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According to what is written in the books, the Torvaldslanders are descents of pre-medieval Vikings that were taken during
the voyages of acquisition, more specifically the Icelandic settles of Greenland, which disappeared mysteriously. If we take
that for the "scroll truth", it can explain many things about the difference between Torvaldsland and the rest of
Gor.
First, the role of women; the Norse people frequently went away to explore or plunder to that they called going Viking,
that derives the name from what they became know in all Europe and world. Those trips occurred, due to some factor like, the
lack of agricultural soil in their countries which made that they had to go try to find new places to settle, like it happen
with Iceland, Greenland, Britain, France and of course the North America.
During those trips the women were the ones responsible for the houses, the estates and basically everything, as the vast
majority of the male population of the town or settlement would embark on those trips. This gave to the women considerable
more power and independence than any other in Europe, they many times had to take arms to defend their houses and their swift
while dealing with the slaves that they owned. Another fact that contributes for their independence is the that divorce was
allowed and very used in those days of pre-Christianity, a woman if she decided to divorce would just declare such in front
of witnesses the man didn't have much choice other then to accept due to the fact that the woman were considered still under
the guard of their fathers more than of their husbands, that doesn't mean of course they had total freedom and dominated the
men, usually the divorces occurred due to debts or infidelity. In those times on earth also the women carried the key to house,
of course that in gor things had to be different, but in the books we have examples of FW telling a FM to do something and
it is complied even without any relationship between them.
Debts were actually the only way of a fellow Norse became a slave otherwise it wouldn't occur, that is why we have that
same idea explicit by Jonh Norman.
Second, in the books, Torvaldslanders, have a different religion. On earth the Norse only became Christians from the XI
to XIII century, more by convenience than by conviction, and some forced by political power, upon the people. Until these
days the old Gods still have adepts and are recognized. So it isn't hard to imagine that people, isolated, with little friendly
contact with outsiders would retain that religion.
Third, the government of Torvaldsland can be explained by the fact that as on earth, on gor they didn't live in cities
but in settlements. Also as on earth, made it hard to establish a central power, each leader of the settlement is the ruler
there and only in grave matters would he enlist himself and his men under the command of another. In the books that figure
is called High-Jarl and he is elected in a gathering called the AlThing, which is the exact copy of the Icelandic system,
the worlds most ancient parliament, it is the Icelandic AlThing.
Fourth, the fact that in Torvaldsland there are more males slaves, called thralls, than in other regions of gor. That
is due to the fact that men were out at sea, so man power to work in agriculture and other activities as such was required,
thus the female slaves also were required to work on the fields, contrary to the kajirae. Few bondmaids, Torvaldslanders female
slaves, worked solely inside the house.
The following note is a personal one, Jonh Norman wrote about Torvaldslanders very little and superficially, Viking way
of living, traditions and habits aren't very know, basically we imagine them as they are showed in the cinema, a violent and
rude people warrior like and with little respect for human life, that is in part true but also they were superb seaman and
if a Norse killed another he would pay dearly for it. One thing that is somewhat curious to me is the fact that Torvaldslanders
speak Gorean and their one language, living as it is said in the books, on remote settlements, it should not be a strange
fact that they had maintained their language and writing.
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