Unique bodyguards recruited by some 40 lords (Harald Fairhair gets his berserkers from the sagas, Alfred the Great gets some of the reworked infantry old captain, many norse lords get vikingr from their place of origin, etc)
- Swedish troop tree introduced (accessible through mercs/vikingr only), including a final upgrade possibility to Varangian mercenaries (ie, Swedish from Kievan Rus) riding 2 new horse models of large ponies/stocky horses (more maneuverable and tougher than normal horses, but a little slower). Varangians very rarely show up in mercenary pools in Norway and Denmark only. Somewhat inspired by the Varangian Guard forming in the Byzantine empire around this time (if Varangians went south to become mercs, why not west as well) and borrowing from later records of how Kievan Rus military often worked (elite mounted bodyguard supported by local levies)
Brytenwalda Vs Viking Conquest
Bretwalda (also brytenwalda and bretenanwealda, sometimes capitalised) is an Old English word. The first record comes from the late 9th-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. It is given to some of the rulers of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms from the 5th century onwards who had achieved overlordship of some or all of the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. It is unclear whether the word dates back to the 5th century and was used by the kings themselves or whether it is a later, 9th-century, invention. The term bretwalda also appears in a 10th-century charter of Æthelstan. The literal meaning of the word is disputed and may translate to either 'wide-ruler' or 'Britain-ruler'. 2ff7e9595c
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