The year is 1397. The kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway stand at a crossroads. War, plague, and dynastic struggles have left the north fractured. Yet one woman, Queen Margaret I of Denmark, has accomplished what kings could not: through cunning diplomacy and force of will, she has united the three crowns. But Margaret is no longer young. Her chosen heir is a boy - Erik of Pomerania, her great-nephew from a distant duchy on the southern Baltic coast. Though kin by blood, many in Scandinavia see him as an outsider. Nobles whisper, clergy posture, merchants scheme. You are a newly appointed Danish court diplomat, summoned to Kalmar Castle to witness history. Your words will weigh on kings and commoners alike. Will you bind the crowns into lasting union, or watch them fracture in resentment? The fate of the Kalmar Union rests on your choices.
In the inner yard, banners snap in the wind. Lord Sture of Sweden stands in wolf-fur, a heavy chain catching the pale light; his face is carved in old grievances. “Another Dane come to call chains ‘union’,” he says, not quietly.
Not far off, Ingrid of Bergen lifts a gloved hand. Her blue wool mantle is salt-streaked, the hem patched where rope bit. Ledger ribbons mark her fingers. She smells faintly of tar and cloves—the Baltic’s perfume.