bodily strength, and for centuries after will need a cane to walk.

• 1360: The Hanseatic league establishes a kontor (office) in Bergen.

• 1387: Under Queen Margareta, a union between Norway and Denmark begins. Norwegian interests are represented by noblemen and the clergy. Rasmus is convinced to marry Aksel.

• 1397: The Kalmar Union between Norway, Denmark, and Sweden begins. Most power lies with Denmark. The intent was primarily to curb the influence of the Hanseatic league and was initially supported by nobles and clergies in Norway and Sweden, but not long after the monarchy was called into question and support quickly declined.

The 1400s and 1500s are marked by numerous “peasant rebellions” in Norway and Sweden against Danish rule. Oslo is often the target of these rebellions, as it’s practically overrun by Danish elite.

• 1468: Orkney and Shetland are officially transferred to Scotland. it has been decades since Ewan had last seen him, anyways, as at the start of the union with Denmark in 1387 Aksel took over “responsibility” for collecting the debts Scotland owed to Norway.

• 1520: The Stockholm Bloodbath happens. In a fit of psychosis, the Danish king of the union orders the public executions of Sweden’s elite, including Albin; Aksel is sent on the mission and beheads Albin, and has Rasmus clean the axe. Realizing how mentally unstable Aksel has become, Rasmus begins to fear him, and develops a severe fear of axes.

• 1536: The Norwegian council of state, representing Norway in the union, is abolished. Norway becomes a province of Denmark. Catholic bishops in Norway are arrested or executed if they do not flee, signaling the start of the protestant reformation. In an attempt to resist, Rasmus leaves Oslo for Trondheim to defend the cathedral and archbishopric there. Sensing that Rasmus had also become a “threat” to the kingdom, Aksel follows him up the country and confronts him at nidaros on Easter day in 1537. The armed clergy is overwhelmed and executed and the heart of Norway is ransacked; Saint Olav’s shrine is taken, and when he is captured, the reliquary containing a fragment of Olav’s hair that he had been wearing since 1300 is stolen. Both the shrine and reliquary are taken to Copenhagen to be smelted, but Rasmus escapes and makes his way to the Netherlands. There he meets with Abel and asks him for passage to Iceland so he can warn Fálki that he would be the next target — Abel puts him on a merchant ship that no Dane will have any business boarding, and he successfully sails to Reykjavík.

from here on out it’s a wip that skips around lol

at some point in the 1700s Rasmus is allowed to travel to copenhagen by himself and starts meeting fálki and the Norwegian society there

• 1807: Rasmus is killed (kills himself…?) in the second battle of copenhagen when a british rocket destroys a naval ship docked at nyholm on september 6th. he was there to defend the ships and dockworkers from being captured in the fleet robbery. Rasmus hasn’t told anyone what happened, but he was found deceased and bobbing in the water days later by Aksel.