Planning on running a game heavily involving Viking Mythos and culture...

Honour is very important. An insult must be met with immediate violence.
Grossly effective insults include: throwing water over someone, comparing someone to a female horse, or the fan favorite: calling someone a "niding".
Then we have the "Insult pole" a sort of totem pole with carvings of dishonourable animals and insults Bjorn is a loser who sniffs undergarments and is then positined facing the insultee's house. Sometimes it is kind of hidden, so it will be discovered at a much later date. the longer the pole stands the worse the insult.

I can see that since I think their homeland wouldn't have as much mud and shit as other places.

That's 100% speculation of a guy who knows only random shit about Vikings.

That's how religion worked in every non-academic/scholastic sphere in the premodern period, to varying degrees.

Yes. They had a regular bath day once a week, which was also when they did their laundry. Compared to everyone else they were quite clean.

I can see this if only because of communication issues and Vikings not really seeming like guys who want to spread their religion. So while the jarls and shit all talk about how awesome Odin is, everyone else would only hear about that shit if they go to war alongside the guy.

If you wanna kill a dude in an underhanded way there are two options.
well, there are loads, but for the purpose of this thread we will go with two viking classics.
1) get a thrall to do it. Those buggers really wanna win freedom and an assassination can be a quick fix for that.
2) hall-burning. Late at night you and your mates set fire to the hall (house) of your enemy and position yourself at the doors. Traditionally (and because it is more practical) you shoo the women and children through and kill any man that tries to escape.

There existed tribes of Kuršiai in nowday territory of lithuania and latvia coast - they would steal viking ships and go off to rob there lands - yes they actually did that. It was even common for mothers of vikings to use them as buggy men to scare children.

Also they were one of few baltic tribes that actually managed to repel viking attacks (Other being Samogitians who used horse to hunt down vikings on land)

and they were massive fops.
Alpha chads who loved to look good for the du-LADIES.

> the ability to create (since it wasn't really written) poetry (usually on the spot) is equally, if not more, important than your prowess in combat
> women have a lot more or say than is led on, e.g. they would rarely marry against their will
> drinking and eating everything you are given is an insult to the host as it implies he is not generous enough
> throwing up inside is the rudest thing ever
> hosting someone over the winter is one of the greatest ways to honor someone you like
> good poetry makes your enemies forgive you your trespasses
> magic is subtle, totems and carved runes carry great power that is not immediately obvious
> familial relations are the most important thing. Everyone knows who is related to whom
> if you kill a free man you must pay a fee to the family

You can probably Google Egils saga and read it online in English. That's one of the best examples of Icelandic sagas that shows many customs of the people

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Burping shows that you appreciate the meal

Lordag (Saturday) is the day of washing

lmao damn crazy slavs

Warriors would purchase the milk-teeth of children and make bracelets or necklaces out of them. They were chock full of good magic and luck.
speaking of magic, Why did vikings burn everything after looting? they did it so much that many people called them "fire worshippers".
The answer is: bad magic.
Fire is a purifier and by burning after raiding you effectively cover your tracks from enemy spirits.

And no, no one ever worshiped the jotuns (giants) that just didnt happen and anyone who makes giant worshiping vikings in their games have severely misunderstood their religion.

in Icelandic its Laugardagur (Pool Day)

Looking cool and having swag is important.

These are not slavs - these are balts - whole different thing....

I LOVE the idea of one day running a game inspired by the aftermath of the Battle of Harfrsfjord.

Having the party on the losing side of the battle, and no longer welcome in their homeland, forced to sail west to either settle a barren land like Iceland or conquer/assimilate into a foreign culture like the Norse-Gaels. It'd be a good starting point for a story (and IS a starting point in many of the sagas).

Cleaner than Christianised Anglo-saxons, about the same as the pagan and early christianisation ones

I dont know what else to say.
Any questions?

The Saga of Gunnlaugr Serpent-Tongue is also a nice read.

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Valhunds (or 'Deathdogs* in english) were popular among norse people from what is today sweden.

Check out this
vikinganswerlady.com/

And Sagas of the Icelanders (PBTA trove, in Da Archive)

I can add that berserkers were considered dangerous pariahs in their society. They were literally outlawed in the 12th century. A berserker would have bursts of great strentgh and stamina, plus be impervious to blades and fire. This could happen out of combat. They were likened with trolls.

Speaking of outlawing, a person could be declared a, well, "monster" or "wild beast". It is a term similar to "warg", with connotations of being a wolf and/or acting like a wolf: hurting people, digging corpses to eat/loot etc. A researcher in the 70s argued that this was the basis for the "werewolf" myth. These outcasts which could be legally killed with no repercussions became a sort of legendary "wildmen". Possible proxies for this include the werewolf curse being a legal and magic punishment, the foes from the 13th Warrior movie/book, and the beastmen from Warhammer Fantasy.

Loki made a ship out of dead people's nails.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naglfar

Read about draugr:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draugr
I could see them being a specific sort of undead, ghost or even vampire. Many weird powers. Becomes twice as terrifying when you consider an undead raider crew can row for days without tiring. They don't need sails and can just sink your ship to grab what they want from the wreck.

Norse people bathed once a week and Anglo-Saxons only a few times a year or before special occasions. They did however have the tradition of washing their hands and feet daily, hands even before each meal. To make up for not bathing as often they would use deodorant in the form of various kind smelling herbs. I think the difference developed because naturally England was full of bogs, marshland and fast flowing rivers, which made such areas quite dangerous so you'll find Anglo-Saxons became quite paranoid about them and thought malevolent spirits and monsters lived there. Interesting considering they were Christians by this time that they still had local pagan superstitions. Interesting again if you consider fear of water based entities predates the Germanic influence in Britain and was popular among ths native Britons and even Romano-British. There is evidence that some people were trying to appease such water spirits until even after the Norman conquests where sadly the practice seems to fizzle out.

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Is viking conquest any good?

It#s okay.
Some quality of life improvement like battlefield commands, but overall it lacks diversity.
If you're starved, give it a try, otherwise wait for 2034 and Bannerlord.