#RACE_NORTHUMBRIA
^The Northumbrians are a $LINK<militaristic and scientific=GCON_Strengths> $LINK<Anglo-Saxon=GCON_Anglo-Saxons> kingdom.
They start the game with $LINK<Runes=TECH_Alphabet> and $LINK<The Fyrd=TECH_Battle_Training>.
^
^Bernicia – which would later combine with neighbouring Deira to become Northumbria – came into being
in the mid-sixth century, the first known king being Ida the Flamebearer, who in 547 seized the British stronghold
of Din Guyaroi, later known as Bamburgh. The kingdom stretched between the Tyne to the south to the Firth of Forth
to the north.
^
^The architect of the mighty kingdom of Northumbria, however, was Aethelfrith, who became king of Bernicia in around 593.
This was a time of crisis, as the Romano-British of northern England, led by Urien of Rheged, had been marching into
Bernician territory for some years, pushing the Saxons right to the east coast. But Aethelfrith led the fightback,
defeating an army sent from the British kingdom of Goddodin –
around modern Edinburgh – at Catraeth. Then, at Daegsastan, he defeated Aiden of Dalriada, the Irish colony
on the west coast of Scotland.
^
^In 604, Aethelfrith invaded neighbouring Deira, and married into its royal line, thereby creating the unified kingdom
of Northumbria (the region north of the river Humber). However, another of the line, {Edwin}, fled Deira
for the Welsh region of Gwynned. Meanwhile, Aethelfrith was busy fighting the Welsh and massacring their monks.
After he defeated them at Chester, Edwin fled again, this time to East Anglia. In 616, Raedwald of East Anglia
defeated Aethelfrith at the river Idle, and installed Edwin as King of Northumbria. Oswald, Aethelfrith’s son,
fled to Dalriada.
^
^Edwin proved a strong ruler, taking the title of Bretwalda. He continued his predecessor’s wars with the Welsh,
conquered Lindsey, and, according to tradition, founded the city of Edinburgh. In 625 he sealed an alliance
with Eadbald of Kent, which involved marrying Eadbald’s sister and allowing Christianity into Northumbria.
In 627 Edwin himself was baptised, made Paulinus bishop of York, and began building a cathedral there.
^
^In 633, however, Edwin was defeated in battle by an alliance between Cadwallon of the Welsh and Penda of Mercia.
#DESC_RACE_NORTHUMBRIA
^Christianity largely vanished from Northumbria. But then Oswald, son of Aethelfrith, suddenly reappeared from Dalriada,
having become a Christian whilst with the Irish. Allied with a force from Dalriada, Oswald met the forces of Cadwallon
at Heavenfield in 634, and, fighting under the sign of the cross like a latter-day Constantine, defeated them.
Oswald claimed the throne of Northumbria and with it the title of Bretwalda. Together with Aidan, a monk from Iona,
Oswald worked hard to establish Christianity firmly throughout Northumbria. To this end, he gave Aidan the island
of Lindisfarne, which he had probably taken from Lindsey, to establish a new monastery to rival that of Iona.
^
^Like Edwin, Oswald met what later generations regarded as a martyr’s death – defeat to Penda of Mercia in 642.
Penda dismembered his fallen opponent's body, and paraded his hands on stakes. In 655, Penda invaded Northumbria,
but was crushed by King Oswiu. From this point on, Mercia’s power waned, whilst that of Northumbria grew.
^
^Nevertheless, 685 saw another change in the always fickle fortunes of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Egfrith of Northumbria
invaded the lands of the Picts, and was crushed at the Battle of Nechtansmere. Egfrith was succeeded by his half-brother,
Aldfrith, a scholar who was plucked from the monastery of Iona to rule over a period of peace, prosperity, and learning.
In this period and afterwards, Northumbria gained in cultural and intellectual prestige, entering something of a golden age.
It was here that Benedict Biscop founded his great twin monastery of Wear and Jarrow, where the Venerable Bede worked.
And it was at the Northumbrian monastery of Lindisfarne that the famous Lindisfarne Gospels were produced.
^
^Northumberland’s comfortable slide into enlightened slumber was rudely interrupted in 793 with the appearance
of the Vikings. First they raided and pillaged as much of the kingdom as they could reach, including the monastery
of Wear-Jarrow. Then, in the 840s, they appeared in greater numbers. In 866, a huge army appeared on the shores
of East Anglia, and proceeded to march on York, Northumbria’s second city. King Aelle of Northumbria was captured
and subjected to the “blood eagle” – his ribs were wrenched open and his lungs flung over his back like an eagle’s wings.
The great kingdom of Northumbria had fallen, to be conquered and resettled as the Danelaw.
I'd really prefere to keep Ireland largely NPC. Would you consider one of the British nations please?
