Yeah ... this one became a bit crazy ...
House Flint of Flint's Finger belongs to one of the prominent branch families of house Flint that spread all over the north. Unlike the two other reknown families theirs is neither the oldest nor the strongest. Because of their position to the west of the Neck they are the second and less prominent house that protects the North from armies coming from the south. They rule over some of the harshest land the north has to offer. While it isn't nearly as cold as the land close to the wall it has other qualities that make it difficult for people to settle in these lands. Thought this is a matter for a later part.
Like all northern houses even these Flint's support the Nights Watch. Unlike others when they look back upon their history with the Watch they look back on a tradgedy. Not only has a commander of the Watch that belonged to their house tried to become a King Beyond the Wall and left a veil of discrace upon their name for a long while when young Danny tried to show the world their honor and joined the wall she was raped and later killed. Through all this the house has not wavered in their believe in the wall but rather tried their best to support it even more to make up for the past.
These Flint's are known to marry with the Reeds for their prozimity but also have a strong connection towards house Dustin. Situated right across the Salt Spear and the quite strong Dustins have always been a natural ally to the Flints. Their presense of a strong coastal defense has already put of the Ironborn and lead them to search for a easier target. The Flint's always try to push them to build up a navy to better protect their coast and as such the entirety of the Salt Spear. This endevour of the house has been less then succesfull for a while now. Another natural family to marry into are the other Flint's simply to let the families stay close to one another.
They blazon their banner with a grey stone hand upon a white inverted pall on paly black and grey.
Family Words: "Fierce and Hardy"
The people of this land life in harsher conditions than even the rest of the north. In addition their closeness to the Iron Islands lead to a even more difficult living enviroment. The fact that one of the best places to life in their lands is named Cape Kraken shows how fierce the fighting between the people got in these parts. The house that managed to settle these lands and defend them naturally took their fierceness as part of their words. In addition only those that can call themselves hardy will survive. Their words as such spreack of their strenght and their determination in defending their family, land and lives.
Hold/Keep:
The keep of Flint's Finger has had many names over the centuries. The castle itself has always been the seat of power for whoever ruled over these lands. As such the ruling house has always given the keep their name and its reputation. When the Flints took over the castle they decided to expand the castle by adding a larger central tower and breaking down some other strucktures. This caused most of the people to call the keep and later the region Flints Finger. While at first not the intention it certainly was a welcome surprise for the house and the prestige they gained through this.
The castle itself is ontop of a cliff situated at its highest point. This gives the castle the edge in spotting seafarring attackers and in turn allows for the easy notification of the smallfolk that danger is coming. This has often safed the settlers around the keep of deadly surprises. As such the watchduty is only given to the most dedicated and allert men. They are the first to be blamed when a ship slipped past their watch and the most praised when their sightings save lifes.
Their position on top of the cliffs lead to the need of a steady supplyline for goods such as water from the bottom of the cliff. In times of siege the castle is cut of from this lifeline and can not hold out for to long. Their walls are not to high and while attacks can only come from one side the house has trouble if they can not break the siege. This has often been used against the castle by building a temporary fortification that the castle inhabitants would have to pass to flee. Such a tactique was actually used by the Flints to conquer the keep. With the low walls storming the castle is also always a posibility that has to be taken into account.
Geography:
The lands as often hinted at are harsher than all others in the north and can be divided into four parts. The most prominent to ships sailing along the coast are the high cliffs that are all along the southern coast and take up large parts of the remaining coast. Then there is the small strip of forest they hold. While most of the forest east of their keep is the border to the Reed's they hold several square kilometres of land in the northern part of the forest until it ends and turns back to the swamplands under house Reed. The largest of their lands is the stone desert that makes up most of their inland territory and makes this land as unpassable for armies as the swamp to the east. The last territory is the smallest but at the same the heartland of the land and is along the short parts on the shore where people are able to work the fields and survive.
Unlike the Stony Shore the cliffs along the southern shore hold no shorts beaches and paths to the tops of the cliffs. They make it impossible to reach the seawater from the top and impossible to reach the top from the bottom. The ships that aren't careful can easily crash against these cliffs when an unfortunate wind blows. The cliffs encase most of the lands even along large parts of the northern shore that lay by the Salt Spear. The parts that are free of cliffs are sure to be part of the settled heartland or to small for such a task.
The settled heartlands of the territory can be found on Cape Kraken and by the bay in which Flints Finger was build. These two areas hold most of the settles coastland and are considered to even be densely populated. Often these bays have cliffs reaching up high on both sides of a bay with a stretch of beach at the front before opening up to the back for a small stretch of land that is filled with life. These lands soon turn into the stony dessert that makes up their inland territory. People from Dorne usually call these parts the coastal oasis of the north.
The only other land that is seriously settled is the woodlands to the east. The forest it belongs to makes up most of the border with the Reeds. The northern part has been given up to the Flints as a sign of goodwill and to show that the Reeds are willing to help them hold onto their lands. This forest is prone to be flooded because of its proximity to the swamp. The people that settle the forest consider themselves to be Crannogmen. Unlike the stony dessert this forest has an abundance of water and life. Most of the wood the territory uses comes from this forest.
Lastly is the by now way to often named stony dessert. When the Children of the Forest cast their magic on the neck to sink it like the Arm of Dorne and failed they caused two things. For one the marshlands in the centre of the land connection was formed. These always wet swamps are the more prominent of the two. While this part has been lowered, they in turn raised the entirety of the rest. The cliffs one can now see were once the coastline. This devasting use of magic caused a new climate to form. Where the swap received rain without end the rest of the neck became a dryland and the rare rain eroded the entirety of the fertile earth the plains once held. The only sources of fertile earth that remained were by the coast were water from the ocean streams underground and is freed from salt and brought up by wells. Over the centuries the people that lived here saw how the entirety of the inland became a cold stony desert that could not support any form of life. Too cold for reptiles and rodent and to lifeless for any other animal these lands hold even less life than the dornish dessert.
Lesser Lords:
Basically every possible location for settlements has been opened up and been given a lord to govern. These lords can have settlement with as few as 100 smallfolk and often life barely better than their subjects. The stronger of the lords usually govern over the larger oases. Many lords all along the area known as Cape Kraken actually still claim descendance from the Ironborn. While the lords have since become typically northern lords and prey to the Ironborn they themselves keep their roots as seafaring people close to their heart.
The main rivals to the Flints are the Stonetides that govern over the largest of the coastal regions on Cape Kraken. They are a branch to the Blacktides that are vassals to the Greyjoy's of the iron islands. The Blacktides are mostly ashamed that one of their descendance became green. Because of this they are also a favourite target to raiders. This is the main reason why the house has not been a major danger to the Flints while still being their long-time rivals. They need the support of their liege lords while they aim to become the rulers themselves. The house has once tried to over through their brethren on their island but couldn't hold the isle long enough to solidify their control.
Their closest and most trusted vassals are the Rills. They once held land in the Rills but fell in disgrace. They soon landed in the lands of the Flints because they searched for a new lord for the lands across the large bay were their lands are located. The bay the Rills received was rich in ores. The extraction of tin, lead and copper has led the house to become more dependant on food from other lords but also made them invaluable for the trade and money their metals bring. They are among the most loyal of the vassals even among the bay in which all are considered loyal.
In the woodlands under the Flints rule the Pans. They were once a minor house under the Reeds but when the land was given to another the family changed lords with them. While the house still holds more ties to the rest of the neck, they have slowly become more used to their new liege lords. Their wood has become an important source of income to the region. The fact that their woods are filled with water lead to them stocking an inland road with water deposits. This led to this road becoming the main road for trade all along the southern shore of the Salt Spear. The coffers of both Flints and Pans has profited from it and brought the new lands closer to their new lords.
A more typical house under them would be the Woodlys. They rule over an average sized lordship with about 250 smallfolk. These lords are typically working the fields together with their people or are seen among the fishermen. These lords often are barely literate and mostly own their position to the fact that they once were rulers over larger swaths of land before it turned into stone.
People:
The people in these lands are a funny mix that are part of Ironborn, Crannogmen and Northerners. The Ironborn have once owned these lands and their presence can still be seen in the fact that most of the people here know how to sail and swim. At the same time the people here are Crannogmen simply for the fact that they life in the neck. While they aren't quite like their swamp dwelling brothers the fact that population travels between the regions leads to them been quite close to them. At the same time do the people here consider themselves northerners as well. They are as used to the cold as any others and are accustomed to a harsh life that all northerners claim to lead. This mix of population groups is one of a kind in front of all when you consider that even Andals have married with the people along these shores. While the land may be desolate the people are certainly the most diverse in their descend.
It should be quite clear that no one lives in the inland territory but along the southern shore there can be found some lone survivors. These people are often those that were banished for their crimes or fled their punishment. They are few and often barely manage to survive by catching the birds that life on the cliffs to hunt fish. They live of the blood and meat these creatures give and are quite reclusive to everyone. They are probably the people that lead their lives in the harshest lands you can find in Westeros, or are they?
The Crannogmen living in the forest lead a life similar to their brothers living in the southern part of the forest. Their way of life is quite similar and as such will be talked about in detail in the chapter about the Reeds. Differences can be seen in small parts of their life. For example, do the people maintain the water road along the shore and do cut down more trees for wood than their brethren. The populace in the woods contain about 6000 people. Many people left their land with the change of liege lord. Still the region is probably the one with the most life in it.
The rest of the populace lives in their little coves. They number a surprisingly 28.000 people and often life more densely then other northern houses. Their way of life is a special one and surprising for many. Because they have a shortage of farmland for crops and animals, they value every bit they own. Their houses are often built close to the shore on sandy underground to safe more land for production. Their woods often build their border to the stony desert and curb the worst of the cold winds that is prevalent on it. The weir wood often stands on the very edge as thought their magic hinders the desert from claiming the last pieces of habitable land. These people are among the rare that still offer human sacrifices to the trees. The fact that the forest they gained from the Reeds helped them preserve more of their forest is one the smallfolk will not forget any time soon. Because the lands by the cliffs was raised by magic the water directly of the shore is actually not all that deep and there are next to no violent currents close to the shore in these areas. It is quite simple to swim out for a bit or take a small fishing boat to catch for fish. Fishing and sailing is something that comes natural to these people and they are among the few that also developed a taste for algae. Something that only some lords have found out is that the fact that the lands were raised means that the cliffs to their sided would normally be deep underground. This leads to ores being on pretty much level ground to the villages. Level ground for mines means less work needs to be put into excavating it. Those that realised this are wealthier thanks to the ore they mine on the side and sell to the south and Dustin's.
Army:
While the Flints have some of the lowest population levels in the North, they still manage to field about 800 soldiers if given enough time. Should there be a need for a fast collection of soldiers they will often only recruit 500 men. Because of their low population and the constant raids however the people here are similar to the Mormont's. Among their soldiers you can often find as many women as men. While the nobles often do not mirror this believe the Flints have become the closest to switching to the Mormont way of viewing women.
The men-at-arms gathered from these lands hold nearly no cavalry. The environment simply does not offer them the possibility to raise or keep horses. Only the strongest/wealthiest nobles do own a horse but those are bought from Ryswell lands and only when the lords truly need them. In addition, these will in peace times be used to help fieldwork. The people meanwhile make for good soldiers. After all constant raids from Ironborn make for good training and looting the fallen afterwards for weapons and armour does cower a basic level of professionalism in armaments. The men from this land are also known for their see legs and can easily be drilled to make for good naval combatants. Sadly, the house owns no warships but their people can serve on ships belonging to the Tallhart's if the need exist.
Economy:
The economy of the land is like a pearl necklace. The fact that all people life along the coast and know how to work on ships leads to a constant string of ports all along the shore. While most of these individually make for poor trade the fact that so many of them exist and can be landed on in a short time makes them worthwhile for merchants. The fact that this is the more heavily settled coast until you reach the Dustin land also makes the decision easier for merchants on where to take their trade.
These lands have one prominent production that can be traded for with merchants. Their waters are rich in sea life and the people know how to harvest it. While algae is more of a local production and food there are ports in the Westerlands that buy and eat them as well. In addition to the lobsters and clams their seafood makes them most of their money.