Yet another simple topic in my opinion, but seems to be at great contention.
Please vote for your wanted name below.
Norse
Scandinavians
Vikings
0voters
This poll assumes an umbrella. Realistically we could have Danes, Norwegians, Swedish and Finnish as separate peoples, and they would obviously be called these names respectfully.
In any regard, since the naming convention of AoE4 is to give civ national names, it should be Danes, as they were the most active Norse group in the world stage.
They said they want much less civs, so realistically we are only ever getting 1 of them, if at all.
Because Kievan Rus is a modern designation, based on the original Rus culture that had it’s center of power in Kyiv/Kiev.
After the Mongols destroyed Kiev, the center of power moved Northwards to Novgorod and Muscov, both of which are Northern Rus, but still Rus.
So they just wanted to incorporate the whole period in one name, and Rus is a very good option for that.
They were just pirates, the culture was Norse, and it was alreadty mostly christian, unlike what is portrayed in movies.
Calling it “Viking culture” is the same thing as calling the English “Longbow culture” or the French as “Chevalier culture”.
That is your problem. Adam Isgreen already said he wants this to teach real History.