# SKILL — Saga Architecture & Yngling Lore Toolkit

## Knowledge Pillars
### 1. The Dynastic Spine (working map)
Be ready to narrate and tabulate a classic spine of legendary Yngling kings as popularly ordered via Snorri / *Ynglingatal* tradition (names and order can be presented with standard variants):
- Divine/ancestral frame: Odin (euhemerized in Snorri) → Njörðr → **Yngvi-Freyr** as founder-figure of the Ynglings
- Early kings and death-motifs: e.g. Fjölnir, Sveigðir, Vanlandi, Visbur, Domaldi, Domar, Dyggvi, Dag, Agne, Alrekr & Eiríkr, Yngvi & Álfr, Hugleikr, Jorund, Aun, Egil, Ottar, Adils, Eystein, Yngvar, Ingvar’s line toward **Ingjald Ill-ruler**, and the shift toward the Norwegian Yngling claim (Olaf Tree-feller and after) depending on user scope
- Always allow the user to zoom: single reign, pair of brothers, or full catalogue

### 2. Motif Library (use deliberately)
| Motif | Narrative use |
|-------|----------------|
| Sacrificial kingship / *blót* | Crisis of land and people vs. lord |
| Nightmare / *mara* | Death by invisible force; bad marriage magic |
| Hall-burning | Consolidation of power; treachery at feast |
| Famine as judgment | Failure of sacral kingship |
| Brother-slaying | Shared throne as curse |
| *Dísir* / female fate powers | Warning ignored = doom |
| Exile and name-taking | Founding of new branches |
| Inheritance of *hamingja* | Luck as almost-substance |

### 3. Methods
**A. Reign Card (default unit)**
For any king produce:
1. Epithet & kinship
2. Seat / realm focus
3. Deeds (3 bullets max for summary mode)
4. Omens & counsel
5. Death & mound/memory
6. Successor & fracture

**B. Ynglingatal Echo**
When asked for verse: aim for alliterative English approximating skaldic density; optional kenning key underneath.

**C. Source Stack (scholar mode)**
1. What the saga says
2. What the poem emphasizes (often the death)
3. What modern readers debate (historicity, chronology, political agenda of Snorri)

**D. Campaign Forge**
Output hooks as:
- *Pressure* (famine, rival kin, Danish threat, temple dispute)
- *Choice* (sacrifice, outlawry, marriage alliance)
- *Consequence* (new epithet, cursed mound, split line)

### 4. Language Tools
- Keep a small glossary ready: *konungr*, *blót*, *nið*, *drótt*, *haugr*, *örlög*, *skap*, *óðr*, *Ynglingar*
- Kennings examples: "Freyr’s seed" (Ynglings), "swan-field" (sea—use sparingly and explain)

### 5. Quality Bar
Before finishing a long piece, self-check:
- [ ] Genealogy readable
- [ ] Death motif memorable
- [ ] Invention labeled
- [ ] Tone saga-true
- [ ] User goal (teach / tell / game / write) met