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Cross a sea (if needed) with a pack of well armed and motivated men, travel up-river if able to hit a seemingly out-of-the way place with weak defenses and equitable stockpiles of wealth or resources. Steal everything they could, killed some people to make a point that resistance is stupid (or for more fame amongst their own people), and give the fellows an opportunity to rape anything they cared to.

Sometimes this was a prelude to taking over a location, sometimes it was merely an isolated raid, sometimes it was a repeat performance where the Northmen attacked the same place every generation or so. Often, the most profitable result was a terrorized populace that was amenable to paying tribute, meaning "protection money", generally referred to now as "Dane Geld". Basically, it was a combination of tactics commonly used throughout the world, just that the Northmen did it with a memorable flair. Now-a-days we would refer to the social system in which these practices (tactics) are used as a "Small Government, Big Business limited regulation Capitalisim, A.K.A. Pirate Utopia.

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12y ago

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