Wow two chapters in four hours that must be some kind of record! But seriously, this is a pretty cool chapter in my opinion as it explains how the North affects the world as a whole in this story. Some relationships are good, while some are drastically different. Please enjoy this chapter!
After the war with the Andals, the future for the North looked bright as many houses worked on increasing their wealth and power through new opportunities. House Rayder capitalized on the fact that as the major western sea power of the North, much trade could be had with other parts of Westeros. Trade between the North and the Westerlands grew, bring more wealth to House Rayder and House Stark on a whole. The biggest economic gain for the North though would come from the Mountains of Avalon. Looking for new resources to better help his family, Lord Marcus Avalon started mining operations in the mountains. While new iron and silver mines were opened initially, a new resource was discovered in the mountains: diamonds. While most of the mountain clans ignored the find as diamonds are not useful in any way, Marcus realized his house and the rest of the mountain clans could make a lot of gold from the diamonds. So, using House Rayder as transportation to other cities and House Stark to regulate deals with other kingdoms, the diamond trade of the North was able to make the region one of the wealthiest kingdoms in Westeros, only behind the Westerlands in wealth, which made every house in the North as a whole more powerful and House Avalon the wealthiest house, after House Stark of course.
The rest of Westeros would also feel the economic impact of the Northern trade of goods. House Mallister benefit from the trade flux brought about by The Great Northern Canal, having enough trade and resources to establish Seagard as a proper city, which would be followed by House Mooton establishing Madienpool as its own city. The Westerlands and the Iron Islands also grew from the new trade, which resulted in attempts at arranged marriages with many Northern houses. Some were accepted, but many were refused as many in the North were enraged by the fact that many of the First of Men houses in the south gave up their ancestors' culture and choose to make themselves like the Andals. This is part of why the relationship of the North and Reach is so strained as the Lords of the Reach greeted the Andals with open arms and deserted the Children of the Forest. As such while they gained gold from the Reach from the sales of diamonds, ivory and other raw goods, no Northern house has ever married into a Reacher house. Not all of the kingdoms benefitted from a stronger North.
Dorne suffered from loss of trade because of the Northern Canal allowing sailors to skip Dorne altogether on their voyage. When Princess Nymeria took over Dorne, she was shocked to see how the lack of trade had affected Dorne and as such pledged to go to war with the North to gain more power. While popular at the time, many would look back on Nymeria's Folly as destined to fail from the start as the North was a known power region and was not possible to actually invade, even by a fleet. The war was short but beneficially to both regions as eventually trade agreements were made that helped both. Dorne received much needed ice which would be melted to fresh water to feed their fields, while the North gained their most important crop: the potato. Since the potato could be grown in cool weather and are a relatively fast growing crop, they would become a staple of northern diet along with Mammoth and Moose. The two kingdoms that did not benefit from Northern power were the Stormlands and the Vale. While with the Stormlands it was mainly because of lack of resources to trade, The North and Vale fought each other constantly for new resources. One of the most infamous was the Raping of the Sisters, when the Vale tried to take the Three Sisters as their own. While they were driven out by the Northern Fleets, the rivalry between the two Kingdoms still continues.
While trade with Essos has been a huge part of the Northern economy, there is no city that has a better relationship to the North than Braavos. As a city founded on the principle of no slavery, Braavos quickly found a friend with House Stark and the North, as one of the only crimes against the Old Gods is slavery. With funding from the North, Bravos was able to quickly become one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful of the Free Cities. A pact would be made between King Benjen Stark the Investor and the Sealord of Braavos was a simple agreement: if ever House Stark was endangered or Braavos was in need of help, then they would do everything in their power to help each other. King Benjen would also be one of the first people to open an account with the Iron Bank which would bring much wealth to House Stark. Eventually, a cadet branch of House Stark would be formed in Braavos. The Starks of Braavos would go on to bring weirwoods to Braavos and by a miracle of the Old Gods, the trees would grow in what would become the First Park of Braavos, which in part was inspired by the numerous Godswoods of the North and in Winter City. It seemed the Starks would reign as Kings forever… but all things must come to an end.
Well thats an ominous ending! Thank you so much for reading and following/favoriting this story i honestly means lot you guys so God Bless!(Unless that makes you uncomfortable which in that case thank you again). Please review the story and share your thoughts on it. Also, if you have questions or theories you want to shoot at me please PM me or just write it in the review box if you are a guest. All rights to Game of Thrones belongs to George R.R. Martin and HBO.