My POD is that during the ill fated hunt where Leif's brother Thorvald is killed by Skrealings the Norsemen come across a party of native women picking grapes rather than hunters. Several weeks earlier Thorvald's romantic interest dies of pneumonia so he falls for one of these women. (I'm taking a sort of turtledovian route here except this random sex scene has actual implications of the plot.) Thorvald's survival and ties to the Skrealings lead to increased trade between the two groups including iron weapons.
Several years later christian missionaries arrive in Vinland. One Priest orders Leif to stop contact with the Skrealings. He agrees which leads to several heated arguments with his brother. Eventually Thorvald resists conversion and convinces about half the colony to join him. They are expelled to the western side of the island.
The winter is harsh, the skrealing chief says he cannot continue helping the vinlanders because of stocks of food running short. Thorvald, not wanting to burden them further makes the decision to return to Norway. But before he leaves hear's of even more fertile land to the south.
After a small expedition the vinlanders loyal to thorvald sail down the St. Lawrence canal and establish another base on lake Ontario near the finger lakes. They prosper for almost a decade until coming into contact with the Mohawk people. More trade of metal for grain is made and close ties are forged between the two "tribes".
A majority of the Norse settlement is male, so a large amount of intermarriage occurs. But they retain status as a different "tribe". The old Vinland colony dies out as it did IOTL. and Thorvald's colony becomes more and more incorporated with the natives. After fifty years like this they are inducted into the Haudenosaunee League.
The end result is a large amount of Norse DNA incorporated into the natives, which with a little ASB luckiness will make the Haudenosaunee much more resistant to the European disease pool. They will also have much more knowledge of metallurgy. Hopefully this leads to an Iroquois Confederacy that can beat back French and British pushes into the continent and maybe even survive to the present.
This scenario is probably ASB as it is and I'm in no way an expert on the subject. But I'm sure with a large amount of tweaking something resembling this could happen without that dreaded label.
Several years later christian missionaries arrive in Vinland. One Priest orders Leif to stop contact with the Skrealings. He agrees which leads to several heated arguments with his brother. Eventually Thorvald resists conversion and convinces about half the colony to join him. They are expelled to the western side of the island.
The winter is harsh, the skrealing chief says he cannot continue helping the vinlanders because of stocks of food running short. Thorvald, not wanting to burden them further makes the decision to return to Norway. But before he leaves hear's of even more fertile land to the south.
After a small expedition the vinlanders loyal to thorvald sail down the St. Lawrence canal and establish another base on lake Ontario near the finger lakes. They prosper for almost a decade until coming into contact with the Mohawk people. More trade of metal for grain is made and close ties are forged between the two "tribes".
A majority of the Norse settlement is male, so a large amount of intermarriage occurs. But they retain status as a different "tribe". The old Vinland colony dies out as it did IOTL. and Thorvald's colony becomes more and more incorporated with the natives. After fifty years like this they are inducted into the Haudenosaunee League.
The end result is a large amount of Norse DNA incorporated into the natives, which with a little ASB luckiness will make the Haudenosaunee much more resistant to the European disease pool. They will also have much more knowledge of metallurgy. Hopefully this leads to an Iroquois Confederacy that can beat back French and British pushes into the continent and maybe even survive to the present.
This scenario is probably ASB as it is and I'm in no way an expert on the subject. But I'm sure with a large amount of tweaking something resembling this could happen without that dreaded label.