ORDERS/STATS
Kansan Tuhat Saarta
Nation type: Tribal confederacy
Capital:Suuri Kaupunki Saurella (big island between Finland and Sweden)
Government techs: Levies, confederation, republic
Economy: Mediocre
Economic techs: small scale farming, large scale fishing, seaborne trade, land trade, mining, forestry, hunting, large scale animal husbandry.
Culture: varied, but same cultural grouping
Religion: common elements such as sacrifice of humans and animals, mysticism with forests, and shrines. some gods are also common to most of the tribes
Cultural Techs: alphabet (not commonly used), oral literature, mysticism
Military: medium
Military Structure: core standing army of high quality troops, well trained levies
Military Techs: Bronze axes, shield bosses, spears, arrowheads, and slicing swords; Bronze scale mail; fur armor; bronze reinforced fur helmets; shields; primitive composite bows and longbows; Motti tactics; shield wall
Navy: large
Navy Structure: core of high quality ships with good crews, large numbers of lesser levies
Navy Techs: sails, rams, longboats, galleasses, salted food, ports
Standing army: 3000 heavy infantry, 1000 archers
Levy army: From the islands and the coasts: 6000 heavy infantry, 10000 light infantry (i.e. shield and sword/axe/spear, but little to no armor), 6000 archers; From the mainland (forests and swamps): 8000 archers, 10000 skirmishers (javelineers, perhaps with shields and light armor), 4000 light infantry
Standing Navy:
30 Galleasses with rams
15 Longboats
Levy Navy:
15 Galleasses without rams
80 Longboats
35 sailing vessels
Orders:
Continue expanding trade and alphabet usage internally. Spread alphabet to trading partners when possible. Expand trade that already exists, and try to initiate trade with the Saamelaiset to the north.
Build a series of border fortresses in the forests along the northern border. Recruit 10,000 skirmishers, archers, and heavy infantry (with a ratio of 6:4 infantry to archers/skirmishers) from the levies to staff them. Offer land for livestock, tax immunity, and shelter/safety from barbarians. Try to encourage people to migrate to these forts, with the end goal being the forts serving as defenses and also trading posts. They should be built out of wood/trees with earth walls and trenches outside the walls.
Investigate the strangely metallic rocks sometimes found in the tin and copper mines; investigate whether it is indeed a metal.
Give a message to tribes to the East that they will be considered part of the Kansan Tuhat Saarta if they migrate to the existing lands of the confederation and are willing to send delegates and levies when called upon.
Continue sending naval flotillas to explore the lands to the west and establish contact and trade with peoples there.
NEARBY TRIBES
Saamelaiset
Ferocious, semi-nomadic, and almost barbaric, this is probably the most powerful group in the region other than the Kansan Tuhat Saarta. They are located in the northern section of Finland and the far north of Scandanavia.
Their economy is primitive and is based on trading furs and herding reindeer. They have a few towns in the south of their territory, in the taiga rather than the frozen tundra, which serve as trade centers.
In warfare, they use dog sleds like chariots and skirmishers and light infantry with fur armor and copper and bone weapons. However, they also possess a fearful and unique weapon - reindeer riders. After more than a thousand years of breeding reindeer for size as livestock, they have rather recently (within the last 100 years) begun to ride these beasts with primitive saddles and harnesses. The war reindeer are massive, standing higher than a man, and are surprisingly mobile. They are ridden by archers and sometimes spear-armed troops.
Thriving in the cold, the current climate trends may serve to make them only more powerful. However, they are somewhat splintered and are not united, merely in coexistence and sometimes in civil conflict. They also have a comparatively low population.
Ezeru Iemītniekiem
These are the tribes to the southeast of the Kansan Tuhat Saarta. They are located roughly where you first put the Kansan Tuhat Saarta but also in Livonia.
They are rather similar to the Eastern tribes of the Kansan Tuhat Saarta, but speak a different (but related) language and have slightly lower levels of technology. Their economy is based on light mining, hunting, and animal husbandry. As they are not nomadic, their trade centers are their villages.
Skógur Fólk
These are the tribes of Eastern Sweden, living along the coasts and in forests.
They resemble the Ezeru but are slightly more advanced. They also use a language completely different from those to the East and have a completely different religion.
There are also coastal tribes which resemble the people coming from the western part of the Kansan Tuhat Saarta - utilizing heavy infantry and shield walls, with a generally similar level of development. However, they use primarily longboats and galleys and have not come across salted meat for long journeys quite yet. Their economy is based around trade and fishing. They do some mining and farming as well.
