Year: 1000
Caesarian Empire
Island of Saint John
It was another sunny day in the Island of Saint John when ships arrived on the horizon with ships being seen, a fisherman who was about to start his work when he saw the ships arriving and said to his pupil:
"These ships are not from our navy, they are probably Saracens or Germans, we must prepare for a Germanic invasion, tell the Strategos to use the regular army to defend the island." said the fisherman.
The pupil left the fishing boat and went to warn the island's Strategos about the Germanic invasion.
The fisherman looked at the horizon and saw more and more invaders arriving, so he took his revolver and began to place the copper bullets until all the bullets were placed and he waited the Germanic attack.
The ships finally reached dry land and as soon as the Vikings stepped onto Roman soil, they encountered a group of soldiers armed with weapons unknown to them and the Eastern Roman Centurion Nikephoros Diogenes and ordered:
"Germanic barbarians, go back where you came from and never set foot on Roman soil again or we will invade Germany!" ordered Nikephoros.
The Vikings were impressed to see Romans still speaking in late Latin, so a Viking woman said in her native language:
"Legendene er sanne! De er sønnene til Theodosius!" she said in her native language.
Another Viking also said:
"Så de historiene om de vestlige romerne som flykter til ukjente land er ikke historier om de esoteriske kopistmunkene og de greske munkene i Konstantinopel." said another Viking.
The Caesarian soldiers did not understand what the Vikings were saying and the Centuriom ordered:
"I order the leader of the Germanic barbarians to come forward and tell us what his motivations are for invading the lands of the Caesarian Empire." orders Nikephoros.
The Vikings managed to understand something that the Centuriom said and their leader stepped forward and he was the Norwegian navigator Leif Eriksson and he said in late Latin with a strong Norwegians accent:
"We are not German, we are Norwegians, we come from Northern Europe, in this same region live Swedes, Norwegians and Finns.We left from the island of Iceland We stopped in Greenland and arrived here after a long voyage on the high seas.Our intention is not to invade the lands of the Sons of Theodosius, we came to this place to find a land that flowed with wine across the sea and we found something much greater, the Romans across the sea." said Leif.
The Centuriom had a hard time understanding what Eriksson was saying because of his very strong Norwegian accent, so he deduced that they would not be a threat due to the geographical distance and their technological superiority, since the Vikings still used swords while they used arquebuses and revolvers, so he orders:
"Soldiers, put down your weapons! They are not a threat equal to the Saracens or the Huns, but to avoid hysteria on the island, remove their swords." orders Nikephoros.
The soldiers then went to take the Vikings' swords and they drew their swords and Leif ordered in his native language:
"Legg fra deg sverdene! Romerne har numerisk overlegenhet, og dette er deres land, vi må bedre oppføre oss eller hvis ikke, vil vi bli drept av dem." said Leif.
The Vikings then dropped their swords which the Caesarians collected the swords, then the Vikings were taken to the Joanine Palace.
Joanine Palace
A few hours ago
The Joanine Palace was built in 755 AD as one of the great buildings of the Caesarian Emperor Joannis II, together with the Abbey of St. John. Since then, all Strategos have used the Joanine Palace as the administrative headquarters of the island.
In his office, the Strategos of St. John's Island, Alexander Augustus, the eldest of the Strategos who was still in the reign of the Caesarian emperor Lucius III, During his period he saw the island of Saint John stop being a cluster of villages and begin to become an extremely useful island with the discovery of mountains full of iron and silver, becoming one of the most important islands for the Caesarian Empire, second only to New Cyprus which produces tobacco, potassium nitrate and coal.
Strategos Alexander Augustus saw Caesarian soldiers enter his office and along with them strange people with a helmet with two horns on their heads and they were all very tall.
The Centuriom gave the Roman salute and said:
"Your Excellency Strategos Alexander Augustus, these people come from Northern Europe and it seems that Europe is finally not suffering a barbarian invasion from the Germans or Huns, their leader wants talk to your excellency." said Nikephoros.
Leif stepped forward and said:
"It is an honor to meet a Roman ruler, in my homeland, what we hear about the Romans is how powerful they were in the Classical Era and their last great battle against the Germans in Adrianople in the year 680 AD and how the legendary Emperor Leo I saved the Western Romans from the hands of the Lombards, but after a century in 789 AD the Western Romans had their territory divided between Franks and Greeks, and seeing a powerful Roman state contrasts sharply with the situation of the Western Romans in Italy.My name is Leif Eriksson, I am a Norwegian navigator, this place seems like a great place to live and I think a trade network with my people and yours could be good for us." said Leif.
Alexander barely understood what Leif said because of his strong Norwegian accent, so Alexander said:
"I didn't understand much of what you said, but from what I understood you are not a Germanic and the Italian Peninsula is divided between the Franks and the Eastern Romans, well I am not the Caesarian Emperor, but according to the Lex Petrus Julian, the Strategos or Dux cannot make commercial treaties with other kingdoms, for this we need the approval of the Caesarian Emperor and the Senate, but an exchange of goods without involving from an enemy nation, can be accepted and is even encouraged to develop the island or province.Then we can trade with you peoples of the North, as long as your king or consul does not come and try to impose an embargo on our products." said Alexander.
Leif thanks Alexander and says:
"You will not regret Strategos Alexander Augustus, we people of Northern Europe have a great appreciation for the Romans, not for nothing in Constantinople many of my brothers serve the Eastern Roman Emperor Basil II , then you can expect us to keep our word and everything will happen as it should." says Leif.
Alexander and Leif shook hands, and soon after he ordered a printer to print an agreement between the two of them, thus the Island of Saint John became in history the first contact with Europeans after centuries, but it would be nothing more than that, Leif's Family moved to Greenland and from there established trade with the Romans without the Norwegian kings knowing.
Some Norwegians stayed on St. John's Island and established the settlement L'anse aux Meadows, so single Norwegian men married Roman women and soon the settlement became a city and this was the only city in the New World founded by the Vikings.
Until quite some time, the trade of the Leif Family and Alexander's relatives was great for centuries until the King of the Kalmar Union Christian II, sent several ships to reclaim Greenland from Leif Family in the distant year of 1473 AD, so the Caesarian Empire sided with the Leif Family and declared war on the Kalmar Union.
Thanks to the Caesarian Empire, Greenland achieved its "independence" very early and as Europe was having serious internal problems, the Norwegian kings never knew about Vinland and So for centuries, the Norwegians focused on the island of Iceland and its trade with the Scots and English.
The Vikings, as the people of Northern Europe became known in Western Europe or Varangians as they became known in Eastern Europe, would also help the Romans of the New World in future battles against the Mongols in the Far East and even against their compatriots in the Caesarean-Kalmar War and the Thirty Years' War.