Hello everyone this is my first story on the site so please give feedback on the story. It will take place in the beginning canon but it is an AU (obviously) so things will be different. I was inspired to write this story by The Many Sons of Winter over at Alternative History (great story you should check it out) so here is the intro/prologue to the story:
Two thousand years before the Andals would come to Westeros, House Stark would forever change the course of the realm. In the days of King Eddard Stark the first of his name, a new King Beyond the Wall would lead an army of sixty thousand wildlings to take the North. Leading his men, the young king Eddard would throw back the wildling king but came to a simple but life altering question: why were the fighting? After all both forces were of the First of Men, both kept to the Old Gods and even respected one another in a way , the young wolf king decided a controversial new approach to deal with the men beyond the wall, one that was meet with outrage,but one that was accepted in the end. The king summoned the elders of the free folk and gave them an offer: join the rest of the North as fellow countrymen and live a life that had less hardship than the one beyond the wall. Naturally Free folk leaders were insulted that this Southern Lord would try make them bend the knee to him and almost rejected the offer if it were not for one man. This man was named Rayder who led the wildlings himself as the king-beyond-the-wall and yet he was willing to bend the knee to the Stark King. His reasoning was that he told the elders that by not bending the knees they would have only their pride, but by bending the knee they could have something greater than that they had and that any of their ancestors had a life that their children to look forward to, a life as a nation not a petty collection of tribes. To put an end to all this fighting Rayder bent the knee to King Stark himself and became the first wildling king to bend the knee. To reward him King Eddard gave him a lordship over the stony shore and established House Rayder. Though it took time and while some wildlings rejected the offer, a majority of free folk were won over and joined the North. With the additional seventy five thousand free folk joining the northmen another group of people also came to live south of the Wall: giants. With the giants came the settling of mammoths which offered a godsend as they were both excellent war animals as nothing but a dragon or a large pack of direwolves could bring one done, but also provided much needed wool and meat to the North. Wargs would become more common and a valuable asset to the North as spies and enforcers for the North. The giants, however became some of the most useful members of the society as they worked alongside their smaller cousins to create many great keeps and cities, in fact without the giants some believe that the Great Northern Canal that connects the Narrow Sea to The Sunset Sea would never be feasible in the first place! The North was now on a path for greatness a because of Eddard Stark who would to this day be called the Great Wolf.
Please leave comments about what you think and hope you enjoyed it! All rights belong to George R.R. Martin and HBO.