Synopsis: After the Long Night, Brandon the Builder stayed in the North, but what if, in a mood-swing that would forever be remembered, he decided that, truly, the neighbor had greened grass and moved South, and why not give a deserved payment to the Reach in the process? - This is the story of what happened after that, an ASOIAF AU were the North is in the Reach, and maybe vice-versa

Rating: M because I can't say if I wrote something more mature and gory or softer

Fandoms: A Song of Ice and Fire, I can write some character of the series but can't say is a crossover

Pairings: Not tough, but I'm a big fan of Jon/Daenerys, Arya/Edric Dayne/Gendry, Robb/Harem (he deserves it, the boy suffered enough already), Shireen/Edric Storm, Bran/Jojen and Rickon/Lyanna Mormont

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Disclaimer: ASOIAF is not mine, period. Initial idea also can be considered it, look in Author's Note

Author's Note: So, to the guy who gave his review of the story, thanks! You don't imagine how good feels to have your writing somewath validated, but, for what you said, yeah, I also like the North and its location is perfect to the Others plotline so much that I don't even know if I will enter on it or create some other thing out of my hat (probably the second, just to warn you), but for your question about the why the people in the Reach still think like Northmen even with the new location, my line of tough was that originally they still retained the culture of the North after coming South ("Stark" as an word can mean things like harsh, blunt or barren, like the Northern culture is some ways) and when the Andals came, they retained it as an way to also differenciate them from the andalized regions.

In other matters, I don't know how much time it will take between chapters, as I'm the best person to write ten thousand words but find all utter nonsense and take weeks rewriting only to turn it into less than two thousand, so, yeah, updates will be irregular and probably slow more than fast. Also, I decided to change the name of the keep of House Bolton, originally was "Dreadwood" but since it's located were was Old Oak, the name now is "Dreadoak"; the chapters will be only numbered or have the name of a character from here on, since it seems I can't write a small title

EDIT (11/30/2018), due to thinking for some time and thing like that, i decided to change the end of this chapter to write a bit more about the Kings in the Reach after Brandon the Prophet (yes, this is his nickname), so please cope with me in this

EDIT (2/13/2019): Due to don't thinking, I decided to read my already written chapters and ended up seeing a bunch of places where I tough there would be better ways to write (or more than it, writing errors, my most hated foe), so I made some mild edits

Besides that, please, enjoy:


Part Two - The Greystark Rebellion and the Late Kings in the Reach

During the reign of Edric IV Stark, known as the "Snowbeard" by his subjects, the rule of House Stark reached its lowest point, and, for the first time in its thousands of years of history, it reached the brink of total annihilation, a thousand and two hundred years before the Conquest.

A vain and mostly foolish king, even if he was known for being gallant and vigorous in his youth, he became King in the Reach at the age of three when his father, King Rodrik IX Oakenshield, suffered a stroke in his sleep, and never was too interested in ruling over his house's domains, surrounding himself with fools and flatterers and thinking more about feasts and whoring than about ruling.

During his eighty-five years of reign, he only leaved Highgarden six times, preferring the halls and gardens of his capitol than the strongholds of his vassals, and under his rule the Reach suffered.

Since he didn't wanted to rule, his vassals started to fend for themselves, many times using their personal armies to fight one-another, and while it happened, the Reach loosed lands in all sides, with the Yronwoods and Fowlers grabbing swats of land in the Red Mountains, only being pushed back by the local lords, the Storm Kings recovering their lands in the Dornish Marches, and the Kings in the Rock engulfing almost all lands north of the Dreadoak, laying siege to the castle for three and a half years and almost starving House Bolton out before being forced to stop after an invasion of the Ironborn in their northern coast.

But it was only when Snowbeard was already crippled and senile of old age that all reached its breaking point.

House Greystark of the Hightower, nowadays considered by many as simply one of the many branches of House Stark, was not simply an cadet of the wolves of Winterfell, no, it was the oldest of them all and the one held in highest regard within them, having been founded by the third son of Brandon the Builder himself, Torrhen the Grey Wolf, an mighty warrior known for his hair, made of curls as grey as an stormy sky since the age of 3.

When he conquered the Reach, Brandon gave to Torrhen the old domains of House Hightower, who renamed their capital, the City of Hightown (who would later be known as "Oldtown" if it continued), White Harbor, in reference to white stones that made most of the buildings in the city, while he took the Hightower as his seat.

During the centuries and millenniums that followed, House Greystark only grew in power and status in the Reach, first due to their control over the biggest city in Westeros, being one of the richest houses in the Reach, as also the owners of its biggest merchant fleet, and, later, due to their control over the Island of the Arbor, given by Theon Stark after he took it from the Ironborn.

The members of House Greystark were known, for much of their history, for their loyalty to their forefathers, House Stark, and no other lord received more trust and confidence than the Lord Greystark from Hightower, their words were "Blood, Thicker the Water", but, nonetheless, the time were their power flew over their heads came, during the reign of the Snowbeard.

Husband of a Greystark, the old king was never more foolish than with his cousins, giving more and more presents and rights to them during his reign, with the house growing in power and wealth at the pace of days and months were before had taken decades or centuries to reach. And, in the end, a man named Beron Greystark, known as "the Last" by the bards and maesters, became the Lord of the Hightower.

Son of his predecessor with one of the granddaughters of Snowbeard, Beron became head of his house when he was only twenty-five, after his father died hunting a boar, and he was as ambitious as he was rich, saying:

"Why can't I be the King? Me that am much wiser and powerful than the Old Fool of Winterfell"

Drunk by the power connected to his name and mad with ambition, he planned and he waited, bidding his time with uttermost care, forging swords and building ships on the dark of the night so spies wouldn't see and preparing for the war that he believed with all certainty would give House Greystark their rightful place as the rulers of the Reach, waiting for the right time to strike.

And that time came, as most of them are, with a death, as in the 85th year of his reign, the aged and senile Edric Snowbeard suffered an unrecoverable stroke and died after only four days, covered in his own filth, and when the old king died, Beron decided that it was the time, calling his banners and all lords that supported him and rising with his armies to take his bid for the Weirwood Throne, leading an force of 30.000 men in the direction of Winterfell. He had planned and he had waited and now was his time.

The only thing that he didn't expected, or simply forgot to think about, was another man between the descendants of the late Snowbeard, a twenty-two years old man named Brandon, called by the people as "of the Icy-Eyes", who was the only son of the second son of the now deceased heir of the king, and, unlike many of his relatives, was extremely interested on ruling, being believed as the representation in flesh and in blood of the family's name, Stark", with his eyes showing a cold-hearted and ruthless nature, looking "souless and cold like the freezing hells of the Long Night".

Known for being a complete change from his relatives both in appearance and in personality, with unsettling blue eyes and a pale-blonde hair and a thrive and want to rule correctly, he was, unlike his father, his grandfather and many of his cousins, considered by many lords great and small a true heir to the might of House Stark, infamous for his many, many, moments of fury upon relatives for their complete lack of with and unfitness for ruling even while being equally ambitious.

So, when he heard of the death of his ancestor and the rebellious acts of his cousin, he did not quiver or wait a second, and in the passing of a day declared himself the true heir of the Weirwood Throne, styling himself as the "King in the Reach, Fifty Second of his Name", sending ravens and messengers across the realm and asking for the lords' allegiances, many answered yes to his call, a part said no, and some stayed quiet, even while his grandfather by the side of his mother, the aging Lord Enmyl Bolton of the Dreadoak, sent for some reason a single man, his personal paramour.

And after uniting his supporters, Brandon went to war.

The conflict lasted three years, being named later as the "Greystark Rebellion", and it was not one of glory and honor, being marked by brutality and cruelty by both sides as they became more and more ruthless in their want for victory, and with a single battle, the Siege of Winterfell, being marked by the deaths of fifteen thousand men, ten of which were lords loyal to Beron Greystark, killed personally by Brandon as they served as bait to their fleeing lord.

Battles were fought bot in land as in sea, whit the loyalist fleet laying siege to the Arbor and conquering it while the Shield Islands were raided by the Ironborn, who took their chance seeing the chaos in the Reach. The neighboring kings and lords also took their prizes on the conflict, and took even bigger swats of land, with the King of the Rock, Leon III Lannister, controlling over all the lands north of the Shield Islands and West of the Golden Branch before being pushed back.

But, in the end, Beron's forces were defeated, with many being killed or imprisoned, and at last only his seat, the city of White Harbor, remained, being put under a brutal siege that lasted seven moons and some more day before ending.

"This day will be the last, and no one will dare to defy our rule again", said Brandon, moments before his forces stormed the gates of the city.

The Sacking of White Harbor lasted a whole day and night after that, with the city burning like a pyre while it was sacked by the loyalist army. White stone became red, and black after that, when the blood tainted it and burned to ashes. Men pillaged, killed and raped the smallfolk with a fury never seen.

And Brandon never let the ice in his eyes die that day, watching all with a heartless look while screams were heard.

House Greystark died that day, for Brandon followed his promise and ensured that no one would ever dare defy the rule of House Stark again.

All members of the family, from the main branch to the farthest and smallest of the cousins, were brought to him, many screaming or pleading mercy, but their suffering fell in deaf ears, for Icy-Eyes would not be merciful.

Beron was forced to watch as every men and women over the age of fourteen was killed, their impaled bodies left to burn as gruesome torches; after that, the children of the cadet branches were tied by the hands and given to the soldiers, be them boy or girls, and used as they saw fit, after that, the ones that still lived had their throats slit.

"an act of mercy", Brandon said.

And, in the end, only Beron and his four sons, as he had no daughters, still lived, and the Last was again forced to watch, having his eyelids cut to guarantee, while the three oldest were tied to stakes and burnt alive, and, he himself was devoured by Brandon's direwolf.

Only the youngest son of Beron, a boy of thirteen, was let live, if only because of some twisted kind of mercy, and he was stripped of all his titles and branded with hot iron as a traitor to all see, before being taken as a hostage to Dreadoak, were he would swear his vassalage to House Bolton and be given a small keep in the coast.

"Never Again", would be the words of House Sinstark, as the name Greystark was also stripped of him and made illegal to ever be used by another person, and never again they would betray House Stark, but never they would be forgiven, as to this day any dowry give to them will be smaller, and any dowry given by them will be higher than any other house, and their taxes will still be bigger than any house of same status as them.

As for White Harbor, it was added to the personal domains of House Stark, who would never give the lordship of the city to any house, preferring to have Lord Stewards chosen by the Lord of Winterfell, while the Arbor would be given to House Manderly, a house of the North who had been recently exiled from their lands by the King Perceon III Gardener, who gave the right of their domains to Lord Lorimar Peake.

For that, House Manderly would always be loyal to the Kings in the Reach, and never a Manderly would direct his sword or arrow to a member of House Stark.


Although Brandon Icy-Eyes would rule for two thirds of a century, and annex all lands lost by the Reach during the reign of his great-grandfather, slaying two Kings of the Rock, three Storm Kings and more than ten Dornish Kings in the process, as also rule over his lands with an iron fist while being loved by his people at the same time, his reign is considerably put aside by the events mattering his daughter 's life.

Brandon only married one time, in an arranged marriage with Amerei the Golden, the daughter of one of the Kings of the Rock who he killed, and by the time he was already a man hardened by old age, with his blond hair now truly white and his skin more wrinkled than crumpled paper, and from this marriage, who ended with the death of his wife in childbed, he had only a daughter, Lyanna, who was born with the traditional Stark hair and the blue unnerving eyes of her father.

A protective father as much as a cunning ruler, Brandon never married again, and from birth he prepared his daughter to be his successor, training her both in the ways of the sword and on the ways of politics and administration, knowing her rule would not be one of easiness.

Princess Lyanna became, with time, known as "the Beauty", due to her good looks, but no men could gain her hand in marriage, as she always declared, "fight me, if I yield, we shall be married. If you yield, you shall promise be always loyal but I will not be your wife", a hundred men tried, and a hundred men failed, in their try, giving more power to the princess, as they were heirs and lords, instead of wives.

Although she became known for loving the fire of battle, having commanded a war fleet against the ironborn and slaying in battle the King Mortag I "the One Killed by a Lady" Hoare, who had said would take her as his saltwife, Lyanna never as the happiest or the most animated of the persons, as she always was utterly bored and disinterest with the courtly life of Winterfell or the Reach

Because of that, she traveled across the Known World, and, in a uniquely long summer, she sailed North in the Sunset Sea, wanting to find some adventure fighting Wildlings in the Lands Beyond the Wall, were a woman would be seen as equal and would she would not have an advantage.

It was there that she finally met the person who would later become her lover, when, in one of her raids inland, she met the wildling bard Bael, a man with deep grey eyes and a bright red hair that tried to steal her as his bride and had a dream of uniting the wildling tribes, only to be knocked unconscious by a swing of her mace and taken prisoner to her ship.

A funny and light-hearted man, Bael rapidly make himself a part of the day-to-day life of the ship and Lyanna, many times singing to animate the crew and sharing with its princess and captain contests in the matter of mind and even drinking, being said to never had won against her even after a thousand tries.

With time, the two created a bond and a strong friendship, that became flirting with the passing of months and, in the end, the two fell head-over-heels in love for each other, and, when the time came, married under a carved weirwood tree, consuming their union there under the eyes of the Old Gods.

The two stayed two years together, while Icy-Eyes stayed in the Reach strangely fond of his daughter's relationship, and when time came to Lyanna came back to the Reach, leaving Bael to his declared ambition in becoming the King-Beyond-the-Wall, she sailed with a baby in her lap, a boy named Brandon, with the dark hair of his mother and one eye in honor of each parent, a trait still retained in House Stark to this day (even if there had been times where both eyes are of the infamous "Stark Blue").

Sadly, their relationship would not be one ended in happiness and joy, for Bael did became the King-Beyond-the-Wall, and one day invaded the North, at the time ruled by the King Gwayne VI Gardner, known as "the Fool", who slay him in battle and sent his dried head to Winterfell.

Seeing this, the now aged Lyanna broke on despair, killing herself by the way of jumping from the tallest tower in the castle, and her son, now King Brandon Stark, Fifty Third of His Name, united the greatest army to the time, seventy thousand men, and sailed to the North, passing by in the Iron Islands to a little time of pillaging and to guarantee their neutrality, and invaded the North by the Rills, killing thousands and setting ablaze Highgarden, chopping into pieces the Oakenseat of House Gardener before coming back to the Reach, accompanied by forty thousand wildling men, woman and children that followed his father South of the Wall and now settled some areas of the Red Mountains, becoming a part of the Mountain Clans of the Reach.

The North would take centuries to recover the heavy blow they received, while in the Reach Brandon received the title "Avenger", sitting back in his throne and again putting his domains in a state of neutrality.

Before dying, however, he made a strange, if correct, declaration to his descendants, who waited at his side, "Wait!", he said, half made of age but with a fire in his eyes, "Wait for the Sun that comes from East! Born of the water of the Great River with ten thousand flares and Coming to the Spear within the ship. Wait and thrive when it comes! As the Wolf will finally rule over the Sands!"