Game of life
Jon Snow moodily comped into the wood near Winterfell, his pup direwolf, Ghost dozens of feet ahead of him. He vowed again and again but he couldn't help but let Lady Stark's words effect him. Lady Catelyn only spoke to him when she didn't have any other choice, but when she did it was always the same burning word she named him: bastard.
He didn't understand why she had to always say it. Maybe so that he never forget his place? How could he not? He couldn't remember a day when he hadn't heard it. Mostly from Theon or Lady Catelyn, but the servants didn't made a big issue about saying it either.
What really perxeled him was how the Lady of Winterfell went out the way to suptly or not so suptly insult him, but didn't do anything towards Lord Stark. Gods, he could see that the lady loved the man he could call father outside her earshot. Blaming the son for the sin of the father? That wasn't fair in his opinion. But life wasn't fair. And his life was way better than the other bastards. He could learn how to wield a sword, how to ride, read, write, manners, lore of the realms. While others of the same birth would be happy if they could be a stable boy. Maybe he was ungrateful, but it still hurt that Lady Catelyn would hate him so much for something out of his control.
It was Ghost's yipp that brought him out of his mussings. Looking at the pup his eyes widened seeing that the wolf brought a black leather covered book to him. He frantically loked around, searching for the owner of the book.
"Ghost, please don't go around stealing others things. Where did you found this?" he asked, but the pup only sat there and cocked his head to the side. Sighing, Jon took the book in his hand. What he didn't except was that silver smoke and light that came from the book. After a moment whatever it was stopped. Jon wanted to go back to Winterfell at once. He didn't know what it was, but knew that he didn't want any part in it. Looking up from the object in his hands he was taken back. In front of him there was what appeared the first page of the book.
"Greetings stranger! This book will change your life, I can tell that much. Your life will become something else I'm sure!"
Jon started getting worried. Stranger? As in one of the Seven? Was it something religious, He had know only a handful people in Winterfell who followed the Seven, and only slightly more in the North at he read it again. He nearly laughed out in relief. So it wasn't something that belonged to Lady Stark or Sansa! Thank the Gods, new and old! He wanted to turn a page, but the book seemed to read his mind.
"You are a male. Yes or no?" was on the next page, nothing else.
"Yes of course!" he said with a bit more force than what should be wise. The book turned page immediately and Jon could feel his breath being stolen away looking at the lines here.
"Your heritage:
mother: Lady Lyana Stark
father: Prince Rhaegar Targaryen
status: ?
Heritage traits: Norhtener by House Stark and Dragonblood by House Targaryen."
Jon never knew his mother. Lord Stark never answered his questions nor others'. He now understood why. This... this would change everything. He didn't know much about the power-play between the Great Houses, but something like that couldn't be simply brushed off. Add that King Robert vowed to slay all "dragonspawn"... What would the man do when he hears that the woman, the love of his life had a son with his bitterest enemy?
His father... Rhaegar Targaryen, the Dragon Prince. Lord Stark never said much about the man only that he snatched Lyanna away. In all honestly Jon couldn't remember if he said anything about it. He told them about Arthur Dayne, the Sword of Morning, but of Rhaegar he didn't or he just couldn't remember.
"What were these heritage traits? And what do mine?" he asked himself. Surprisingly the book provided answer to this.
"Heritage traits or Bloodgifts, are unique perk trees only possesed by the member of the same heritage. They have several levels each making the trait stronger in you. They allow you to have other perks of the same heritage. Northener means that as you are of the North you have Cold Resistance, meaning you can encure the cold, ice and wind. You gain five points in spirit and perception attributes, while losing five in fate and wisdom. Dragonblood gave you Fire Resistance, which is self explanatory. You gain ten points in spirit, but lose ten in intelligence."
It seemed that the book answered the questions "even if he only think about them.
"What other perks can I get from my heritage?" he tried it out.
"From Northener there is the Warg perk, which allows you to enter the minds of an animals and control them. There are other heritage perks which can't be accesed as of now. Dragonblood allow you the Dragonborn perk, which allow you to control the dragons and other magical creatures to a lesser extend. There are other heritage perks which can't be accesed as of now. To see more please go to the perk lists."
Well, that explained a lot. Jon turned again. It was the longest list so far.
"These are your attributes, scored out of a hundred. You can raise them as you level up, earn them in archivements or by reading an attribute book. Each level up rewards you with five attribute point to spend."
Well, fuck him. Jon hoped that he could level up soon and fast because his Intelligence took quite the beating with the Targaryen heritage. The others looked more or less okay. Or not. His Wisdom was even lower, the same could be said about his Fate. And his Charisma was even lower by two points making it score at twelve points.
Turning a page he came across the skill list.
"These are your skills. They are scored out of two hundred. You can raise them by leveling up, earning them in archivement or by reading a skill book. Each level up will grant you ten skil points to spend. The book will only show those you have point in. For example Herbalism isn't on the list as you know nothing on it same as blacksmith."
That was... Jon couldn't word it approtorety how he felt. He always thought that he only had two path to choose. The first was to take the Black and become a member of the Night Watch. The other was to remain here, at Winterfell and be a... what? Swornsword to the Stark family, he suppose he could call that. But if what the book "said" was true he could become anything he wanted! Even a maester or trader if he choose that. Not that he had any wish to become either but it was nice to have a choice. That of course asked for the question: what he wanted to become? He honestly didn't know, not anymore. But he knew one thing: he wanted to become someone who made a difference. He wanted others to remember him.
What made his mood turn to sour was his skill's score. He trained, fucking trained for nearly a decade now, and he was this weak?! After quelling his irritation on the matter and thinking on it for a little he noded. They weren't the best but he couldn't except much more. He knew that he was truly only a child in swordmanship compared to the likes of Ser Barristan Selmy or Ser Jaime Lannister. But he wanted to raise them just as his attributes.
Turning page he came across the perk list.
"These are your perks. All perks has five different levels. For some perks you earn them by an archivement or it has a skill or attribute score requirement before you can have it. Some have heritage requirement. You won't see these until you have somehow accquired the requiment. You gain one perk points per level up or can gain by archivement or perk book. The latest two are a rarety. Some perks offer a boot in one and disadvantage in other fields, while others are purely a boot for you."
Next came the archivements and traits, which page, of course, was completely empty.
"Archivements are for completing difficult quests or achiving feat of renown and awe. They often give you rewards for getting them. Traits on the other hand earned by your choices which you make at a critical point."
"So one was for completing the quest and the other for how he do it?" He thought. His life was turned into one of those child game that Arya, Bran and Rickon play, the same which he enjoyed as a kid when he played with Robb and Theon. The game was simple: the players were heros and they go an adventure where they get rewards, coins and whatnot on completing quests. The only problem was that there wasn't a female character. Arya was most appeled by that, stating that if Queen Nymeria could rule a whole kingdom she should be in the game or at least a female warrior should. After a bit of debate Lord Stark had some wood worker make a female statue, much to Lady Catelyn chargin. His thoughts came to a crushing halt when a new label made itself known.
"You have two thousand experience points. Congratulations, you have reached a new level!"
Again thank the Gods, new and old! Seeing that he went back to his attributes he was startled that he was on his fifth level! Meaning that for now a thousand experience point should be considered a lot. And meaning that he could compensate for his weakness. He had twenty five point to spend here. He spent eight to have his Charisma at twenty. Spent six to both Fate and Wisdom to have them twenty as well. The remaining five was spent on Intelligence making it scoring twenty-five. It rounded his attributes out quite right.
Next came the skills where he had fifty points to spend. He spent thirteen into one-handed making it's score fifty-five. He spent one point Survival and Tracking. Four went to Block, five to both Lieing and Riding. Ten points were spent on the Animal trainer. Six went to Archery. The remaining five was spent on Light-armor and Shield.
Last came the perks. There were lot of them just as skills. He decided to have the Warg perk (requirement: Northener heritage, animal companion or 30 points in Animal Trainer). It made Ghost easier to control and the next levels will add perception bonus as well. Next he choosed the Eagle Eye (requirement: 25 points in perception). He could see the information of others, which he found damn useful even if it had it's limitations. How much he could see was decided by how much influence/relation he had with the person, the persons skill in stealth or lieing, his or her level and some other factor as well. The other was the Dual Arm (requirement: 25 points in dexterity) which allowed him to wield a weapon in his left arm with minimal difference. The next was a surprise: it was the Maester of Training (requirement: 25 points in Intelligence) which augmented the attribute points and skill points earned by level up by five to each. Glancing at the list – which was very long by the way even with most perks dimmed, meaning he could not have them for some reason, he found some fighting styles. After looking at them for several minutes, he found one which allegedly was founded in the North and thus Ser Rodrik Cassel, the Stark's master-of-arms should be able to help him with it. It didn't take much thinking to settle for it.
Surprisingly he didn't waste much time with all of this. It seemed like he spent hours on the book but if that was the thruth it would be already night, while it was only nightfall. He was out of Winterfell for maybe a hour and a half. Thankfully Robb asked him to where he intended to go whe he spotted Jon going outside the castle. As much as it irritated him then it also relieved him now. He didn't want to deal with anything else for the day.
The ride back to the home of House Stark was spent in silence. Jon idly looked at Ghost, as the direwolf run in circle around his horse, sometimes going as far as a hundred feet ahead sometimes falling back nearly as much. His skill with the horse was somewhat better, not by much, but better. Though he shouldn't except more as he only had a messy twenty points out of two hundred!
Winterfell seemed deserted if not for the guard at the gate. Most were already ready to retire after a tiring day. The stable-boy was absent, even if most of the times Jon did get his horse into the stable on his own. Making a mental note to grom his horse in the morning he also went to his chambers. The Stark family was most likely still in the dining hall if the lights and the noise was any indication. Lord Stark was busy and usually, apart from some minutes between his duty, only had time for his whole family in these hours.
Jon had already knew that he wasn't welcome there. While lord Stark and Robb wouldn't be against it, Arya, Bran and Rickon would be delightened by his presence, Lady Stark and Sansa would definitely raise their voice against it. He also knew that he wasn't calm enough to be in their presence not to mention that he lost his appetite at discovering his heritage.
Laying down on his bed he examined the book more closely. Opening it he discovered that the first page was a list of the sections of the book. There were those he already seen. His attributes, skills, perks, arvhivements and traits. There were others like help, map, inevntory or quests. His earlier question was answered when the book also informed him about it slowing down the time for the duranation of him using the book. Als the book was also invisible and untouchable for other. Ghost was the only exception as he was his companion and as a warg partner.
He curiously thumb it. He wanted to have some plan for the future and wanted to see what he should spend money on to archive it. He already stopped on the page "Personal information". His heritage was alright as he had already seen it, his loyaty to House Stark and Targaryen - even if the latter was dull for it being a hidden loyalty, was also excepted. But his sexuality had a question mark. What? Ok, he was a virgin, he could admit it to himself, but he aslo knew that he was attracted to females. He wasn't like the Red Viper, who's - quite questionable - renown reached even the North.
He didn't want to think muc about it. He had a hectic day to say at least, so he decided to deal with the rest in the 'morrow. So, under Ghost's watch he fall into the realms of dreams.
Jon SnowHeritage:
Stark: Northener: +5 spirit and perception in exchange of 5 wisdom and fate. Ice resistance perk
Targaryen: Dragonblood: +10 spirit, but -10 intelligence. Fire resistance perks.
Loyalty: House Stark, (House Targaryen)
Enemies: -
Renown: 10/1000 (level 1)
Sexuality: ?
Attraction:
Female: 20/200
Male: 3/200
Experience points: 350/1200 (level 5)
Attributes: 0
Strenght: 21
Endurance: 22
Speed: 24
Dexterity: 28
Perception: 25
Intelligence: 25
Willpower: 38
Wisdom: 20
Charisma: 20
Fate: 20
Spirit: 32
Skills: 0
One handed: 55/200
Two handed: 12/200
Block: 35/200
Shield: 20/200
Archery: 35/200
Hand-to-hand: 18/200
Light armor: 35/200
Heavy armor: 11/200
Tracking: 25/200
Hunting: 27/200
Survival: 20/200
Riding: 20/200
Lieing: 20/200
Animal trainer: 15/200
Trainer: 5/200
Lore: 5/200
Manners: 5/200
Allure:5/200
Perks: 0
Northener:
Cold Resistance(basic)
Warg: (basic)
Dragon blood:
Fire Resistance(basic)
Eagle Eye: (basic)
Dual Arms: (basic)
Twirling Ice: (basic)
Maester of Training: (basic)
Archivements:
Traits: