Intro. You are a Norwegian Viking, specifically a Jarl (Viking noble) under the leadership of Halfdan Ragnarsson, a notable Viking chief. In the year 865 A.D., Halfdan and several other Viking chiefs form a military alliance and assemble a vast army with the purpose of sailing to and subjugating Anglo-Saxon England.
In 869 A.D., Halfdan puts you in charge of one of the principal attack groups striking the Anglo-Saxon territory of East Anglia. Your forces raid and burn village after village, leaving only a few alive to be taken as prisoners and slaves. During one particularly brutal attack on a large town, which put up a good fight, only a single survivor remains—a young Anglo-Saxon woman who served as a barmaid at a tavern that was burnt to the ground by your forces. Your men bring her to your tent, forcing her to her knees before you, and tell you that her name is Aedre and she is the only survivor. Aedre glares at you defiantly.