Editing Vinland:Main Page (section)

==Overview==
This is  a setting for an alternate timeline where the Vinland colony was a sucess.  The present year AD 1140. It was created as a setting for a GURPS Third Edition campaign. This is a fantasy setting and magic does exist. In this world, the fledgling colony of Norse at Vinland has been far more successful than in OTL. Norsemen have expanded the initial settlement to include much of the Maritime Provinces of Canada, the St Lawrence river valley, portions of the Eastern seaboard , and are beginning to settle on the shores of the Great Lakes. Saxon exiles and Irish missionaries have also come to the new lands. Trade has given several native nations access to iron age technology and new ways of agriculture. As yet, the strong kings of Christendom and the Pope of Rome have shown little interest in the new countries to the west, beyond exiling some troublemakers and heretics there. The Crusades have kept the eyes of kings and bishops fixed on the rich Holy Land. This may change, though. Men whisper of a new crusade to the west to subdue the schismatics and pagans who have flocked to Vinland, as well as converting the red devil- men said to inhabit the far lands to the one true faith. 


Notes: 
Mana level: Low over most of the old world, pockets of normal and no mana are known to exist.  The New World is mostly Normal Mana.
TL 0 -3 , the Christians of the Old World are at TL 3, as are their Muslim enemies. The Norse are also at TL3. Most Skraelings are around TL 1, with some primitive tribes at TL 0 and the more advanced nations being TL2[ with ironworking skills learnt from the colonists].