Tell this to everyone who was angry because of civ named “India” in AoE 2…
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Some leaks say that the “Viking” civilisation in AoE4 will be the Rus.
I think that makes sense. The Kievan Rus was founded by Scandinavian settlers but the majority of the population was Slavic. Over time and through intermarriage most of the Scandinavian parts of the culture disappeared.
We already know that they have the feature of civilisations changing their voice lines between the Ages so in the case of the Rus they would start with talking Norse and than change to a Slavic language somewhere between Russian and Ukrainian.
History wise it would also be an interesting civilisation. The Scandinavians become less interesting after Christianisation and more like other Western European civilisations. The Rus were more unique, fought the Mongols and their remains later become Russia and the Ukraine.
Everyone who’s angry because of civ named “India”, get over it.
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I think they could take many ideas from AOM.
AOM vikings were extremely fun to play. Without the myth units obviously.
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There are no Vikings in AoM
There are Norse though
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A Relic guy mentioned Old-Norse as an example of how languages would evolve through the ages, so pretty sure Vikings are in to some capacity at least. And yes, call them Vikings/Norse/Norsemen, all are fine. There is no such thing as a precise category anyway and pretending one exists is the worst historical sin of all.
As for features, I would love to see Relic play with Ensembles original Vikings idea of them being able to capture enemy villagers in the same way other civs would capture sheep.
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Vikings were not known for their cavalry
Agree with this! They were more known for their erratic, fearless, and gruesome behaviour. Would love to see them on AOE4 
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For the naval part, in AOE4 i would like to see something like:
“if your too much far from your/ally nearest dock, the ship will lose health.” (or losing less health)
And for Viking’s exploratory nature:
Bonus that allow them to don’t losing health in these cases.
For their naval raiding feature:
every time they leave a ship they receive a bonus for a certain amount of time, which can be:
- Attack bonus (more effective raiding)
- Each destroyed building provides a certain amount of resources (preferably food and gold)
You would feel the same if there was a civilization broadly named after your region of the world that was multi-ethnic and you all hated each others’ guts.
Sounds like almost every human population ever to be fair.
Even if you say Norse there are a lot of extremely different Norse bloodlines, that are all Native to different parts of Northern Europe, in the same way as Aboriginal Australians or Native Americans.
Far from all of these get along, but we still call them all Norse or Viking, because in a strategy game like AOE you often simplify to make it easier to recognize.
Calling a civ Indian is just an easy way of showing a collection of cultures, people’s, and empires that from an outside perspective look very similar, and for the most part is relatively closely related.
Successful cultures always fracture, and become more distinct over time.
It’s the same story with Britons, Mongols, Chinese, Japanese, Mayans, e.t.c. So it’s not like Indians have gotten the short end of the stick here.
Christening the north was a slow process. Iceland was “officially” christened in year +1000, but still had public Blot ceremonies in year +1200. Blot is a very Pegan/Odinist ritual btw.
An example would be Sigurd Håkonsson’s blot:
This not only happened in Iceland, but all over “Viking” lands, and there are too many historical examples to link them all here.
Furthermore Vikings, or the Norse never held nobles in a high regard, such as you see in most of Europe. They had a very independent lifestyle, and even Thralls, which was their closest equivalent to a slave, normally had more freedom than the Christian Serf.
Thralls had more in common with modern debt slaves, than traditional slavery. So if you have a loan on a house, and a 9 to 5 contracted job, the old Norse would have definitely considered you a Thrall.
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Some leaks say that the “Viking” civilisation in AoE4 will be the Rus.
I certainly hope you’re wrong. As much as a Rus civ would be cool, confusing that with a Norse/Viking civ would be a huge mistake both from a historical and gamedesign perspective.
The Scandinavians become less interesting after Christianisation
Read up on Sigurd Jordsalfare (+1090 - +1130). A Norwegian Christian Co-King. On one raid to the Middle East he defeated 3 well rooted pirate groups, and several far larger armies than his own.
To defeat one of the pirate groups he even got a ship elevator engineered to attack a cliffside fortress more effectively.
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The Norse were all north-germanic peoples with a shared culture, religion and ancestry. India is very much not, it’s divided between ethnic and religious lines with very distinct cultures.
The problem is they are very much not similar. And it’s very ignorant and kinda racist to say they are.
In the spirit of keeping a light-hearted, good tone on the thread, please refrain from slinging insults.
I’ll gladly discuss these details with you in a good tone, from a historical perspective, but please keep political drama within forums where that’s appropriate.
If you do wish to continue this as a political argument, PM me, and I’ll gladly follow you to a different forum of your choice.
That said. As much as most Norse are Northern Germanic, that’s not always the case really. Finnish people for example is only partly so, and has a language with a completely different structure. They are still definitely Norse.
As one of the many direct descendants of Harald Hairfaire, I can tell you that all with his heritage are partly Roman.
Also, the Sami people while not being Norse per se, had a very important role to play in the society of the time, and still do today. Sami people are definitely not Northern Germanic.
Point being. We have a complex history, just like everyone else. And as much as I could call you names for being ignorant of this, I’d rather not bring that kind of drama here.
On a more joking matter though. For if it is one thing us Norse have in common it is our odd sense of humour.
If you were to tell a Swede, a Norwegian, and a Danish person that they are all the same people. The Swede would be insulted, for at the moment they do not identify as a people.
The Norwegian would find your joke most amusing, while silently wondering why a stranger is talking to them.
While the Dane would give you their glasses, for obviously you need them more.
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Perhaps vikinki will be like the Scandinavian Rus in the first (possibly 2) Age. Can be Russian Berserkers
I think mixing Vikings and Rus would just be a bad call in general. The Norse didn’t really fall as a powerhouse until the mid to late +1300, and judging by the tech showed in the game so far they don’t really take it much further than that anyway.
The Chinese gunpowder tech shown was generally invented in the +1200 - +1300.
Also when it comes to berserkers, many cultures had their own interpretation of that.
The stereotypical naked ball of fury you often see displayed in fiction such as Connan the Barbarian was the Celtic/Pict version. They were known for doing crazy stunts like jumping over enemy shield formations.
Viking berserkers in contrast were typically quite calm, and followed the doctrine that in combat you shouldn’t feel, at all. Using what seems to be a series of different rituals, commonly referred to as berserkergang to psyke themselves up for battle.
Part of what made viking berserkers so dangerous, was that they didn’t just not fear dying In battle. They looked forward to it, wanting to kill as many enemies as possible before they went to Valhalla.
Maybe, maybe. We’ll see what happens, it’s interesting