The host

The Sclavenes have no trouble traversing northern Rugiland and Lombardia, being former lands belonging to the Sclavenians themselves.

Once they are north of Lombardy, they discover lands settled largely by Slavic tribes, cousins speaking a similar tongue though not fully comprehensible, It is likely that mixed populations of Slavs and Germans will be encountered in the move north, before hitting the sea. Further east more Slavs reside. To the west, the river Elbe and thence to Thuringi and Saxoni.

The Scirii and Heruli are uneasy at this northward move, explaining that their parents and grandparents had travelled from these very lands in recent memory, looking for a better life. They say that the winters grow colder and the rains grow heavier, with crops blighted and animals diseased. They believe that these lands are cursed, or used up, or that the gods have forced them from their old homes. Some believe that to return would be to ask for the vengeance of the gods. King Eninga says that he promised to follow Ivaylo, and so follow him he will, even if the road took them further and further from civilization - the land of the Romans - the one place where a wandering people could grow fat and prosperous, find a land for themselves, drink wine and make easy money. He talks of his cousins who serve as Roman bodyguard, and how they are paid in gold to stand around in warm rooms, drink Roman wine and wash in Roman baths. He does then digress and talk about how Romans don't eat enough butter and meat, and as a result they like to f*ck boys, which elicits a laugh from his fellow nobles but comes across as almost certainly a jest.