You're A Tenth-Century Scandinavian Petty King! Why Are You Converting To Christianity?

• Sign on big rock
• Auspicious-looking cloud
• "Get briefly wet" seems like a pretty good exchange for "become Duke of Frisia"
• Emperor of Germany seems like a nice guy
• There's a nice new coat in it for you
• New church a little closer to trading post in Hedeby
• The archbishop has a big gold hat
• You want a big gold hat someday
• Yggdrasil hard to spell
• Can't hurt
• Spending less time raiding and more time farming in Anglia, want to fit in with neighbors
• Make third wife happy
• Big rock representing old gods fell down
• Keep second wife in line
• Little monk funny
• Sign of the cross easy to remember
• Gorm did it and Gorm is fine
• What's one more, really
• Desperate for "archway" technology from Holy Roman Emperor
• To impress Sweyn Forkbread
• Sounds fun, cousins doing it
• Forgot exact location of sacred grove
• Ravens no longer really "doing it" for you
• To show up the guys in the Varangian Guard
• They just keep sending monks otherwise
• Can always just switch back later if you don't like it
• Took "treasure in Heaven" literally
• Kind of a "Christian" vibe at the feast; didn't want to make a big deal out of things
• Suddenly everyone doing it
• Was thinking of becoming literate anyway
• To cheese off Brian Boru
• Tired of making the trip to Uppsala every summer/Uppsala too crowded
• Eric of Good Harvests doesn't seem to be presiding over as many good harvests as he used to
• Show of hands won out
• Thor won't mind
• Gives the household something to do in winter
• They make such a big hassle about it otherwise
• To impress mistress in Miklagard
• Saw really good drawing of Christ holding a sword

[Image via Wikimedia Commons; thanks to Mattie Lubchansky and Calvin Kasulke for archway technology and spelling Yggdrasil]