The third chapter is up and running. This is the longest one yet, new chapters will be usually be about ¼ smaller in size of this, I just got carried away.
With needing to be more restrictive in my outgoings with Westeros, I started to wonder about our production and population density. To achieve that however, I need to increase our technological development. The easiest way is just having someone copy down what I'm saying directly from a textbook that I have access to.
The only problem with such a thing is gravity, or more specifically this planet's gravity. I wasn't sure if this planet had the same gravity as Earth. If I were to assume it was and end up wrong then that could cause many problems down the line. The biggest one is unsafe infrastructure.
To find the gravity there are a few ways to do it. Although the most accurate we could do is probably the one where we find the gravitational field strength. To find that, I will need the gravitational constant, the mass of this planet, and the distance from the center of the planet or radius.
This makes the equation:
Gravitational field strength= [(gravitational constant ) * (mass of the planet)](/distance from the center of the planet)^2
With this I can find the acceleration due to gravity, which is basically the same equation but modified a bit, making;
Acceleration due to gravity= [(gravitational constant G) * (mass of a large body)](/distance from the center of the mass)^2
Each variable of the equation is going to be quite difficult to find out.
And this seems like it's going to be a headache. Most methods need us to develop telescopes and a few other instruments to start finding the radius of Earth.
There is a much easier but less accurate way to do it.
All we would need for it, is a clear sky, a way to measure time, a person's height, and know how to do some math.
On a day with a clear sky, we would wait for the sunset, afterward on the same spot wait until we can't see the sun anymore. All we would have to do is start counting until you do. Using the person's height and some math and you'll get the radius of the planet.
This is assuming that a day in Westeros is 24 hours, something I'm not really sure about.
So we aren't going to use that method.
And while I want to use the other method, even if using it is less accurate instead. It's better and easier to spend a few months trying to do it properly than doing it incorrectly and spending years trying to fix it.
To do it the proper way, we'll need to make a magnifying glass and to do that we will need to know how to make glass and form it into concave and convex shapes.
I'll just tell a blacksmith to start working on glass and when he's confident, I'll try to get him to make shapes with it. After all, we have plenty of time, we could wait for a few months.
I proceeded to travel to several villages in what will eventually become Dorne and buy most of the lime they have with our bits of copper.
With the crafters being given the lime they start the process of converting half the leather we have to parchment.
Looking at where everybody is it seems that most of the population is in the farming or construction area. Which is good for our expansion.
With the construction team, they seem to be focused on making more granaries and houses currently. Though I did see some stone being used to make the base of another bathing area and curiously enough some type of woodshed.
They seem to be using more stone this time with some of the builders even working as stonecutters, to improve efficiency I guess. It's probably also due to our limited amount of wood, at least for the time being. After all, we need to start being more discrete, can't have the Children of the Forest of the Green King start wondering where all the trees went.
Though they'll probably think it was the ironborn and their Gray King that were taking the trees before. But if they find out it was me, that would give me the type of attention I don't want.
Thinking more on it, it's kinda fortunate that the Westerosi gods are fighting each other. This allows me to build my base, and perhaps take things like trees and crops with them assuming it was just their rival.
Though I have to be careful since it could very easily bite me later.
While everyone continued on with their jobs I started concentrating on scanning to see how in-depth my scans could be. Testing the limits of my brain, the range turned out to be far less than my general scan. Instead of the 10 km that I was used to, I could only see about 20 meters, but that doesn't mean I was given any less information.
Being able to see electrons and almost feel them was a wild experience. I wonder if I'll be able to manipulate that in some way one day.
Although extremely tiring, and kinda cool it didn't help me improve my range like I was hoping for. Perhaps if I practice doing it more I'll be able to do it.
After a month of just trying to mingle with my scan and getting to know some of my people better, I started to expand the west side of the Island a bit, while adding more rocks and sand to the Eastern part of the Island creating a form of a beach. The beach-like area will help against erosion in the long term while leaving the west side of the island ready for expansion.
As for why I'm expanding West instead of East, it's because the last thing I want is to be closer to Westeros, and more specifically their gods.
Though with the fish farms nearing completion it was too late to connect the fish farm to the Ocean through the beach. It's not the end of the world, since Ocean water isn't that hard to find and bring, but it is a bit inefficient.
As the week passes and the farm finishes its construction I continue with my plan to find some squids to farm.
Squids weren't that difficult to find, they were everywhere. We didn't even need to kill any squids since they just apparently laid egg sacs in the middle of the Ocean, so it wasn't difficult to fill up the squid farm.
I wonder how the long season affects the spawning of new squids, considering that sometimes the seasons last for years?
Finding the shrimp was a bit different. I just teleported a part of a reef that we found into the farm and it seemed to work since thousands of tiny shrimps, as well as some other sea life, emerged from it.
Feeling productive I then teleported part of the floor of a nearby lake to our own lake on the Island. Hopefully, algae will one day grow in it. The lake that we have is pretty barren, and that's a nice way to liven things up. It's not like we need it with the water storage buildings that we have.
As I got home I grabbed 5 of the farmers and told them what to expect when handling the squid. It doesn't matter if they're unsuccessful the first time, as long as it serves as a learning experience and they are more successful the time they try. I'll consider it a win. After all squid farming was quite difficult, even in modern times with the process being too costly to usually make any form of profit.
While I wanted to use some of the seeds from the lemons to grow some lemon trees it wasn't exactly easy. I could make dirt more acidic to make the tree have a better time. But I can't really control the sun, making the climate unsuitable for the lemon trees.
For me to consider growing them, I would have to develop advanced hydroponics and we are extremely far away from being able to do that.
With the parchment, ink, and quill from a chicken, all I had to do was find someone to start writing what I know. Since no one knows how to write English, I ended up deciding to just write up a dictionary before explaining some basics to Lorin and a farmer for the rest of the day.
If you think reading a dictionary is boring then imagine rewriting one, and even more difficult was using a quill. Though over time it got easier.
Though it took only a day to rewrite the dictionary, in truth it felt like it's been over a week.
After a few days, I started to continue with the textbooks. Starting with some basic university-level physics and math. All the while listening to some tunes via the mindscape. I decided to avoid certain parts of physics textbooks since large parts of them won't make much sense without knowing gravity.
To save on parchment I ended up making brief summaries of each of the chapters that made sense along with the necessary equations. By doing this I was able to print out about 5 textbooks worth of text. 3 pertaining to math and 2 about physics. We ended up still having a large amount of ink, however. Which would probably spoil after another day or two.
While the farmers were busy harvesting the wheat I returned to expanding the island.
With everything more or less decent I decided to time skip a month in the future to see how things are and continue expanding. And things seemed to be doing well.
The squids hatched, and more buildings continued to be constructed.
Due to the large quantities of food we received from our harvest, I created a few more people to start becoming blacksmiths. Along with refilling the water tanks on the way.
With the grass that I planted during the start of the Island finally being available in a large amount, I went on to a quick visit with Lorin to Westeros to start buying some cows and bulls. Though not all from one village.
With the cattle; leather and other accessories like milk and meat will be in a more stable supply.
Feeling a bit bored and wanting to see some quick process, I began the process of skipping a month after a few days. With every time I skipped, I ended up adding a few more people, sometimes 3 or 4 and sometimes a dozen or two, and let Lorin assign them. As well as doing the usual of refilling some resources.
It was during these times that I started to notice something. Lorin doesn't change, like at all. I mean his hair doesn't grow, he doesn't appear to get older or taller, and despite all his hard work he doesn't seem to develop calluses. He was just the same as the day I created him. Perhaps they age slower?
Deciding to move towards the blacksmiths, they decided to increase the number of forges they have, and while they managed to make glass, they were still a long way from actually making it in any form of shape. I decided to leave them, so they could improve their craft.
Soon the skipped months turned into a few years. Everything was working out quite well. While the squid farm was far from good in the beginning, with most of the squid dying, it at least got to a point where that stopped happening. It seems that, like the blacksmiths, they used trial and error to make it work.
While the squid population wasn't thriving the same can't be said for the tiny shrimp, which Lorin had to expand by giving the shrimp another 3 enclosures.
Eventually, everything that we would need would be produced here. However, at this time it wasn't exactly feasible and not worth it to farm things like trees. As it would take too long and would be much easier to just find some inhabited area and take them.
To be more aware of what is happening in the world I decided to grab some of the former guards that came to Winterfell so they would serve a very important role. They would be a type of watchmen or spies, that would be aware of any large event that would be happening. They would look like Northerners and try their best to act and blend in as them in some villages, all the while relaying information back to me.
I gave them some copper, along with some food and weapons before sending them along the way.
As I continue on with the small time skips and occasionally meet the watchmen, they eventually reveal something quite important.
They report that the fighting with The Gray King and the Garth King will enter a larger phase. The largest battle so far will soon commence between them.
With the Gray King and Garth the Greenhand focused on their war, I proceeded to quickly swoop in and take a bunch of their trees. By the end, I deforested quite a bit of land near the shore. And while deforestation is an issue, the fact that Garth the Greenhand has some type of control over them and just likes planting trees, I found it okay.
The only threat would be the Children of the Forest and from what I recall they only live in the Deep Forests, so I should be okay.
After my week of tree genocide, I decided to focus more on the land. I decided to sculpt a bit of the land by adding some canals as well as connecting it to the lake. Before filling it up with some sweet water. I mostly did this with my overpowered ability to just teleport things.
The canals will end up becoming useful to move resources as the Island is starting to get a bit big.
For if we manage to build boats it will heavily reduce the time it takes to move around people and resources. Also Perhaps one day the canals along with the lake will serve as a fishing spot. The Canals are also a nearby source of water for the farms and help divert water in case there ever is some sort of flood with the lake acting as a water reservoir.
At first, I was thinking of making aqueducts, but I ended up going with the canals due to the added bonus of transportation, along with it being a lot faster and easier to construct. All I had to do was teleport some dirt and instruct some people to lay some stone bricks on it.
I briefly thought about the addition of roads, but they weren't needed yet, as the ground was quite flat.
As I previously thought, to use the little land that we do have efficiently we need to heavily increase our technology.
To do that it would be best to learn the following before delving too deep into the industrial side.
The first step was to increase our agriculture. Though crop rotation already exists in Westeros, most likely courtesy of Garth the Greenhand, it was a bit different than what I knew about it. I ended up deciding to just use my version of it since it was easier for me to understand.
As for the crops, they'll be wheat for the feed of the animals as well as a good storage food along with peas, carrots, and onions.
Seed drills were the next step, however, they are quite difficult for our crafters and blacksmiths to make and will most likely take them a while to complete. With them starting on some prototypes of it made out of wood before slowly making them using the abundance of metal that we have. To use them to great effect we would also need some type of animal to pull it, typically a horse. While we do have cattle, the productivity of the seed drill would likely decrease due to the animal's stubbornness in not sitting around all day. While it is still paramount that we start to construct these, it doesn't need to be finished at this moment.
The soil health of the land was already pretty good. So we don't have to concern ourselves with this.
The next step would be the steam engine.
Which by itself will be extremely valuable especially if we ever decide to farm and make cotton clothes… or anything streamlined really.
If and when we are going to make them, for its power source we are going to use charcoal. Mainly because there was an abundance of it and I already had a copy of it added to my Preset and therefore could just make more of it indefinitely. Though the steam engines would have to be in their own area. I don't really want the wind to blow the fumes in the direction of everyone else, or people to get sick from it.
The steam power would increase our capability tremendously. The only thing it needed was charcoal and clean water. We have plenty in supply and can easily make more.
There are some downsides to using charcoal instead of coal, mostly with coal just being better in general than charcoal. But that was alright. Besides I couldn't find any coal so far.
After this, we'll be able to start building new forges and streamline all processes. Hopefully even making multi-layered buildings. But it was clear that this would take a few decades to come to pass.
To increase our efficiency it would make sense to make concrete since it's easy and fast to make. The problem is, it's just so ugly.
I mean wouldn't it look much nicer if things were made out of stone? I also have quite a few options if I learn to make things with chemical bonds, I can make quartz, marble, or granite.
There are just so many options. I mean I can even make the road out of solid pure gold if I wanted to, though it would look a bit gaudy, wouldn't it?
If I didn't have that ability and there was nothing else around me, then sure. But since I can make it look nicer, why shouldn't I?
For the next few days, I proceeded to mostly have a walk around the village, and see how things are before skipping a month or two. Eventually, the months piled up to a few years.
With the squid farm finally being finally successful along with the cattle reproducing. I finally have a slow but constant supply of materials. Though I decided to wait until I have a larger amount of supplies before writing any new books. That way all I had to do was spend a day writing everything down instead of spending an hour every month or so writing it down.
Though it took me a while to notice. None of my people were having kids. Do they know how to? They're super intelligent, it shouldn't be that difficult for them to figure out. I hope I don't have to explain the birds and bees to them.
Though I didn't know what I would do if they didn't want to have kids. I don't want to force it, or anything since that's kinda dystopian. But it would be a bit difficult for a nation to survive without a few kids.
I decided to talk to Lorin about this, I found him talking to one of the construction workers.
"Hey… can we have a talk", I start.
"Sure.", Lorin responds.
"There seems to be a lack of kids here, you know."
"I know."
"You guys know how to make kids…right?"
"Yes."
"So…uh…why don't you make them? It's not an order or anything I'm just curious"
"We didn't think we were allowed to."
Does this have to do with the loyalty trait?
"Why?", I start again.
"You didn't tell us we could"
"As long as you don't start orgies in the middle of the day, I'm fine with it"
"Ok"
"You know you don't have to do everything with my permission right?"
"Were we not made for that exact reason?"
Well, he's not wrong.
"Well..yeah, but you can do your own thing you know. As long as it doesn't cause any problems down the line."
"I see."
"Cool…"
"So do you know what marriage is?"
I begin to introduce another otherworldly concept to them. Before telling him to relay it to the others. While that would hopefully cause a few kids to pop out another issue started to emerge. Why are they so robotic? They interact with each other just fine, but when they start talking to me it's like all of their personality goes out the window and they begin to act like machines. Does this have to do with the loyal trait?
According to the character creator, the loyal trait can't be passed down from parent to child. Does this mean that their children will act differently towards me, will they still be loyal?
I guess I will find out in time. Though it matters very little considering that if they have kids, they will be outnumbered for quite some time by their parents.
While Lorin goes to relay the information I quickly go to the construction team to make some buildings to hopefully help accommodate some new children. I set them up by creating a small clinic, followed by a daycare.
Grabbing some farmer I begin to introduce him to the basics of how to be an obstetrician so he knows a bit about how to deliver babies. There wasn't a lot for me to teach given our level of technology but something is better than nothing. Any information I give him would cause people to be less likely to die from birth.
The next day when Lorin should be finished delivering the new information I would talk to him about bringing in some laws like maternity leave to help new parents along.
I started to think back on how to ensure the children's loyalty. I could always try to brainwash/indoctrinate them, using the daycare. Though I have a very strong feeling that doing that would seriously be a bad idea.
The only thing left to do would be to wait or in my case time-skip, to see what ends up happening. After skipping a few months at a time with a few days between jumps, eventually, 5 years would pass.
After all these years the process of the blacksmiths and their efforts of mastering the glass-making craft would be completed. All that is left remains in the construction of the telescope itself.
That wasn't the only thing that was complete. With all the building projects done and everyone having a home, the builders started making boats and empty buildings that would serve as homes and workshops for the future.
As I look in the daycare I'm pleasantly surprised. There were about 2 dozen kids there, which is not bad at all. What I can so far understand about them is that while they don't have the same level of intelligence as their parents, they are still quite smart.
To add some more material to their education and also in an attempt for them to not run out of reading material too soon, I decided to add some training to their doctrine.
Being too young to work in the field, and with how violent this world can be, I had the oldest of them start learning how to use weapons like the bow, the spear, and the shield.
There was also some problem since it seems there is some sort of disconnect between their parents and themselves. The parents rarely spend time with their kids.
To fix this, I made a new law to stop all work, unless in an emergency, during nightfall and that everyone receives a day off every 7 days. Hopefully, with this extra time, our culture can develop from non-existent to at least existing somewhat with the added bonus of them spending some time with their families.
As we start to become more efficient and have more resources I plan on giving them even more free time so they can focus on their other interests. As for now though, we still need to focus.
Focusing my attention on the waterways, the boats in the canals were helpful, but most of their potential was squandered. As you needed to row your boat from one point to the next. With the addition of the steam engine later on and some type of propeller, this would of course change. Sails were useless and a bit dangerous considering the restrictive space the canals provide. Sailors would probably hit the wall and damage the ship. Who knows, perhaps the ship itself may even sink.
Thinking about our perception of Westeros as a whole, it would be a bit weird if there was only one dynasty ruling a country with no vassals. I would need to eventually have some.
But first I need to make the land they would eventually settle. We currently have an Island of about 10,000 km^2 with about three hundred people. That should be more than enough for the Lorin dynasty for quite a while.
I was planning on making the territory grid-like, where each vassal would control a part of the land, with large canals running through them to easily see where one territory would end and another begin.
For that to exist was going to take quite a large amount of time and may not be the best in the future. I'm not a civil engineer so I won't pretend to know if it's a good idea or not.
While we didn't have the land yet, it was no reason to not start making some more people, after all, we have enough space and food. So, I quickly started ramping up the number of people I create. For the next few weeks, I slowly added people, to not destroy our food supply I managed to create some 200 people. Bringing our total population to 500.
With me time-skipping a week, the telescope seems to have been complete. And while I could try to figure out the gravity of the planet by myself, I decided to do the wiser and lazier option of just finding some poor chaps and placing a few lines of parchment in their hands with how to find gravity.
With nothing but a telescope, a few pieces of parchment, ink, and their forearms, they'll be able to find it.
In the end, they would need to find the following: how much a meter is, how much a kilo is, the mass of the sun, the mass of the planet, the distance between the sun and the planet along with a few smaller things.
They would be our first proper researchers.
Sending them along their way before skipping some time again, I get some pleasant news.
It turns out that my first creation is getting married. And apparently to that woman I created a while back, to manage the island in his stead, while he was off building Stark his castle. I do feel kinda bad not knowing her name before this though. That feels like the least I should do to anyone. After a bit of over-hearing other people talk to her, I find her name, which it's apparently Laurice.
So far every name I heard sounds related in some way to Lorin. Perhaps I should've let other people besides him start naming everyone. Hopefully, as the people end up having children they'll start having their own naming conventions.
After continuing on with the time-skips and seeing if anything interesting happens, I come across some interesting news.
Apparently, Lorin has a son. I was quite happy to hear that until I heard the name.
Lorinson. Really that's his name? He couldn't come up with anything different?
Not knowing what to think I continue with my time-skipping spree. Looking to distract myself.
After a quick visit to meet some of my spies, they revealed some interesting information. The Starks were looking for us, along with other Houses and men to help them in the construction of a large wall in the North. Even rallying some of the giants and Children of the Forest with them.
This could further help us cement ourselves into history, which might give us more prestige and respect later on.
I was also wondering how the Starks are going to build it? If and how will the Children of the Forest be involved?
I decided to get started immediately. First, we were going to need some way to inconspicuously transport a lot of men without anyone thinking that they just magically got there.
To do this I plan on having the builders start making large ships, filling them with men before teleporting the ship a few kilometers from the shore. There they would then arrive, unload, then proceed to go a few kilometers back into the Ocean before being teleported home and starting the process all over again.
As the builders started their work I began mine. I'll start by making 250 different people. Before splitting them into groups of 50 and sending them to different people to learn. They would be there for a week or two before sending them to help build the wall.
Though before we could begin I needed some of my men to ask Stark some questions, like how many men can I bring, that will be fed and similar questions of that nature.
As such, I grabbed 10 farmers, had them equipped with some weapons, put them on one of the canal boats we have, and proceeded to do a test run for what their future kinsman would eventually do.
After that, they would arrive at the shore of Westeros, between where the land that would one day belong to the Night's Watch, where they then were to follow a straight line to see where the construction was going to take place. Before asking the questions and returning. They had enough food for about 4 months so they were well stockpiled.
I would start seeing if they appeared at the shores every 3 days after the first 3 months, to see if they returned so we could start planning the rest.
When they returned I was surprised. Brandon Stark wasn't looking for too many men to join in the construction. The majority of the work already belongs to the giants and the Children of the Forest. Though he was looking for normal men for building scaffolding and some other crafts.
It also seemed that he was trying to complete the massive wall as fast as possible for some reason. As such he would be thankful and be able to provide us with enough food to feed 750 people. Which was a lot, even for me.
Apparently, the Barrow King, which is actually The First King, which in turn is actually Garth the Greenhand, assigned their vassal of House Stark to build the wall, while giving them a huge amount of food to complete their task.
While I could just spam people out, I would need to be careful. Last time we talked to him, we told him we had a few hundred soldiers with us. If we suddenly pop up with their limit of 750 men that's quickly going to cause some questions.
I decided to go with the 250 men I made. With me continuing my plan of sending them in groups of 50, a few months apart like I planned . This was still quite a large number, this would, in turn, increase our current population by almost 50%. It would also be best for them to bring some older personnel with them to keep them on track to train and teach them along the way. The experience would definitely be useful for their coming days.
This brings me to another problem of having to find a way to find so many clothes. Hunting that many deer will cause people to notice, and I'm not even sure there's that many deer near the shores in the first place. I would have to swing by multiple villages to try to get some fur and/or buy already made clothes.
Buying with solely copper is likely also going to cause questions and might destabilize the currency. We have just about enough for the first batch of 50 people, so we have some time for the second and third ones. For us to succeed we need to start hunting more frequently and gradually build our fur stock by slowly buying fur and clothes in the next 6 months. Instead of trading copper, we would have to find something else to trade. With food being relatively cheap there were only a few resources that had enough value to be sold. Stone tools and ink were currently very valuable to these lands.
While the First Men liked using blood and a few other paints to draw their runes. Ink was also used, though less due to how hard it is to get it. It was sought after for its ability to stain things easily, color and some sort of symbolism. Due to the scarcity and demand for ink, the price of ink was high.
There also wasn't enough time for the North Men to sell the ink before it got spoiled and with ink being rare, especially the more inland you got they would hopefully try to buy it. After all, they won't always have this opportunity.
With the ships being completed by the time the messengers came back, I started the operation immediately. The expedition would begin a few hours later when the ships were fully stocked and the men in them. Just like before, but with this time a bigger ship I teleported them a few kilometers from the shore beside what would one day be the wall.
I continued this for the next 4 groups of 50 people over the coming months.
After finishing, I used the first messengers that were tasked with finding Brandon Stark and tasked them to check in on our people there and report every few months.
During this time I started thinking about something that made me both happy and alarmed. To put my thoughts to the test. I started to do a small time-skip of about a few months, proceeding by almost a year, then 5 years, and lastly 10 years.
My thoughts were confirmed. While the children of those that I created aged and continued to age, their parents did not.
Some of the children even look older than their respective parents.
This wasn't good. Especially if Westeros finds out about it. Making a quick plan I decided to switch 250 of the men that were working on the island with our people working on The Wall.
I could only do this one more time before I have to start making another batch of what I think are now nigh-immortal people.
The blacksmiths and the constructors would also need to start sharing and teaching their craft with their returned kinsman as it's likely that soon it's going to be their time assisting in the construction of the wall.
With the sudden announcement of 250 people leaving the country, a problem emerged that I hadn't thought about.
While the men that I sent, all consisting of people I made had no problem going to the frozen waste. Their children were quite different.
Many were outraged, and even more, wanted them to stay or go with them. Not knowing what to say or do I just send them along their way, while trying to find a way to appease the children. Perhaps if I find a way to make it look like a normal thing or even a good thing they'll be more inclined to do it?
Lorin calms them down and while he doesn't know why they are behaving like that, assures me it's nothing to fret over.
In the meantime, I pass a few more laws to give them some more freedom and try to see how it's going to be in a few years.
Skipping in intervals of one year, things have significantly calmed down. Eventually, Lorin's son even married, and the canals were outfitted with stone brick walls. It was clear that soon I would need to start expanding again. As such, I proceeded to try to make large expansions in intervals of a year with me using the time skips to pass time quickly along.
Eventually, I needed to send another 250 people to switch with the group on the wall. This time a few children-now adults volunteered which made it easier for me.
The seed drills were now crafted, but were still being tested. With many forms of them existing. Some only required a single person to use while others involved the use of animals. The farmers started using some of these seed drills, while the blacksmiths observed and took notes.
After sending yet another group to the Northern Wasteland I proceeded to continue my wait.
I thought that I would need to start making another group to aid in the construction of the wall, but in the end, I didn't have to. With the wall being built in only 42 years. Brandon Stark proceeds to announce its new and first Night's Watch Commander Rickon Stark, his younger brother. The Children of the Forest proceeded to go back to their forests while The giants scattered into different groups with some even going north of the wall.
The wall apparently ended up much thinner and smaller than I thought. Though it was unlikely to remain that way, with its new commander announcing it was going to add more layers to it.
With all the men back, things started to calm down as I continued my time-skips of only a few months now.
My agents in the North end up discovering something quite interesting. The Starks were now sending envoys to all the nearby Kingdoms and in search for any and all forms of help.
It then comes to my ears that they even started trying to look and contact us. They must be desperate. I suppose I could humor them.
After a patrol is sent and returned they reveal some interesting information. Garth the Greenhand or his other title, The Barrow King did the right of the First Night with the Stark's betrothed.
Stating that since she was a commoner and something along the lines of her being honored to share his bed and something about increasing fertility.
It also doesn't help that in the midst of all this, the Gray King's men attacked and ended up killing her. And with the fact that Stark's first wife had apparently died during childbirth, and most of his years spent in building The Wall, he had no heir.
Karma was a magnificent thing, wasn't it?
He and his men were happily using their crude traditions until they were used on them.
Apparently, in a fit of rage, the Starks declared war on his liege. With so far having suffered losses from small skirmishes around his territory.
As for the Barrow King, he's mostly focused on fighting his brother to care for him.
Knowing that the Starks end up winning somehow, I decided to grab some men along with a disguised Lorin and his Son. This is probably due to the Green King fighting the Gray King and him not actually having that much control over the surrounding Kings, despite his ego and title of High King.
Though I did make the request to start adding sharpened copper point to all of our spears to our blacksmiths. In addition to order the builders to start making large wooden shields in case we might need them.
After teleporting nearby and walking to where the fort we helped make was, I was met with an interesting sight.
While the fort we constructed was still there, surrounding it were much smaller wooden round-shaped forts surrounding it.
As we approached with our standard, now looking much nicer than the one we bought previously. A few men came to inspect us before showing us the way for all of us. By the gate stood a tired Stark, it looked like he barely slept, and though he was quite old his hair was still mostly black.
He says something before bringing some bread and doing the Guest Right with each of us, inviting us inside. With Lorinson acting in his father's place. They end up talking for a bit before writing some runes on a parchment. After finishing their discussion Lorinson brings the parchment to the rest of the group.
"This is what I and the Stark were able to discuss.", Lorinson whispers in English.
He read the following:
The Golden Wolf Agreement:
House Stark offers:
-Open borders until indefinitely
-Permission to hunt game and felling trees in a reasonable manner, while respecting the boundary of The Children of The Forest until indefinitely.
House Lorin offers:
-To help the rebuilding and building of buildings until King Brandon Stark has passed.
-Aid in the War Against the Tyranny of The Barrow King
Both House Stark and House Lorin offer:
-Mutual Defense Agreement until indefinitely
-An attack on one house is an attack on another
-Both houses will have complete control of their respective armies and how to use them.
-Both houses shall respect each other's borders.
-Both houses have a right to war spoils and restitutions.
-Common Courtesies Agreement until indefinitely.
-Both houses shall show the appropriate respect to each other.
-Both houses treat each other in good faith.
-Both houses will respect each other's traditions and customs.
The contract was quite generous. Though I doubt he plans to follow through with parts of it.
He knows that our land is quite far from here and is often traversed through the ocean. His territory is surrounded by land, so he couldn't give us assistance unless he negotiated with another surrounding king for open borders. And doing such a thing would leave him defenseless.
The hunting of game, like deer, and cutting down some trees was good until you take into account that the Starks have cut down nearly all their trees in constructing their forts. As for the deer, from what we could see there were no deer in sight, probably due to the lack of vegetation. Open borders would already be open to us anyway if we wanted to go hunting or cut down trees.
We on the other hand would have to fight their liege, which they think is much stronger than they are and unable to beat, along with rebuilding anything damaged and even making new constructions.
What Stark fails to realize is that eventually their name and territory will actually mean something. But will they even regard the agreement after so much time has passed?
I instruct Lorinson to ask how he will honor his agreement.
When Lorinson did just that, the man didn't seem too shocked or even outraged with us questioning his honor.
Instead, he led us through a corridor and out of the fort, to a Heart Tree sapling on top of a small hill. Before stating that his family would honor it through their Gods and blood, as long as we do the same.
After a bit of deliberation with Lorin, weighing the pros and cons, I end up agreeing, mostly to see what happens.
Before I was quickly surprised once again.
The Stark starts to read the contract to the Heart Tree, but that's not the shocking part, it's what he does after. When the ruler of Winterfell stops reading, he proceeds to cut his hand and feeds his blood to the Heart Tree and motions for Lorinson to do the same. I suppose that's what he means by the 'and blood' bit.
Being somewhat relieved that at least I would have some assurance that the Starks would try to fulfill the agreement to the best of their ability. I was still somewhat uncomfortable at the use of the weird blood magic. Though since it wasn't me that would be partaking in it, I was somewhat more confident.
A thought soon entertains me, I would need to find a way to one day remove such curses and oaths eventually. Not for annulling the agreement but as a defense against magic. Preferably through a non-spiritual method.
After my thought was finished, the ritual was done. The Stark proceeded to bandage his hand and had one of his men do the same for Lorin.
While I thought we would first go over plans and maps on how to counteract the Barrow King. It seems the Starks had other plans first, with them leading us to a large table to be sat in. Soon food started pouring out while we sat. Most of my men were conversing with the other Stark bannermen, while I was mostly just gorging myself on the food provided. It wasn't anything fancy, and while I didn't need substance, it was the first time I ate since I got here and I got carried away with the forgotten taste of food.
Besides, it's not like I can talk to other people since I can't speak Old Tongue anyway.
After the celebration and welcoming were had, the planning finally began.
Soon the Starks started to lay out stone tablets with maps carved into them. This has allowed us to have a more complete understanding of the North and Westeros as a whole.
Soon some men with parchment of some kind started painting parts of it, to show the current territories and kings in the North.
Turns out there were many smaller kings in the North than I had previously thought. While I was aware of the Boltons, Umbers, Mosby, Flint, Warg, and Barrow Kings, I wasn't aware of the Slates, Lockes, Glovers, Fishers, Blackwoods, Amber, Frost, and Greenwood Kings.
However, due to their size, they shouldn't be that big of a problem
Curiously enough the part that takes most of my attention is the button half of the map, showcasing the Region of Dorne. While the breaking of Dorne has already occurred for quite some time, the map showed what Dorne used to look like. It seems that Dorne used to be home to an entire sea or a very large lake before it's breaking.
After spending a few more minutes pretending to understand what they're saying the talks finish and Lorin tells me what they said.
As for what was revealed, apparently, the Starks have less than a thousand men, with the true number being unconfirmed, though they believe it's higher than 800. They plan to launch an attack on the Barrow Land, as soon as possible, before the King gets to muster his forces.
I can agree with that. We would also need to start worrying about how many men we can send. I would be able to send about 500 people and still maintain most of my production at home, due to the second and third generation of people on the Island being adults. It would still greatly reduce my efforts to advance as quickly as possible.
However, this brought another opportunity. While we're out here, we could start chopping down trees and hunting with reckless abandon, just as long as it belongs to the Barrow King. This would give us enough wood to make any projects we would want to do in the future, while feeding the majority of our men, enabling us to divert fewer people to farms and more into other jobs.
While we can try to trap the Barrowlands with the Starks attacking at the front, while we flank them, the Starks have stated that a more united front would be more advantageous. And since the Barrow King has more men than both of us, it would be wiser to consolidate our forces and attack in a single direction.
The only problem would be where would I bring the troops. It would have to be in a realistic place and take a realistic amount of time for them to receive them.
Hopefully this contract/Agreement with the Starks doesn't end up biting him.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. I've finished the layout and planning for the next 10-20 chapters, I just have to write them and add some key events like epidemics and the like, but boy do things start getting interesting. I still need to find a name for the Island, The Kingdom/Government, a few noble houses and the OC himself, so if you have any ideas feel free to share. I'm not that good with names.
In the following week I'm most likely only going to post one chapter since I have midterms coming up.
Comments:
luffyssjg: You could think of the people that the OC made are similar to the Custodians from 40k. They have different personalities and traits, however they are still very robotic and loyal to their creator. Their children may be a different story, however, any form of resentment may take many years to form. As for how powerful the Island is, they're not that strong compared to everyone. Most of the Kings would be able to win in a fight through numbers alone. That's also not mentioning that some Kingdoms have actual deities that lived for millenia. As for the lemons and the like, the OC could pretty much make anyone he wants, though he doesn't seem so far too keen on doing anything of the sort. The government type will change a few times. I would answer a few more questions though I don't want to spoil much. Alot ends up happening.
Laiking08: I was never that good with dialogue. However, I'll try to make it better in the future.
theseumata359: Thanks!
Memento Mori 130: It'd be a pretty boring story if it was just a retelling of the story word by word. I'm trying to make the story follow the events of the book as closely as possible, with me adding a new lens or perspective towards it. Why certain houses did what they did, had less to do with being honorable and more of them being cunning and opportunists.
singpu: They're still a bit far away from making missiles, but they'll get there eventually. Who knows maybe this civilization even ends up with things more powerful than missiles
