The North

The North is one of the constituent regions within the Seven Kingdoms on the continent of Westeros. Historically ruled by House Stark, the land was once home to the Kings of Winter prior to Aegon's Conquest, where Kings became Wardens.

Famous for being a place of little comfort, the North is as rigid and frozen as the people who work it's land. The Old Gods are primarily followed with those who follow the Faith of the Seven few and far-between. The North is easily easily one of, if not the largest region under the purview of the Iron Throne, stretching from the Night's Watch's New Gift all the way to the Neck in the south. White Harbor is the only city to speak of in the North, and the center of sea-based trade. Bastards born in the North take the surname 'Snow'.

Geography
To say the North is cold is to say that Dorne has sand. Famous for snow even in the times of summer, the lands past the Neck are varied and rural. Ranging from dense forests like the Wolfswood to the swamps near Moat Cailin to the barrows of the First Men to the rocky and unwelcoming shores where keeps like Deepwood Motte rest, one could take a turn in the North and not see the same landscape twice.

The Kingsroad is the primary route through the North, and runs through the swampy Neck and Winterfell straight to the Wall.

Seasons
The north is strongly affected during the long winters, with thousands of people killed and famine a common occurrence due to poor harvests before winter or the inability to raise crops during the longer winters that last for years on end. Some greater lords maintain greenhouses at their castles, such as the glass gardens of Winterfell.

Once autumn is declared by the Citadel, the lords of the north store away a part of the grain they have harvested. How much is a matter of choice; between one fifth and one fourth seems prudent, however. Additionally food is smoked, salted, and otherwise preserved ahead of winter. Coastal communities depend on fish and inland ice fishing is common on the rivers and Long Lake. Poor harvests before winter will mean famine, however.

In winter, snows can fall forty feet deep. Rain falls cold and hard, and sometimes turns into hail that can send men running for cover and ruin crops. Even during summer, snowfalls are not unusual but tend to be brief and not particularly damaging to agriculture.

Culture
The people of the North value tradition, loyalty and legacy deeply. There is no better example of this behavior than the conspiracy between Northern Lords that saw a Stark returned to Winterfell, even amidst a war of their own. Often called 'wolves' themselves by their neighbors, many northmen know that they have a pack that spans the continent and act like it. The southern rituals of knightship, court and politicking are often lost this far north, along with their gods, as Northern denizens follow Heart trees and nameless deities. Ancient givens like Guest Right are sacred to Northmen, which made indiscretions like the Red Wedding especially egregious.

There are some Northmen who are even less connected to civilization than their noble counterparts, with the cultural subgroups of crannogman, Skagosi and the mountain clans permitted their own ways of living so long as they remain loyal to House Stark. They are often likened to the Wildlings moreso than Northmen, but garner the same respect from their peers.

The Night's Watch is viewed very highly in the North, with the spare sons of noble houses choosing to serve quite often and the lords and ladies of the North sending gifts and patronage to the brothers in black. The southeron regions are viewed with an air of distaste due to the vast differences between, though the North finds amicable fellows in the Vale and occasional enemies in the Iron Islands.

Economy
As the north is largely uncultivated, there are few roads of import there. Most of the inland trade passes by either the kingsroad or the rivers. Trade items from the north include wool, hides, and timber. White Harbor contains silversmiths and the Old Mint.

Military Strength
The north can perhaps raise forty-five thousand soldiers, although it would take a long time to gather them from such a large region. During Aegon's Conquest, King Torrhen Stark raised an army of thirty thousand men. Nearly twenty thousand can be raised on short notice near the start of autumn, while thousands more might be raised from more distant houses, such as the northern mountain clans, if more time is allowed.

House Manderly, of southron origins, is known to command the most heavy horse north of the Neck. Mail is the most common armor found in the north. As knighthood is associated with the Faith of the Seven, and the majority of the northmen holds to the old gods, knighthood is rare in the north.

The north has had no strength at sea since Brandon the Burner set fire to the remaining fleet of his father, Brandon the Shipwright.

Before Aegon's Conquest (BC)
About eight thousand years ago, the legendary-- and first-known --Long Night occurred when the Others invaded from the Lands of Always Winter. The event defined and shaped the north, leading to the founding of the Wall, the order of the Night's Watch, the castle of Winterfell and the first Stark Kings of Winter. Brandon the Breaker is said to have allied with Joramun, a King-Beyond-the-Wall, to bring down the Night's King.

The Starks would also gradually defeated rival kings, such as the Barrow Kings to their south and the Red Kings to their east. During the Andal invasion, the Kings of Winter stopped Andals at Moat Cailin and the eastern shores, the only kingdom in Westeros to do so.

King Jon Stark founded the Wolf's Den at the mouth of the White Knife after driving out sea raiders. His son, Rickard Stark, conquered the Neck from the Marsh King and married his daughter. King Rodrik Stark is said to have won Bear Island from the ironborn in a wrestling match. Two thousand years ago the north warred with the Vale of Arryn after the Rape of the Three Sisters, with the Arryns eventually gaining control of the islands in this War Across the Water.

Thousands of years before Aegon's Conquest, King Brandon the Shipwright attempted to sail across the Sunset Sea, but never returned back home. His son, also named Brandon, burned the northern shipyards in his grief. The north has since lacked strength at sea.

For many centuries House Bolton was a bitter rival of the Starks of Winterfell. The practice of flaying their enemies gave the Boltons a sinister reputation. It is said that a thousand years ago, the Boltons finally swore fealty to the Kings in the North and agreed to abandon their practice of flaying their enemies.

A thousand years before Aegon's Conquest, the House Manderly was driven from the river Mander by House Gardener, the Kings of the Reach, and fled to the north, where they were welcomed by the Starks of Winterfell as their own bannermen. The Manderlys received the Wolf's Den and developed White Harbor, one of the five cities of Westeros and the main northern port for commerce and naval transport. The Manderlys are the most prominent of the few northern noble houses to follow the Faith of the Seven instead of the old gods.

After Aegon's Conquest (AC)
The Starks led the north to war during Aegon's Conquest. After the Field of Fire, however, King Torrhen Stark knelt to Aegon the Conqueror rather than face his dragons. The north was included in the Seven Kingdoms and owed allegiance to the Iron Throne of House Targaryen. The Stark Kings in the North became the Lords of Winterfell and Wardens of the North, and have been known by that title ever since.

Queen Alysanne Targaryen convinced her husband, King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, to grant the New Gift to the Night's Watch despite the objections of Lord Ellard Stark.

During the Dance of the Dragons, the Starks supported the blacks against the greens. Lord Roderick Dustin led two thousand northern soldiers, known as the Winter Wolves, during the war, while the Manderlys had knights from White Harbor also support the claim of Rhaenyra Targaryen. Lord Cregan Stark led a great host of northmen to King's Landing, where he briefly ruled as Hand of the King for Aegon III Targaryen during the Hour of the Wolf.

The early second century AC was marked by trouble on the northern border, as Raymund Redbeard invades over the Wall. The Night's Watch with assistance can stop the wildlings, but both the Lord Commander and Lord Stark lose their lives. Only a decade later the Skagosi rise in rebellion, but can be defeated as well.

The other half of the century was not less eventful, with raids by Tyroshi slavers, a Forrester stabbing a Whitehill and roaming direwolves. Though the biggest event was certainly the Great Council of the North, after the Stark line faced extinction. Many brought their claims forward, hoping to inherit the north. In the end the bastard of the late Lord Artos, who died trying to conquer the lands beyond the Wall, Rodrick Snow. A daughter of Artos' uncle would marry Benfred Tallhart, who would take the Stark name. The two would go on to reconstruct Moat Caitlin which their descendants hold to this day.

In 304 AC, King Viserys took a section of Stark land and gifted it to the Night's Watch after being plagued by nightmares of a danger beyond the Wall. This did not go well with Lord Stark however, who still holds a grudge for it. Later the same year, a revolt by followers of the Seven near White Harbour broke out, and could not be ended without the death of a Stark and many other nobles. Shortly after the Skagosi rose up yet again, only for their rebellion to be bloodily suppressed by Lord Starks second son.

Major Events of the North

226 AC: Raymund Redbeard invades the North over the Wall. Lord Commander Jack Musgood and the Watchmen march south and met the Northmen at Long Lake, intercepting Redbeard and his forces before they can make it too far south. Musgood and Lord Stark are both slain by Redbeard before Redbeard met his end.

238 AC - 240 AC: The Skagosi rebel, still harboring resentment from their defeat a few decades earlier. Defeated after another few years of fighting.

246 AC: A large pack of wolves said to be headed by a massive direwolf terrorizes the North for moons on end, costing the lives of Lords Hornwood and Dustin, and maiming the sons of Lord Locke. After a time the pack disappears into the aptly named Wolfswood, only to be heard howling in the night.

253 AC: Lord Rodrik Ryswell kills Beron Stark in a live steel melee after being spurned by Lord Beron’s wife. A trial was held for murder, but there was inconsequential evidence to prove Lord Ryswell’s guilt, leading to his release.

262 AC: Intent to solidify his name in the annals of history, Lord Artos Stark leads two thousand Northmen Beyond the Wall intent on conquest. Lord Artos’s body is never recovered and less than a third of his men return. Artos left no trueborn heir, leaving his aging uncle Osric to rule the North.

266 AC:The elderly Lord Osric Stark passes away peacefully in his sleep, leaving only his seventeen year old daughter Sara as his heir, and the Stark Line in jeopardy. To prevent the extinction of House Stark, several candidates are considered in a Great Council of the North. Among those considered for Winterfell are Owen Hornwood, Harrion Karstark, and Beren Tallhart, all carrying Stark blood through their mothers. The last candidate was Lord Artos’s bastard son,Rodrick Snow sired on a Flint maiden. After several days deliberation, it was Rodrick who was chosen over the other candidates to rule the North based on preference of a male lineage over the female. The resentment of choosing a bastard would sit even decades later, with the other candidates considering themselves slighted over being passed over. The daughter of Lord Osric, Sara Stark, would take Benfred Tallhart has her husband, and upon taking the name of his wife the pair would go on to form House Stark of Moat Cailin, and once given the ancient castle to hold, and would being the partial reconstruction of the fortress, which their descendants hold to this day.

278 AC: During a feast at Last Hearth, Lord Galbart Forrester stabs Lord Domeric Whitehill in a drunken rage after a poor jest regarding the former’s wife. The feud almost erupts into open conflict before Lord Stark settles it by punishing both parties.

283 - 309 AC - Slaver raids by Tyroshi intensify, leading to much bloodshed on both sides during the period known to the Northmen as the Black Raids. Many lives are claimed on both sides, and many northerners are taken by the slavers, some are able to be rescued at sea, but most are lost to Tyrosh.

304 AC: To the anger of the Northmen, King Viserys takes a section of land from the Starks and gifts it to the Nights Watch as the Third Gift.

304 - 305 AC - Faith of the Seven worshipping small folk in and around White Harbour rise up against the followers of the Old Gods led by a Ser Hoster of Maidenpool, though short, the Faith Uprising is bloody and claims the lives of several Northmen, among them Lord Starks brother and nephew. The Uprising is finally stopped at the banks of the White Knife when the zealots are caught fording the river by men of House Bolton. Ser Hoster is slain and his men are cut down or scatter to the wind and the principal leaders are brought to Lord Stark for summary execution. The aftermath of the Uprising leads to some animosity between Houses Stark and Manderly, the former seeing the merman as the ones to blame for the death of their kin.

305-306 AC : Incensed by the Faith Uprising, and thinking the Starks of Winterfell unable to put down another uprising, the Skagosi rise against their liege Lords, and are brutally put down by the Second son of Lord Stark in a campaign lasting a year and some moons.

309 AC: Unsettling rumors abound from the Wall, rangers disappearing with increasing frequency, Maesters spectate that these are due to the deterioration of the Watch. Or perhaps the actions of Artos Stark years earlier have finally caught up to the rest of the North

Major Houses of the North

 * House Stark of Winterfell
 * House Stark of Moat Caitlin
 * House Bolton of the Dreadfort
 * House Cerwyn of Castle Cerwyn
 * House Dustin of Barrowton
 * House Flint of Widow's Watch
 * House Glover of Deepwood Motte
 * House Hornwood of Hornwood
 * House Karstark of Karhold
 * House Magnar of Kingshouse
 * House Manderly of White Harbour
 * House Mormont of Bear Isle
 * House Reed of Greywater Watch
 * House Tallhart of Torrhen's Square
 * House Umber of Last Hearth