Houses of the North

by Saber Shishika

There are many houses in the north yet not much is known about many of them. In this book written by a southern master is a short overview about many of the northern houses, the land under their control and the people living upon it as well as their vassals. It was written so that southern lords can read up about their northern neighboors in a few minute time.

5. House Dustin of Barrowton

House Dustin is one of the major houses of the north that are sworn to house Stark. They once ruled as first men kings over the Barrowlands to the south of the Starks. In these times they called themselv Barrowkings. They still rule from Barrow Hall a castle build in the town of Barrowton, one of the few towns in the north and a source of pride for any lord Dustin, both are build mostly from wood and stand along a nameless river that empties into the Salt Spear.

Their lands follow the large river north of Barrowton that emties into the Salt Spear to the south. The southern border is the Salt Spear itself and to the east their lands wind along the barrowlands until they meet the Castle of House Azul. Their lands are predominantly part of the barrowlands but their also hold some of the mountains belonging to the rills in their northern teritorie.

The Dustins have rather close ties with the Boltens because of several marriages between them and the Ryswells who have in turn strong conections to the Dustins. Because of this relationship the Starks view towards them is rather problematic and the Starks often hold close ties with the Slates to shield themselves from an attack by a combined Ryswell Dustin army from the south. As such members of this house often need to work rather hard to prove themselves towards the Starks. This is made easier by the fact that they have way closer ties with House Cerwyn than any other House. Politically speaking the Dustins belong to the power block of the Houses Rywell and Glenmore though the Boltons have often tried to sway them from that conection they never quite managed to do so. As a family related to house Bolton they benefit from their protection and support.

The sigel of house Dustin shows a rusted crown on top of two crossed axes in a black bronze color sheme. All this is placed on a yellow background.

Family Words: "Our Word yet Lives"
The Dustins are a family painfully aware of death and its meaning. Not only is their keep build on the supposed burrow of the king of giants and their lands in the burrowlands, named after all the burrows that house graves, their family is so connected to death that even the supposed nights queen some think of as a Dustin. All this connection to death has made the families words into a reminder that while death may be the end the family will continue to live and continue to spread their word, power and memory of even the oldest of its members. The words are always a reminder that their family will continue and will right past slighs even if the person scorned is long dead.

Hold/Keep:
The keep that houses the Dustins is centered on the largest burrow in the burrowlands right by the nameless river flowing into the Saltspear in the south. Their keep is surrounded by one of the better known and largest northern settlements known as Barrowton. The town is mostly surrounded by a wooden wall and most of the buildings in the town are build from wood as well. Even the main castle is made completely from wood. There was never any need to make the castle from stone because the keep unlike most other northern keeps already is well protected with the walled town surrounding it. And even if these were broken through the enemy could not simply torch down the castle as they would then rule over a town made of ashes.

The walkways of the outer townwalls are roffed and allow for the snow to fall down on either side. Thanks to this even in winter the townwatch can easily patrol the walls and in case of sieges the town can better be defended because the walls are more difficult to breach. By itself the defensive features of the town and the castle are neither here not there but the combination makes for a rather difficult combination because most northern armies are less well known for their abily to siege walled towns as they have nearly no expertise in this. The town also hold a group of knights that pray to the old gods instead of the new under who they were knighted.

The Barrow Hall made comletly from wood is as any other castle in the north. It is neither known for its impressive architecture or its defensiveness but rather for its long history and adabtility. Over the centuries the lords of the house have often played around with the design of the castle. As it is made of wood and as such has to be rebuild after some time the family has often added some roomes and walls, removed some parts of the structure or added another tower in the wall for added defence. As such the castle while never really a impressive castle has often been going with the age and added the newest trends and improvemends. It is often said to be the most modern castle in the north because of this. Not that that means anything should it be under siege.

Geography:
Lets start with the most common scene you will find in these lands and the biggest territorie under house Dustins control. The barrowlands stretch from both sided of the river in the middle of their lands to their borders. While the lands emediatly surrounding the river are another territorie as are the mountains to their north these lands are the biggest part of the scenery. A endless up and down of the burrows through most of the land. These lands are not to fertile and hold only few farmers. Mostly no one will farm these lands because it is bad luck to plow the earth on top of a burrow, not to mention the difficulty of cultivating lands as uneven as these. As such the farmlands are sparsely located in the parts were the space between burrows is larger and bigger fields can be planted. While these lands make for bad farming many farmers have animals grace on the burrows. These lands are actually prime land to hold any number of animals that eat grass. Not only can one easily view over a spread out heard from the burrows but the grass is lush, green and grows in abundance. Many people specialise in herding a great number of cattle, sheep, goats, horses and pigs in these parts. Animal produce dictate the lives of the people in these lands and they eat more meat than most other northerners because of this.

The second farced of their lands are the riverbanks. The river bordering the Tallhart's and Ryswell lands is considered of limits to the Dustin's as they are firmly under the control of the other two houses. As such there are scarcely any villages on their side of the river. The river in the middle of their territory meanwhile is unship able thanks to some passages with rapid water flow and waterfalls. Not only is the river no good for transportation but it also holds only few fish for the people trying to make a meal out of them. In fact, even the lands around the river are often uninhabited because the river sometimes overflows and destroys the field of those dumb enough to try farming there. The only good thing the river seams to give to the people living there are its freshwater and the inaccessibility to Ironborn raiders.

Then there is the coastlands on the salt spear in the south. The shore itself is often mared by stoney beaches and small stonern protrutions ranging from 4 to 6 meters skywards. These parts are highly productive and thickly settled for northern standarts. Not only can you start fishing in the salt spear, wood is readily awailable on the coast. These parts hold some of the few really forested areas under Dustin influence that could be considered as decend forest for southerners while small for northern standarts. The supply of wood for boats and wool for fishing nets from inland makes for a good foodsource. In addition there are no burrows untill some kilometres inland which means more ground that can be used for farming to further make this part of the land usefull. But all these things pale in the true purpose of this land. The Salt Spear has a reason for its name and the people in these parts produce loads of salt from the water right infront of their houses. The salt is then sold inland and can even be found in Winterfell for it is claimed to have a special taste compared to rock salt. The wealth of this region makes it a target for the ironborn but the lords of house Dustin have long since build castles on the coast in important places to stop any such incursions on their land. It is save to live here as the castles protect even the smallfolk with their presence. In addition many villages have build ramparts on the edge of their villages to further hinder any ironborn. Since all of this has been inplemented the raids on Dustin lands have dwindled for others places have riches to plunder as well.

The last different territorie are the mountains in their northern lands. These mountains hold some fertile valleys that while to small for large villages support the local food production for the miners in these lands. Most mines here produce what can be locally of use. Between iron, brass, copper and tin there is everything that the Dustins need to supply their own need for these but also sate some of the other northern lords appetite for steel. Often iron mined in these mountains is transported to the newly forming town under Slate control and then transported towards White Harbor.

Lesser Lords:
One house sworn to the Dustin's is House Slate of Goldgrass. Their keep is located in the eatern parts of Barrowton and they ofthen hold the honor of beeing the captains of the city watch. While they hold lands outside of the city their smallfolk is ill attended and their lands less than well supperwised. Some would say that the closeness to their overlords has weakened the houses base of power while others think that it strenghened their influence on the local policies. House Stout is really of no importance in the grand sceme of things and their only claim for reknown is their keeps closeness to Barrow Hall itself.

House Fyre is a house based in the mountains and often leads the other noble houses that settle in these mountains to act as a collective groupe. As such they often organise which towns from the other riverside get to trade with their mined metals. This relationship with the other side of the river has lead to the marriage of some third sons and daughters from rather major houses like the Ryswells, Tallhats and Slates to them and further strengened their political power. While not to wealthy their position as leader of this powerblock in the Dustin lands make them to one of the more formidable houses even able to match some of the poorer and less political savvy major lords under Stark control in influence.

The Zimmerfelds are one of the many houses that are located in the barrowland part of the lands and hold claim to own a giants skull. While none of the visitors ever have sean anything remotely similar to a skull like that in their possetion the rumors hold themselves fresh as many seam to rather like this rumor. Because of this rumor some travel to their keep to try their luck at convincing the lord to show them the skull that may or may not exist.

The most prosperous of the petty nobles is house Saltwasch by the Saltspear. Their buisness of salt production as well as the yields of fish, farming produce and animal produce make them wealthier than all other lords under house Dustin. Only the Dustins are weathier than them in these parts. The house is renown for their special method of salt extraction that allows for the production of some of the best salt in the north. The taste of their salt is so well liked that many northern lords always have a small cache of it for special ocasions and send men to buy it when their suppley nears its end.

People:
In the center surrounding the river live the least amount of people. Only 10.000 would call this area its home where it not for Barrowton that is build by the river. With the addition of these people there are about 25.000 people in this part of the land. While the freshwater is one of the reasons for people to settle here there are few others that would help. Most people live here because of Barrowton and Barrowton is situated along the river because it is centered pretty much in the middle of the territorie. Thanks to Barrowton there live a great deal of traders in this part that refine goods into something of higher worth and with less demand. In many ways it is the heard of the region while having no worth otherwise. Those that live not in Barrowton but still settle here are often poor and live harder lives than any other people under the Dustins. As such many of their Levies come from these people that hope for some wealth.

The mountains are home to another 30.000 people that live largely from their mining in the area. While there are those that plow the valleys so that the miners have food in their bellies for working there are many more that mine in these parts. Because of the mines there actually live more blacksmiths in this area than in most others. Many would say that these mountaisn are the forge of house Dustin and those that would not say so would be wrong. These mountains hold hardy men that drink more than most in the north for their hard work makes it a compulsion to raise a cup for the good work.

The largest of the areas is the Barrowland whitch hold just about 150.000 people over the wast expanse of land under them. Most of these men eat more meat and cheese than other northerners as it is easy to hold a great deal of animals and watch over them. Thanks to their focus of animal husbandry they all have specially bread dogs that help with watching and herding the flocks of sheep and such. While wolfes are a ever present problem to the people and their animals there have long since been developed ways to lessen the burden of such a unlucky event. For example sometimes the sick and oldest animals will be left on the edges of the heard so that the loss is not as severe or the dogs are trained to fight of the wolfes. The people in these lands are professionals in working with meats and can smoke salt and dry any meat in a variety of ways to bring out different flavours.

The last area is the coast with anouther 60.000 people. While the number itself is not to impressive considering it is linked to a small area that those call home it is rather large. Often another village can be reached by a days walk and you will still arive back home by the same day. The people here a rather wealthy and have all anyone could wish for. Good farmlands with fishing ground in front of their noses, protection from raiders and bandits, wealth thanks to the salt they can easily produce on the side and even grazing animals by their fields is considerd an easy addition for some produce on the side. With the woods as a added boon there are few that would go cold or hungry in this part of their lands.

Army:
The armies quallity that house Dustin can field heavily depends on their perception on the need of the troupes. The house can either field those riverdwellers that are desperate for coin, but those are rather untrained and more interested in looting for some sort of wealth for themselves and not to well equiped, or they can take their levies from the Salt Spear lands. Using these men will lead to lowered defences in these parts and open the rist of being raided should the ironborn learn of the weakened defences but also mean that the family can use trained, well armoured and drilled men in the war. Then there is the cityguard of Barrowton itself. Usually these men would not be taken to the field but should there be a desperate need of trained men they can be called upon for wars. The armies quallity as such depends on the will of the lord to bring the good the bad or a mix of both with him to war. As such their armies can also be anything from 2000 well equiped and trained soldiers to 5000 ill equiped men that are more connonfother than anything else. Usually they will bring a mix of 3000 to 4000 men that are made up of both and some others that awarege around a normal level of quallity in the end.

Economy:
There are three centers of commerce for this territory. One is the coastal area that sells it produce of salt all throuout the land of the house and to most of the lords in the north. As such these lands bring in a great deal of worth for these lands and pull in money from all around the own territory. The second center would be Barrowton for it is the center for crafting better goods from the normal goods brought here. Lethers and wool will be turned to clothes, feathers into beds and arrows, stell into anything else and there are even some minstels in these lands. Most of their wealth is brought in by their own lands surrounding the city and the produces then again sold to those surrounding the town. The last center of wealth are the mountains in the north that sell their minerals to the people of other lordships and as such bring in mostly money from outside their territorie.

Their economy rest on these three pilars of commerce that spread goods around and produce wealth for the people living here. And while nearly no produce will travel south out of the north when it was produced here it is a economy centerd around mostly local trade with the addition of some wealth brought in through sold minerals and their sea salt