[Infinite Worlds] Welsh America

[Akicita]

Originally Posted by Ed the Coastie

I also haven't gotten around the whole virgin-field epidemic thing...I want to minimize that somehow. (I'm gonna have to reread Dale Cozort's American Indian Victories for ideas.)

Well, you want the Norse in there, anyway. Say Eric found the Labrador during his exile, and spent another year exploring Newfoundland or even further before going to collect his colonists. So instead of the Vinland landings depending on the tiny Greenland colony, the original Greenlanders go straight to the Avalon peninsula, instead. Probably a big enough colony to outlast the initial bad relations with the Skraellings long enough to introduce plagues, which would spread well beyond the areas of actual Norse contact.

Thus, when Madoc arrives, the locals are already rebuilding their numbers and have some resistance.

[Arazael]

Originally Posted by Cernig

Some backgrounders on Madoc in America here and here.

You might be better positting a situation where the Mandan tribe that Madoc's survivors eventually settled with and integrated into took more wholeheartedly to medieval Cymric Celtic culture. That gives a large and powerful tribe or alliance of tribes (by conquest) of ethnic indians with a medieval TL, possibly with a caste structure where those rare few that show the fair skin, hair and eyes of Welsh heritage are accorded greater status. It removes the problems of a sufficiently large Welsh population and the epidemics. It also llets you play with the mixture of native and Celtic Christian/pagan warrior cultures, faiths etc. to get something really unique.

Regards, C

PS, according to legend Madoc named his new land Pen Gwyn. I think I prefer your own suggestion.

A further benefit of this scenario is that the introduction of Welsh blood would introduce resistance to Western diseases.

You would doubtless find that the introduced technologies would spread into neighbouring cultures, and so on from there. Hence the Welsh-Indians would be the best smiths, but probably even the Aztecs and Eskimos would have some idea given long enough.