#i forgot Sweden

[the-words-we-sung]

Simon and Wilhelm 🤎🧡💛

[ifindus]

I dare you to doodle the gang in Strindnes Promenade Orchester outfits! (When you've got time of course!) 🎺

Only the Scandi gang, but here you go!! ✨🙏

[jamtlandsarkiv]

This is kind of DenSu related, I guess. What are your thoughts on the Scandinavian trio during the Kalmar Union? I have my own thoughts, but would love to hear yours.

June 6th, 2024 was the 501st anniversary of Sweden leaving the Kalmar Union!

The Kalmar Union era was a fascinating and widely misunderstood period that strongly affected the region. I wrote a list of common misconceptions, a summary of the period plus a thought experiment about how it might have affected Mathias and Björn under the cut!

It really topples my chimney to see people use the Kalmar Union period to justify why DenSu would have an unhealthy relationship. Here is a quick summary of the most common misconceptions in the fandom about the union:

Sweden was forced into the union. No, the union was a voluntary agreement proposed by Denmark to combat a powerful union of German states that would threaten the Nordic states' dominance in the Baltic Sea region.

The union was a period of severe oppression for Swedes. No, the first 50 years of the union were peaceful and the union achieved its goal of creating a unified Nordic region. The conflicts began later in the union's lifespan as the Danish authorities attempted to centralize power under the Danish crown and attempted to introduce laws that the Swedes deemed unfavorable.

The Stockholm Bloodbath was a civilian massacre. No, it was a mass execution of politically influential anti-union aristocrats as punishment for coordinating armed rebellions against the Danish king.

I'll be honest: the way I write Mathias, Björn, their backgrounds and their roles in society, they would have no interactions with each other that were motivated by the union. The idea is that in my Nationverse, all immortals live as unassuming citizens. They could take on political roles, but they'll have to work hard to climb the ladder like anyone else, and they can't hold on to power forever (as they would have to "die"). Björn in particular lives in northern Sweden, very far away from the conflicts that arose as a consequence of the union.

The Kalmar Union was a mutual agreement proposed by Queen Margareta of Denmark and agreed upon by various leaders of Sweden. The union was established in 1397. The goal of the union was to combat the increasingly powerful Hansen union between the German states. The two member states agreed to collaborate economically, establish a common foreign policy and provide military support to each other. Danish King Erik was crowned as the king of the union.

Because Denmark was the most populous member of the union then and the union's leadership was overwhelmingly Danish, the Swedes grew increasingly dissatisfied at the union. They believed that its terms transferred power to Denmark and were unfairly disadvantageous to Sweden. The first protest of the union, the Engelbrekt Rebellion of 1434, was in response to a tax hike across the union to fund Denmark's war against German state Holstein. Swedes were already unhappy at being drafted into Denmark's faraway war, which came with the additional disadvantage that Sweden, as a member state in their union, wasn't able to export to an important trade partner. This pattern of events (Denmark doing something that didn't benefit Sweden, Swedes protesting against it) continued over the next century and built a strong anti-union political current.

The Stockholm Bloodbath was the tipping point of the anti-union movement. Swedes, thoroughly exhausted of the union by the 1500s, protested the crowning of Danish King Kristian II as the King of Sweden. Several influential aristocrats associated with the pro-independence Sture Party coordinated civilian rebellions against Kristian II, but were unsuccessful in overthrowing him. The Danish and Swedish authorities came to an agreement that Kristian II would be crowned King of Sweden, while the Sture Party associates would be granted amnesty. Kristian II invited these aristocrats to his coronation in Stockholm under the guise of a peaceful meeting, only to carry out his true plan to walk back on the agreement and execute them for treason. Unsurprisingly, this only strengthened the anti-union sentiment and Sweden, led by Gustav Vasa, exited the union in 1523. (The remainder of the Party also opposed Vasa and were executed by him several years later.)

Now you all know why I always roll my eyes at the notion that Björn would have been executed at the Stockholm Bloodbath. It explicitly suggests that he was a prominent political figure with anti-union sympathies who had a hand in orchestrating a rebellion against the King of the Kalmar Union. I really do not like writing these fictional characters as having significant influence in a universe that's about experiencing real history. The way I write the characters is that they live as regular citizens unnoticed by humans, while their interpersonal relations with other immortals are partially based on historical events. The character's home region factors strongly into their life story and relationships as well, which is why my Northern Swedish Björn has a much less violent rivalry with Mathias than a Southern Björn would.

The relationship between Mathias and Southern Björn during this period could be represented as them agreeing to work together against a common threat, but their differences eventually tore them apart and made them enemies. They wouldn't be enemies or have a one-sided relationship in the present day. Björn could possibly have participated in some of the many anti-union rebellions that were carried out by armed civilians, although it's unlikely that he would have come face-to-face with Mathias in combat unless Mathias was serving in the Danish Army. Denmark did not have independent civilian combatants.

Many other inhumane attacks against civilians occurred during this period that could justify a more hateful relation between these two, but I do not treat these characters as representatives of their states, leaders, governments, monarchies, authorities and so on. Their beliefs and life stories are a combination of the culture of the people they represent and their unique experiences. Their lives aren't reenactments of their authorities' every decision.

[alexbkrieger13]

oh wow we got a meme from franny (is the game that bad?)

https://x.com/cwfcbrighty/status/1811857736281272553?t=IjYjxx4hNgm-Yx7gRCOcNg&s=19

[pylsuparty]

[iamsweden]

So I collect tarot decks and I've always wanted to make a deck of my own, so BEHOLD: Octopath tarot deck (major arcana only) (so far). I just whipped these up in canva using official artwork/sprite work, so none of the art/assets are mine. I'm also not selling these, but idk, if ya'll just want to save the images and print them yourselves....

(I really wish I had a better quality/sized sprite for the Hanged Man, but imo there's no other character who better fits the meaning so I had to go with what I could find.)

The rest are below the read more! (Be wary of some spoilers!)

[zaddyazula]

my mum’s best friend and his husband went to eurovision (booooo) and apparently they’re staying in the same hotel as the israelis and the hotel had to be barricaded 😭😭😭😭

[jorvikzelda]

I started reading Lord of the Rings (bought Fellowship of the Ring like… last spring but never got around to starting) and I’d just like to say. Holy fuck what a slow book. You mean to tell me I’m over a hundred pages in and this man is only just leaving the Shire? Sign me up for MORE I love this shit. Tolkien said “I will take exactly as much time as I want to describe things and you will like it”. AND I DO

[everythingthatsgoingon]

I'm too lazy to look it up, so I'm hoping tumblr will answer me.

In France we have 38 lists ! It's a record. Last time it was 34, and already a record.

At most 20 lists can get deputies (as lists need a score of at least 5% to get deputies). According to current polls, between 5 and 7 lists - those from the main parties, who get most if not all of the media's attention - are expected to make the cut.

There's logistical difficulties as there needs to be temporary billboards in front of every polling station with enough space for every party to put up an A1 poster - it's too much for isolated towns and villages, who realistically will at most have 10 posters up on those billboards because most lists don't have the financial means to pay for a company to put up their posters all over the country. It costs like 200 000 euros, and they already need to pay to print the posters. And most parties/list do not have a 200 000 € budget anyway. What money they have they might prioritise towards printing and distributing their ballot papers - and with budgets under 200 000 €, they can't print enough to have 1 per voter, let alone 2 and have the second sent with the "profession of faith" letters voters receive in the week before the election. They most often can't print those professions of faith to send either.

But anyway, yeah, 38 lists, meaning 3078 French citizens are candidates to fill the 81 French seats in the EU parliament. A bit more men than women, since a majority of lists have a male first candidate.

[burnadicarwoz]

Why. Does every flag. Have red or white on them. I get they are common colours but come on just look and make a conspiracy already

Thank you Sweden btw for being 1 in 20 countries to not have red or white in it's flag. Really sticking it to them I see.

[skania]

The entire audience screaming CHA CHA CHA at the top of their lungs whenever the clown juries gave Sweden points is the only thing I'm taking away from this year lmao

[ifindus]

Hello professor , I was wondering how to understand the ship of Kalmarunionen in a history kinda way. I really wanna know your interpretation and view about the relationship between Norway,Denmark and Sweden.

Don't think I've ever gotten a question about the Kalmar Union before! 🤩 I think a very big decider of their relationship is the very events of the Kalmar Union, so I kind of focused solely on this here. It is important to understand their beginnings; where they come from.

A short time line of events:

1319: Norway and Sweden get the same King (debatable)

1348: The Black Plague comes to Norway

1380: Norway and Denmark get the same King

1397: The Kalmar Union is formed

1412: The Queen dies

1430s: Swedish rebellions

1448-1457: Disagreements about an heir after the King dies without children

1523: Sweden leaves the Kalmar Union

1536: Denmark declares Norway a Danish province

The Kalmar Union was established as a way to strengthen Northern Europe against the influence of the German Hanseatic Leauge, and when these disappeared in the 1500s, so did the reason for keeping the union together. Sweden was always sceptical to the union and mainly joined so that the German states would not become too influencial, because even though parts of him were under Norwegian rule, he still wanted to be independant. In 1448 Sweden elected a Swedish ruler over the Union and Norway followed suit, but Denmark was already too influencial and when they picked a Danish ruler, Norway soon followed.

Denmark then begun to pick fights with the continent, something that was bad for Sweden as they exported a lot of iron to the continent and depended on that. At the same time, the power in the union became centralised to Copenhagen, with Denmark deciding everything. Sweden refused to go along with this.

After Sweden left, Denmark declared Norway a Danish province, stripped him of his national council without having a say. The only reason Denmark kept Norway's title as a Kingdom was because of Norway's inheritance system - something that was used to make Norwegian heirs Danish Kings. Norway got to keep its own legal system, but became integrated into the state Denmark-Norway with its capital in Copenhagen.

It is thought that the Black Plauge hit Norway a lot harder than Sweden and Denmark - something that crippled Norway's influence on the course the union took. This is also where all the disagreements between Denmark and Sweden begins; Denmark taking advantage of the other two, and then Sweden leaving Norway behind to become used by Denmark.

[bforblitz]

Feilim Boivin, or Fey, or Feilim Silver-Skin (it depends on when you meet him), my Dawnguard OC and half Reachfolk, half Breton. He’s an ex-vigilant of Stendarr and has some issues because of that (meaning i’ve just made the vigilants into Catholics but cooler). From Markarth, but then the Markarth Incident happened and yikes. 

He’s intimidating on the outside and doesn’t speak a lot, but he’s a big softie on the inside. Learns to let loose when he falls in love with a certain Sam Guevenne, who is TOTALLY NORMAL and NOT A DAEDRIC PRINCE IN DISGUISE because Fey still doesn’t really like Daedra. Serana insists there’s something up with Sam, but she’s probably just reading his vibes wrong, right? 

[magbeth]

i am dead serious we cannot let blond people win this tournament. i'll lose my mind

[mumintroll]

told my mam abt how im marrying yung lean when i grow up she is nawt happy she does NOT like sweden

[iamsweden]

I’m replaying FFX after probably 10 years or more and I really did not appreciate this game for what it is back then. I just finished Operation Mi’ihen and just… Damn. Final Fantasy X did not pull any punches. Going to Home later is absolutely going to wreck me.