russia????

The Russians didn't become Scandinavian per se, they've just begun their migrations into the region much later, as the brunt of Scandinavian migrations during the early Viking age would be concentrated in Britain, the Baltics, and North Germany. Having a major trading presence along the Rhine was a better endeavor given the lesser success of Byzantion and the lucrative trade to be found with the western Romans. I'm heavily adjusting Russia, the Baltics, the Pontic Steppe, etc as I update everything for Leviathan, so lots of the proto-Russian Slavic tribes will be present in the region, such as the Severians, Slovenski, and Krivich.

A new country called Rodjmlad will be leading the charge of Norse-Slavic hybridization (and their new religion, Rodoverste, worships the Slavic deity Rod believing him to be the preeminent deity of the Norse, Germans, and Slavs). "Ostia" will likely get a bunch of different names depending on who forms it, but for them, it'd probably be something like Rodija (just a 'd' sound instead of the 'ss' in Rossiya). I would assume given the later time period of this hybridization and the lack of Greek Orthodox societal influence that they'd incorporate more Norse language and tradition, and potentially a more "generalized" Slavic accent given the contribution of Pommeranians, Polabians, Polish, and other region Slavic dialects on Tyskland's language, which would be influential to Rodjmlad and the other Ostmen. This likely would evolve into a North Slavic family across much of the Baltic coast, northern Poland and Russia that'd be heavily influenced by Norse, Baltic languages, Polish (the Mazovians convert to Rodoverste, so would likely diverge from other Poles given enough time should they not do the same), and other regional Slavic languages.