A/N: To the guest reviewer, I understand your point about the lack of characterization within my fanfic, however, since I am trying to cover the entirety of the Northern history I cannot develop each character to a significant level. Most characters will only be focused upon for a chapter before switching characters. I am trying to cover 8000+ years worth of people and its history without making this story extremely large and not completable. The reason why I was aggressive on my previous review was because the reviewer instead of providing me constructive criticism, although you haven't suggested methods of improvement either, chose to insult me.
To stylo1, once again if you are unable to provide me specific instances of my god afull writing, as you like to put it, and methods of improvement please just stop reading and move on.
To thefirstmen and Golom, thanks for the compliment I appreciate it. I will try and post on ao3 after I have posted the full story here.
To George Cristian810, thanks for your ideas I will definitely take all of them under consideration.
To the other guest reviewer, who thinks my writing is blocky and amateurish. First I would like to say you are reading a fanfic, most of them are amateurish, hence fanfic, secondly I would like to point you back up to my first guest answer. I don't have the time to fully flesh out these characters, since I spend so little time with them. I would also like to state, I have done taekwondo for 4 years with a second degree black belt, I have also done a year of Judo and a year of boxing. I would also like to say that my story does go through basic spell check, since I can't stand leaving those red lines on any of my papers. If you can suggest a specific area in which I can improve I would be glad to hear it, but if not please don't bitch at me cause it makes me not want to continue.
To Lord Pepe, thanks for the complement.
To AO Black, I made him 160 centimeters cause 8000 years ago the average height was much much lower, so to accommodate for that I had him set as 160 cm.
To ibzane, yep I know about that fact, but I chose to ignore it in this story cause I have a hard time remembering the names in the first place.
And finally to Mr. Soze, stop trying to take the high road. You literally called me a instagram thot, which in case you didn't know meant slut. You are the only person being disingenuous here. You personally jumped to the conclusion that I chose to just delete the chapters and restart cause of the reviews. I am perfectly willing to face criticism, when it is constructive, yours were not. I have not gotten a single other complaint about me being disingenuous other than from you, cause it isn't disingenuous. The fact that you chose to make this pointless criticism, which only personally bothered you, a public review instead of a PM to me with the addition of the insult just seems to suggest to me that you were the one that wanted the attention.
Once again this is a fanfiction, the world of Ice and Fire does not belong to me.
"I will..." King Gaven stopped gathering his strength, to overcome his pride, slowly bending his knee and said "bend the knee. House Stark has proven himself the greater wolf and House Greywolf would not die out today. I, King Gaven Greywolf, the Warg King, first of my name, King of the Stoney Shore, hand my kingship to King Rickard Stark and House Stark. May they forever protect our weak and defend our honor."
King Rickard smiled and said "House Greywolf was a strong opponent and I commend you for your strength. In return for bending the knee, I name you High Magnar of the Stoney Shore. House Stark will forever protect the honor of House Greywolf and defend your weak. May they never falter in their loyalty to House Stark."
King Rickard stayed in Dragon's Watch for a moon and soon King Rickard and Magnar Gaven developed a friendship of sorts. They respected each other's strength and martial prowess. King Rickard had formed a betrothal contract between Crown Prince Benjen and High Magnar Gaven's daughter Alyssa Greywolf. This would tie House Greywolf closely to House Stark, uniting the houses.
With Magnar Gaven's former crown, in the shape of many animals made of bronze, King Rickard rode his way back to Winterfell as the Ryswell and Dustin made their way back to their homes.
House Stark had suffered the most losses during the War of the Wolves, coming back with only half the men that they had left with. However, it was worth it as House Stark dominated most of the North, with only having the east ruled by the Red Kings, the Mountains ruled by the many mountain clans, and the Magnars of Skagos.
He rode through the gates of Winterfell, the grand castle's magnificence visible hours hours before approaching it. When he rode into the courtyard, his brother had greeted him.
Magnar Torrhen said "Have you finally conquered the Greywolf?"
"I have, it took a long time but it is done."
"Good, House Stark has never been stronger. Father would be proud of us."
"He would be. Now, tell me what has happened during the time that I was away."
"Nothing major to report. I used my men to kill any bandits group that had formed. Nothing to report on the Boltons. They appear to be quiet. I have finally finished my castle and the region has now indisputable mine. Winterfell's coffers are filled and the people of Wintertown is happy. Finally, the Children of the Forest says winter will come within the next year, so I have made sure to keep our larder filled."
"You have done well Tor."
"Thanks, but I was only doing my duty. I need to ride back to Whitehall. I have been away too long and I have to make sure my rule is consolidated."
"Go Tor, I wish you luck in the years to come and make sure to visit Winterfell whenever you can."
"Thank you brother."
When High Magnar Whitestark left, he took all of the Whitestark men. The First Man Houses from beyond the wall were serving and staying with the different House of the North, so they may learn how to be a Magnar of the Starks and to increase the power of the North. House Stark intended to keep their promise of land in the future. But currently they were busy conquering the North. They could not give away land, in case they did not have time to consolidate their forces and have to fight rebellions and enemy kings, without a strong unified land. Only House Giantsbane remained with House Stark, the rest going to his High Magnars and different Magnars of the North. With most of the men gone, it presented the Boltons with an opportunity. Winterfell has never been so undefended. All of the Stark bannermen would have faced some loss, and their forced would have also just been released, and were all making their way back home. That means that they would not receive the ravens from House Stark until, they make it back home, and when they did they would need to recall all the men, and then march all the way back. The men's moral would be low and their numbers will be low.
So King Roose Bolton marched his men toward Winterfell for a quick surprise attack. The Starks were totally taken by surprise. They had lost too many men and did not even consider a surprise attack from the east. The Bolton laid siege to Winterfell, burning Wintertown to the ground. Their plans until this point worked perfectly but because of Magnar Torrhen's overachieving nature, Winterfell had enough food to last them years.
King Roose Bolton had two options, try to either lure out King Rickard or starve him to death. King Rickard knew this so immediately rationed the food. King Roose did not have the men to attack and siege the mighty castle, so he was stuck. His only move was to starve them. He knew had to finish this quickly or else they would get destroyed by the Stark bannermen.
To anger the Starks, he had the Bolton commanders rape the women and pillage the village in front of the castle. Many of the Bolton men looked disgusted at their leaders and their actions. When that didn't have the Stark men charging out of Winterfell, he began to skin the men and left them screaming for help in clear sight and view of the castle. King Rickard controlled his anger and did not respond to the clear insult. So King Roose tried a desperate tactic. He called for a parley.
King Rickard said with clear restrained anger "I am here. What is it you want you fucking Bolton?"
King Roose began to bluff through his teeth and said "I am willing to let you bend the knee, Stark. I am clearly the superior commander and leader."
King Rickard had to be restrained by his Magnars as he tried to punch King Roose in anger and said "Bend the knee? I have control of most of the North, I hold the greatest keep in all of Westeros and I have won more battles than you have. I claim the lineage to Garth "The Greenhand" the last great king of the First Men, I am descended from Brandon "The Bloody Blade" and Brandon "The Builder" the Last Hero! So why should I bend the knee to you Bolton, a mere barbarian who still skins and flays men?"
When King Rickard was met with silence fuming of the Bolton, King Rickard turned his back and began to ride off. Furious, King Roose broke the ancient law of the parley. He grabbed one of his archers bow and shot King Rickard's back. One of King Rickard's guards seeing the danger rode in front of the arrow and jumped to take the shot. King Rickard instinctively sensed the danger and shot a bolt of ice toward King Roose's bow. Even though King Roose broke the law first, he was unwilling to do the same. The ice snapped the bow in half, but dulled to merely push King Roose on to his ass.
King Roose in his anger, choose to try and break through the great gates of Winterfell right away. The same morning, he ordered the siege towers to move forward. The men saw atop the wall saw his King being shot at and rallied the men and commanders. All the men shot up toward the wall and began raining arrows down upon the Bolton men as soon as they got within range. The Bolton attack failed miserably, getting completely destroyed. The arrows killed many men and their few siege towers after being riddled by arrows, broke or was abandoned. When King Roose realized this, he ordered the men to retreat back toward the camp.
Three moons has passed since the Bolton's siege of Winterfell. None of Winterfell's ravens were allowed to reach their destination but the stray villagers must have reached one of the major keeps by now. Soon the might of the Starks will bear down upon them. But the Bolton's had no plan, no way for taking the castle, and the only reason why the Starks had not retaliated was because of the simple fact that they did not have enough men to guarantee a win.
King Roose also had to worry about winter's approach. They had no way of telling. The Starks knew due to their relationship between the Children of the Forest, but currently, Bolton had no way of knowing. They are Northern men and instinctively knew it was coming, however, they just didn't know exactly when. All they knew was that the days have gotten colder and knew that winter would soon be upon them. If they were still fighting this war, they would get completely wiped out without a strong roof over their heads.
Three days have passed and King Rickard rode out at night towards the camp and surprised the sleeping guards.
Not because he was he attacking, but because he said near the entrance flying the banners of parley "I am here not to address that false King but to you. Winter is coming. Those are my house's word. It is to forever remind us that winter is always coming and we must prepare for all that comes with it. There is going to be a massive blizzard early tomorrow morning. Should you all still be here, in this temporary camp, you will all get massacred. Now knowing this information, you can join me in Winterfell with a roof over your head with complete amnesty for sacking Wintertown. Or if you have a family and want to go to them, you may, either way it is my duty to warn you as King in the North and of Winter and the First Men."
With that King Rickard rode back toward the gates of Winterfell, which opened quickly to let King Rickard back in and closed just as quickly.
Silence hung in the air and nobody moved, until one brave man said "Fuck the Boltons, I have a family, a little girl, I have to take care of them, not die in this horrible excuse of a siege."
He had sparked the wave of men to pack their things and leave. Not even the threat of being flayed alive from King Roose could deter the men. Some went to Winterfell, but most went back to their homes. It was not known to King Rickard, but most people who were warned about the coming snow storm, lived through this winter all thanks to King Rickard, earning him the respect of the small folk.
King Roose now only had a quarter of the men he had started with, leaving King Roose furious. He had retaliated by capturing flaying the few people who tried to desert at the very end, as King Roose was able to regain his senses and order his commander to capture them.
In the early morning, just as King Rickard had said, snow began to fall. But not only that King Rickard had decided to destroy the army before winter could. They charged out from the gate, and broke through the flimsy defences King Roose had ordered to be set up.
The battle ended with the deaths most remaining loyal Bolton men and the few men that survived would end up dying of frostbite or hypothermia. King Rickard single handedly slew King Roose, capturing the Red Crown of the Boltons and their hereditary skinning knives. It is said that King Rickard had the backing of the Old Gods in this battle, as King Roose deserved punishment for breaking the parley, one of the few sins in the eye of the Old Gods. Rogar Giantsbane killing the High Magnar Brandon Hornwood, one of the partakers of rape and torture, earning a name for House Giantsbane. King Roose and High Magnar Brandon's head would adorn the walls of Winterfell above the gates.
King Roose was succeeded by his son King Royce. King Rickard considered sieging the Dreadfort and sacking it in retaliation, but he decided against it. Ironically it was the same storm that deterred the Boltons that had deterred the Starks from retaliating further.
The winter was a relatively short one, ending just before the fourth year. It was very lucky that, King Rickard had got a messenger to the other houses warning them not to come to their aid. Should they have come the men would have most likely have been either killed by the storm or died of hunger as the Winterfell larder would have run out faster. However dark times fell upon House Stark, as King Rickard "The Strong Wolf" died at age 51. His body was buried in the crypts with his ancestors.
House Stark was recuperating their strength now, as soon as the days grew warmer, King Benjen sent men out to rebuild Wintertown. It was a sort of blessing for the Starks, as they decided to organize the town better. All the markets were put together, all the housing were put together, blacksmiths and other skilled workers were put together and all the inns were put together as well. They created the town to surround the walls of Winterfell in a circle. And split the circle in four, with each quarter having a similarity. This meant that should an influx of men arrive, they could be contained in a quarter of inns, rather than having trying to contain them all over the entire town. This took a bit more than a year with the help of a few giants, although most of the work was too small they could help by carrying things. King Bejen under the advice of Magnar Torrhen made the most use out of the sacking of Wintertown and used it to improve their city.
It has been three years since the Bolton attack on Winterfell and King Benjen was planning the retaliation strike against the new Red King. He had gathered all his Magnars even the ones without land of their own yet.
"My Magnars, the Dreadfort might be strong but we have Giants and mammoths unlike them and House Bolton rely on fear more than actual skill in leadership and fighting. Once they are pushed back they will be forced to retreat into their castle, we can then starve them for 3 months and then attacking them when they are weak and have low moral." said King Benjen.
"That might be true your grace, but you will not be able to get that amount of men across to the Dreadfort, they will be notified and rally their own bannermen. The Hornwoods, although no longer kings, are still a formidable foe. Not to mention the men they have gotten from the southern part of the Bay of Seals. We must have a plan to destroy those men." said Magnar Jon Umber.
"Nephew, he is correct. I suggest that you lead an army to lure the Boltons, to the lonely hill in which another army will be hidden. The bait army must contain mammoths and giants or they will never believe that the army is the real deal." said Magnar Torrhen.
"I agree, but to make it truly believable. I must lead the charge." said King Benjen.
"Yes, by doing so they will truly believe you are committing to the army." said Magnar Jorah Mormont.
"Very well my Magnars, I believe we have a plan. Magnar Rodrik Thenn you shall be leading the army within the lonely hills with the council of Magnar Jorah. Make sure the smaller army is able to get into the lonely hills without getting detected. This is your chance to make a name for you House Magnar Rodrik. Heed Magnar Jorah, Magnar Rodrik, he is more experienced than you and you don't want to lose you chance to prove yourself. Magnar Domric Reed your men are far away, but I would like you to prepare your men just in case, make sure to be loud about it. We want the Red Kings to know that there are more men coming. They will lose moral knowing that we will have support. The rest of you, my Magnars shall join me." said King Benjen. "Uncle, I need you to remain and rule the North when I am absent."
Scoffing Magnar Torrhen says "When am I not, nephew?"
With a booming laughter from the group left to gather their men. King Benjen turned to Magnar Torrhen.
"Uncle while I am gone the North must be running smoothly. There can be no chance for a rebellion. We will not have the men to deal with it or get back fast enough. You must keep the moral high and Winter Town happy." said King Benjen.
"Don't worry about that, nephew. This is not my first time doing this, you know. Just make sure you arrive back home safely, or your father will have my head in the halls of the Old Gods."
"Very well, we will both keep our promises."
King Bejen road with the bait host with his greatsword, Ice, strapped across back. The host at the Lonely Hill should be in position. He was informed by his scouts, animals through the use of wargs, that the Red King's younger brother was attempting an ambush.
He turned around to the Magnars and said "Set up camp here. Slightly closer to the keep then necessary. Make sure that we throw a big feast to make it look like soldiers are drunk. Make sure in the middle of the night, that they dress in the leather armor, and go to the nearest gate way as possible. They will receive further orders from there."
"Your grace, may I ask why you are doing this?" asked the Magnar Mance Frost.
"Beating their ambush it will lead to a moral boost, give us something to mock the enemies. By mocking them, we will be able to better lure out the Boltons. They are prideful creatures, and if we provoke them they will respond. So when we lead them to the lonely hills they will be annoyed enough to follow us to the hills." said King Rickard.
"Very well your grace,"
"Magnar Jon I would like you to do something very important for me." said King Rickard, and he quickly explained his plan and explained Magnar Umber's part.
"I will get my men on it right away, your grace."
The Bolton men made their way to the wooden camp walls of the Stark army. They quietly climbed over to the wall, and approached the men guarding the gate in a crouched position, sliting their throats from behind. They died before they could even utter a sound. The two assassins, signaled the army to come down to the camp by extinguishing the left torch.
The army moved quickly but quietly, and entered the camp moving to the tents to slay the sleeping men. Most of the army was at every tents ready to sent it on fire and slay the men and Giants as they come out panicked. The Red King's brother Ramsay Bolton laughing silently in glee. Imagining this battle being called the Raping of the Wolves and being remembered as the leader of the who defeated the Starks. Hoping to be able to skin and flay Benjen Stark, he gave the signal to start.
The Bolton army threw the torch on the tent waiting for the men to come out. The few impatient ones just barged in and stabbed and the sleeping form of the man… until no blood came out. Confused they moved towards the 'dead body' and saw it was not a dead body, it wasn't never even alive. It was a dummy. The men realizing that they were in a trap rushed out of the tent to warn the men.
"IT'S A TRAP! THERE IS NOBODY IS-"
The man was interrupted by an arrow sticking out of his mouth. And behind him there were hundreds of fire arrows being shot at the camp from all directions. It was terrible, the arrows looked like a wall of fire. The red slamming into the Boltons and lighting the entire camp of fire. The fire started to cause panic within the men and they all tried to rune the three gates. Bolton men trampled themselves as they tried to leave, shot with arrows, and burned by getting to near the walls.
Finally a few Bolton men was able to trickle out of the gate, only to be met with giants, mammoths and men waiting to kill them.
That night the grounds near the long lake was named red lands, because by the end of the battle the grass was covered within the Red King's men's blood. Ramsay Bolton lost his right hand, and his bastard brother, Domeric Snow, had lost an eye. The battle was known as the Battle of Red Rain.