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.

16. House Karstark of Karhold

Well well well ... I am back with the next house. I must confess ... I took longer after getting a bit to into reading Harry Potter fics. In addition learning ... at least i am now a surveying technician. At least I think that that is the english name for my job. Anyway I spend my time not writing. I am actually still a bit to much into reading at the moment but I believe that I will be somewhat motivated to finally get to the Bolton's soon.

House Karstark is the strongest surviving branch family of the Stark's to this date. They are among the Norths strongest houses and have remained closely tied by blood to the Stark's through several marriages over the centuries. In addition, they are among the newer houses in the North. Formed only about a thousand years ago by a younger member of house Stark by the name of Karlon. As such their founding can be dated back to roughly 700 before Aegon's Conquest. Their seat of power was built around the date of their founding and was used to solidify their control over the region and its smallfolk as well as preventing another rebellion in the area by the presence of a strong loyal house. Their founding had the intended effect and has hindered the Bolton's from forming another rebellion for centuries by encasing them in between the Karstark's, Umber's and Manderly's and their influence on the surrounding minor lords. Between those three loyal families another rebellion from the Bolton's remains only a dream to the most conservative Bolton lords.

As mentioned above their house was formed after a rebellion by granting Karlon Stark lands from the defeated lords. Among the lands they received were all the Bolton holding on the northern side of the Last River, the entirety of the lands of the Flint's of Breakstone Hill whose line went extinct in the rebellion and nearly half the land that house Greycliff once owned. Their lands as such have the Last River as a border. Afterwards their lands meet in the plains to the Umber's and follow it to the Bay of Seals. In the place were the land border between the Bay of Seals and the small Woodriver, named such for the abundance of branches and trees it carries to the see, is the thinnest their border turns south along hills and dells to the spring of the Woodriver and follows it to its mouth. From there the southern coast along the Shivering Sea forms their remaining border. Considering that their lands were formed from rebel lands and that two of the contributors still remain it is no wonder that their relation to both the Greycliff's and Bolton's remains cold at the best of times. Though the Bolton's have tried to warm the relationship since Aegon's conquest the Greycliff's remain antagonistic towards them. Surprisingly the remaining branches of house Flint's have a good relationship to the Karstark's even though they destroyed one of their strongest branch families. I would attribute this to both marriages between the Karstark's and Flint's over the centuries and the fact that the Flint's as a whole were ashamed by their brethren's betrayal of their liege.

The forming of their name is actually a funny story. While today we call them Karstark's once upon a time they were simply known as the Starks of Karl's Hold. Over centuries their castle name changed to Karhold and the family name did the same and added the Kar in front of Stark. This was actually a process that took over several centuries and only really solidified when Aegon had requested ledgers about the Kingdom's and its lordly houses to be sent to King's Landing. In those ledgers the house was first mentioned as house Karstark of Karhold in an official document that was copied and stored by us maesters. Apparently, they have decided to officially change their houses name on the papers to better differentiate their houses for those of the south.

Something of note about the house is their colouring. While the classical Starks features of brown hair and long faces can still be found in them, they have developed distinct features of their own. More often than not they will have blue eyes instead of the grey orbs the Stark's show. In addition, they often grow larger and let their beards grow longer than a Stark would be comfortable with. Yet still the familiar resemblance between the two is a given and with a bit of luck a Karstark may yet be born with features that make them seam like a trueborn Stark instead.

Their sigil shows a white sunburst on a black background.

Family Words: "The Sun of Winter"
Like most things about the Karstark's their words originate from their founder Karlon Stark. While one upon a time the words were the Son of Winter to remind his house from what blood the family stems it has changed over the years. Yet it has proven itself that the Karstark's did not forget their ancestry in the Kings of Winter even with the changed words. But how did the change from son to sun happen. Today many only know that Karlon won against the rebels and was awarded lands. What most don't know was that the sun gifted him the victory. The sun shone so bright that day that the rebels has been unable to see his cavalry charge into their backs because the sunshine blinded them. This has been the origin of their sigil of a sunburst instead of a direwolf. The over centuries much like their holds name and house name the words changed. The words son and sun are rather similar and when they were asked after centuries why their sigil was a sun and not a direwolf the present lord Karstark answered because they were the Sun of Winter. Even their fellow northern lords didn't remember the story and the lords afterwards have continued to simply use the words sun instead of son. Let it be said that the puzzle of their words has been lifted and that not only the north remembers but the maesters do as well.

Hold/Keep:
Karhold is the ancestral seat of house Karstark and finally stands complete today. A few centuries ago, one couldn't write such a statement about the castle. Before then the lords still did many things to change and expand the castle. They pushed out the walls further, added another tower, portcullises were encased in steel, cellars expanded, a firm bridge took over for a rotting structure that none should have dared to cross. One lord even added another floor to the entire structure several hundred years before the conquest. Today the castle stands as one of the norths strongest castles and for a good reason too. Sitting on top of two cliffs connected by a bridge and only attackable from one side the castle makes for a formidable opponent for attackers. Between the cliffs flows a tributary of the Woodwater and the lands around the cliffs quickly turn to forest and plains while all around remaining rather flat compared to the two cliffs.

Before we start with the castle lets talk about the surrounding lands. By the foot of the eastern cliff you will find the docks of the village build by the castle. Surprisingly it's called Karlton. Following the dirt road up a bit you will find yourself by the village gates. While not to large with only a bit over a few thousand people the village to the south of the castle is surrounded by a wooden wall that connects to the stone castle walls. It is of note that the castle entrance is not inside the village's wooden walls. As the castle was build on top of the rocky cliffs the village is rising higher with the ground. So much so that one can easily view the houses closest to the castle from outside the walls. In all honesty the walls are probably more aesthetic than protective from what I can perceive about warcraft. Take to note that only from the villages side one can actually come close to the castle. From any other direction but the path passing along the village walls one would face stone cliffs to step for a army to attack from. As such between the village and the cliffs any army will be bottle necked and depending on if the village is taken or not battered by arrows from their walls on the way to the castle gates. The surrounding lands are used by woodcutters and farmers to follow their craft while the docks allow for easy trade with some fishers following their craft along the rivers from here as well. The villages position has actually hindered the growth of it massively and been a headache for many a lord as they can't seem to overcome it.

Now let's begin with the first of the two castles that make up the Karhold. It is the smaller of the two but still large enough to be counted as a moderate keep by itself. Protected by thick stone walls rising as high as any other in addition to a portcullis encased in steel and two massive towers to either side of the entrance. As mentioned, the castle can only attack from this side. Even if the village is taken there is no siege equipment that could reach the walls from the ground to the wall from there. In the first keep you will find large stables that can hold many horses and their feed. It also holds the guest quarters and a small amount of storeroom for food, wood and metal. The basic professions a castle needs can also be found here. A smith, brewer, arrow maker, kennelmaster, the horse keepers and general servants have their rooms and workspaces in this part of the castle. The castle builders even had the ingenious idea to add what amounts to a well in the castle. The bucket instead of going underground will sink into the river and bring up water from there in case of war. They usually do so when it is dark in hopes to keep this a secret from attackers. As one could imagine after making this open knowledge with this book, I will never again set foot into their lands or for that matter hopefully not encounter any members of their house.

The second keep has nearly double the size of the first and is not assailable from any side. The cliffs are to step for anything to scale them to reach the walls. The only entrance to it would be from the bridge connecting it to the first keep. One doesn't have to mention what fate a soldier awaits that tries to attack over the thin but strong bridge against a strong gate with defenders atop of it. Still here is a tip. Arrows. Many many arrows. While it hasn't yet happened that even the first keep was taken to take the second would certainly be an achievement. In fact, because of the castles location a small force can defend it easily and even then, fall back and hold the second keep with only a handful of men. That the second keep is in fact also the location of the actual barracks housing more than enough men even in peacetimes does add to the defensibility of the castle. In addition, the second keep also has a water system like the first and quite frankly massive amounts of storeroom. If the house would ever fill its rooms with firewood, foodstuffs and weapons to the top I would confidently declare that any army but the Lannister's would run out of coin for food before the castle does from their storage. Had it been built in the Reach their harvests would probably even have made such a possible thing to happen but as it stands in the North even filling it halfway is a dream. The second keep unsurprisingly also holds the main hall, a courtyard for training, the maesters quarter and guestrooms for the more privileged visitors.

To end the chapter about the keep we have to mention the location a last time. The keep was built close to the border with the Greycliff's close to the Woodwater. The position was no coincidence. Its position would hinder any army coming from the Greycliff's passing through their lands because of the force the castle could send out to fall into their backs or directly into their lands as retaliation. Through this the Karstark's effectively take out the Greycliff's force in any war and can still send aid to the Umber's in holding the Bolton's back in any war. In addition, was Karhold build close to the Greeneye. The Greeneye is the most populated region of their new granted land and had to be closely monitored for unrest and possible uprisings at the beginning as many of its lords still held loyalties to their former overlords. This could have caused another rebellion had they thought overpowering their new liege lord was possible.

Geography:
The Karstark lands are divided in the Greeneye, the Greywood forest, the plains similar to the Umber lands, the Last River and the two coasts along the Bay of Seals and Shivering Sea to the north and south. As both the plains and the valley of the Last River remain constant even in the Karstark lands one should simply read about them in the Umber chapter about geography. As such we have to focus on the Greeneye, Greywood and the coasts.

The Bay of Seals under house Karstark is much larger and better developed than that of the Umber's. One of the reasons for this is no doubt the geography of the area. With the Greywood right to their back the people have wood in abundance to use for exploiting the sea. With the lands settled much thicker than those of the Umber's one would think that the seals that give the coast its name would be less predominant. Those would be thinking wrong. The seals have shown themselves to not care to much about human population. In fact, in normal fishing villages they might even beg for fish caught by men instead of hunting for themselves. Aside from seals the coast holds many more riches. Walruses with their ivory tusk make for a good hunt. Not to mention that the shore is rich with fish and all other goods of the sea. In addition, much of the shore is flatland granting easy access for shipping docks and the back land is a good place for raising crops even with the punishing cold winds of the shore.

In comparison to this the coast to the south along the Shivering Sea is pretty much underdeveloped. Compared to the rather flat landings of the northern shore one will find many more rocky bays with sandbanks endangering ships that don't know about their existence. In addition, while like most of the northern shore the waters are rich in fish, they lack in some of the more precious animals the north has to offer. That the coast is more rugged as well with many land tongues reaching out doesn't make it any more pleasant as well. Sailing directly along the coast is not to be recommended in this area for untrained sailors. If you than factor in that the southern coast only has smaller forest along its shore and that much of the smallfolk left the lands when it was granted to the Karstark's and one can see why the northern shore is much more developed.

Onto the Greywood for now. The forest retains the name it held when the Greycliff's still ruled most of the forest as first men kings. As they were grey kings, they needed to fashion all the lands under their control to contain at least a mentioning of grey. The forest made this easy for them as well as it houses predominantly birches with a grey bark. It stretches from the Bay of Seals to parts of the shore by the Shivering Sea to the south. Yet another large forest in the north that dwarfs most in the south. It is no wonder that the north is known for its exports in wood. This forest is also the only northern one where one will find more bears than wolves aside from Bear Isle. As any other forest you will find the usual stuff you would expect in forests. Dears, hogs, squirrels, hares and shadow cats call this forest their own as well and bring hides and meat to the lordship. It is however worthy of mention that the lordships forest holds a wide variety of birds. While the people haven't made a business of it yet the bird population brings many coloured feathers of varied lengths and forms with it. Locals even say that their forest has the most beautiful bird songs of Westeros because of all the different kinds one can find.

Finally, we reached the Greeneye that makes the Karstark's one of the norths strongest houses because of its mere existence. The Greeneye is the large flatland area encased by the Greywood. Its long and narrow shape when first put on a map resembled an eye and with the addition that the lands are extremely fertile for the north and make most crops bloom the name of Greeneye was given to it. By now this piece of flat Greenland has been heavily developed for a northern territory. Where once these lands have held giants and mammoths, as evidently shown by skeletons, in greater numbers than most of Westeros did. Today predominantly domesticated animals, dears and shadow cats call these lands their home together with humans. These lands are unique in the fact that this green gem is completely surrounded by a forest protecting it from harsher winds, regularly receive light ash rains from the Lonely Hills helping with fertility without causing problems for farming and have a stable rain circle that again helps with farming. All around the land is counted among the norths most fertile and has the produce in numbers such would demand.

Lesser Lords:
While at first many of the lords were not inclined to serve the Karstark's that they viewed as invaders that exterminated or replace their previous overlords. While naturally some of the lords they took over were positively happy with a new overlord many more behaved like any retainers would when their previous overlords still exist and remained ready for rebellion. After some years of tense waiting and good leadership from the Karstark's such an attitude waned and over centuries was replaced with loyalty. That the Karstark's often married their stronger retainers in one way or another in the beginning of their rule also helped immensely. Today their retainers show them the same loyalty any other lord of the north can expect of theirs.

The Flint's of Breakstone Hill should be mentioned first. The original house carrying the name has as mentioned perished and the original keep was reduced to rubble. This house has been resurrected however by the union of house Karstark and house Flint of Widows Watch shortly after the Karstark's were landed. This union was obviously used to appease the Flints and gain a loyal banner in an unstable region while rallying the smallfolk behind a known name. The new keep remained smaller than the original much like their lands but as the house name was reused along with their banner and word the illusion for many remains that the house exists even today in a continuous line of succession. Their lands are close to the plains of the Umber's along the Bay of Seals and contains shore, plains and forest in their domain.

Ruling the town of Tolerton by the mouth of the Woodriver are the Bernefuer's. While quite small for a town this settlement has received a city charter more than a millennia ago and retained it throughout the ages. It is one of the main ports for the wood from the Greywood and processes it into higher quality goods for merchants. As such the town consist of mainly woodworkers and those proficient in the art of the deal (Imagine Trump in Westeros… I dare you not to laugh). The house is actually one of the Karstark's more powerful vassals because of its location and population and was one that retained the grudge of leaving the control of the Greycliff's the longest. Loyalist to the Greycliff's actually assembled under their banner at first. Only after a rebellion seemed completely averted and most of the house that held strong relationships to the Greycliff's died did the house initiate positive relations to the Karstark's.

One of the vassals located in a precarious position had been the Harley's. They hold the keep by the major road passing over the Last River into the Bolton lands. By now the rebellions have stopped but when the family was granted the land (such an important position can't be entrusted to a family that may hold questionable loyalties from a conquest) all pointed to more rebellions in the future. The house still keeps their guard up but at the same time enjoys the peace and tax of such a major roadway produces. It is important that this house can at any time be replaced by the Karstark's as they are forbidden to marry other nobles and as such have no relations that could protect them. The fact that they can't marry other nobles comes from the decision that any lord could be compromised by family relations and as such the lord of this crossing must remain distanced from other nobles.

Located in the Greeneye like many other vassals are the Cavendish. Among them they hold the largest track of land and are among the oldest nobility under the Karstark's. Their banner is a shield with three buck head on it. They once ruled the entire Greeneye as kings before the Greycliff's conquered them. Till this day they do however hold great sway among the other nobles in the Greeneye. If you want to pacify the Greeneye keeping the Cavendish happy goes a long way. Something notable is that in the hour of the wolf a member of house Cavendish served for the short time it was as an adviser of the Small Council. Even today many houses cannot claim the prestige of having a member serving in the Small Council and yet this minor northern noble family was granted the honour for longer than many others can even dream of it.

People:
The people of these lands are close to those under the Umber's in appearance and temper but do know when to hold back and let colder heads prevail. Even still their tempers run hot even thought they are surrounded by the cold. Of note is that even if there is nearly no difference in their latitude the people here tend to keep more of their fingers than those under the Umber's. I would attribute this to the fact that the Greeneye and Greywood is better suited to rest than the Lonely Hills, plains and Pinewood. It could naturally also be because the people in this territory tend to wear more furs than the others do but those usually only cover the upper/lower body and arms and not hands and face.

Thanks to the presence of the ever fertile Greeneye that sustains the populace of the lordship and leaves a bit of food to sell into other regions the people here face less problems in winter. In addition, the people not only enjoy full bellies but the wood from the forest makes it easy for the populace to heat their homes. It is even common to cut down trees in winter on calm days instead of stockpiling wood before winter. Most likely because in these times the common farmer tries to stock up on dried grass for animals one last time. One can easily imagine that thanks to the duality of the wood and farmland that make up their heartland the people are more numerous than those of other lordships of the same size. This does sadly not hold truth to it because many more of the men tend to leave the lordship in search for better lands. I for my part can't comprehend why such a thing happens but many of the people that leave settle along the western shores and keep the populace there more staple even with loss of live through winter and Ironborn steel.

Army:
The Karstark's largest levied number of soldiers reached 4.500 and was fielded against a king beyond the wall some centuries ago. As this was a military matter in the north it is natural that the house fielded more men than it would when campaigning in the south. After all the men wouldn't be kept from working the fields for as long and as such more could be levied without impeding the lordships stability. When marching south they tend to field fewer men and yet the last time their armies traversed south of the neck they still numbered 4.000. The number of men the lordship field is strongly dependant on the home situation in the region. Their rather large army in the last march to the south was possible because of a massively successful harvest year and the timing of the campaign in the middle of a long summer. In addition the Greycliff's and Bolton's brought equally large forces and as such more men could be deployed without appearing to be weak to their neighbouring lords. However even in the worst of situations the Karstark's still field a large part of the northern force.

Now onto the composition and the equipment of their forces. While the levies are untrained and undisciplined shortly after being marshalled. The Karstark's have always shown themselves to be remarkable commanders and managed to drill their men into a respectable force by the time they reach the southern kingdoms. This however also means that in any surprise attack in their lands they are hard pressed to field a competent force quickly. The one part of their force that always remains competent are surprisingly their siege engineers. It is not known to me why they keep such a specialised unit so well trained and equipped but they field them nevertheless. Any commander should take note that when ambushing northern forces that the engineers journeying in the back of the Karstark's contingent should be targeted with extreme prejudice for in a siege they could be a right nightmare compared to normal soldiers.

The equipment of the remaining soldiers while nothing to scoff at is at the same time not so remarkable that it need be mentioned. The fact is that with Karhold's massive storeroom capacity much of the needed equipment while old or used is well cared for and in good enough condition to be considered up to standard for any normal army. That much of their forces are equipped with a mace as their primary weapon and sword for secondary use makes them extremely effective against heavily armoured troupes that are fielded for example by the Lannister's. The addition of their shields in their off hands also make archers less of a danger to them and let them advance more securely on enemy entrancements.

Economy:
As with their standing as one of the norths most powerful houses their economy is rather well of for the north and even the south. Much of this can be attributed to the enormous amounts of wood the south buys from their ports. Theirs are a favourite target for merchants trading up and down the coast of eastern Westeros. While not heavily involved in Essos wood trade the Karstark's enjoy a near monopoly on trade with the pirated on the Step Stones. The fact is that these pirates often travel north to buy wood peacefully and for a reasonable price and in exchange target only those traders traversing the waters of the Step Stones. While clearly an injustice to the south this trade and policy can't be proven with certainty till this day. But let me ask the question. Where else do these pirates get the wood for their fleets from? The southern kingdoms would certainly not sell to them.

Anyway this lucrative wood trade with the addition of a independent and solid local food production lead the Karstark's to accumulate wealth for centuries. Even compared to the south their income is considerably large and befitting of a major lord. However unlike us this wealth is not spend on the feasts and fancy robes but to insure the survival of the next winter. This is a nice way of saying that luxuries cannot be expected to the same extend one would find in the south.

A last thing to note is the disparity between the plains and the rest of the lordship in terms of commerce. Unlike the rest of the lordship these people often don't have the same amount of coin available to them. Mostly because of the fact that neither sea, nor wood nor harvest exist or compares to that of the rest of the lordship. A wise trader will not take the time to traverse these parts of the land simply because it would lose him his money.