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Winter is Coming: House Stark Quest

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[X] Open the way for them
-[X] Keep your word


Ygritte wants her people to survive. The Free Folk want to survive. That means going South. I think the vast majority of them would rather not risk a war right before the coming winter if they can avoid it. Jon wants the same thing for the North, and I think the same can be said for the people of the North. They want to survive. Peace is preferable to war, especially before a long winter. There are old grudges, not denying that. But wanting their peoples, their children, to survive are not mutually exclusive goals. And if peace can be made then maybe those grudges can end.


The only difference between the two 'open the way' options is in whether we turn over Ygritte once she's already in Winterfell, or we act on good faith and try negotiations to spare bloodshed.

If the negotiations fall through, the Queen Beyond the Wall is in the enemy's castle and as good as captured anyway. It also buys time for the people south of the Wall to reorganize themselves. The attempt at negotiations at the very least mitigates the Free Folk's advantage of surprise, while if we betray Ygritte I wouldn't be surprised if she has a way to alert her people so they can start attacking right away.
 
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Al Thor Dragon said:
[] Open the way for them.
-[] Keep your word.
Write in [] On the condition they swear fealty to House Stark.
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I suggest saving conditions for the actual negotiations, that's Ned's job not Jon's.

This vote is just to decide if Jon is sincere or not (or just refuses to cooperate at all in which case they'll torture him until he breaks ).
 
I get why Cat came to mind for Jon, given Ygritte's mistake. The cuirass part in and of itself even makes some sense, kind of...castle> knight > armor ....

But why is the cuirass revealing? :wtf:
 
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[X] Open the way for them
-[X] Keep your word

The last time we voted to not bother negotiating, a crit-fail allowed f!Aegon to escape Westeros with his army.
 
[X] Open the way for them
-[X] You're totally betraying her

Either way they're fucked. They want to cross into lands ruled by others and then, given the idiocy of the Wildlings, probably 'refuse to kneel' at which point they'll bring about discontent and violence before ultimately being killed. Better to just get rid of them now given they really provide no benefits to the realm.
 
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29. Starks and Gingers
  • Threadmarks
    • There was something in the Starks of Winterfell quite extraordinary. Family lore knew it as the Wolf's Blood. In some it burned relentlessly, driving them to recklessness and rage. Your uncle Brandon had been that way, so you had heard. When the Prince of Dragonstone took his sister he marched on King's Landing sword drawn as if to take it with less than a dozen men.

    In others though it was quieter. Patient and cold as winter itself - until one of the pack was threatened. Then came the wolf.

    The Queen Beyond the Wall had not grown up with Old Nan weaving tales of the Kings of Winter, or wandered their crypts as a child. She knew only the tales Wildlings whispered around campfires at night. Yet in that moment it seemed she and those with her saw your heart.

    'Threaten my family and I will paint the Wall red with Wildling blood.'

    You carved the blade into your hand and pressed it to the wall, hoping you had not made a horrible mistake. Almost at once a thick rumbling began as the door began to open, and the bone-rattling buzz of Gendel's Children with it. Ygritte looked at you, an eyebrow quirked and a hint of surprise.

    "I have given Jon Snow my word. You will hold here until I return."

    ---

    It was not long before they found the two of you. Ghost brought them to you - your brothers in black. You brushed away their concerns and perplexed glances at the woman at your side. "I have to speak to Lord Stark. A war is coming and only he can prevent it."

    That was how you had found yourself in the Lord Commander's quarters as Ned Stark met for the first time the Queen Beyond the Wall. She was a girl little older than yourself or Robb, but then perhaps that was no great surprise. Robb was a King now, having crushed the Lannisters and taken Stannis Baratheon's daughter as his bride.

    You had always known it, you supposed. It was Robb who had been born to be a king.

    Right now though there was all this 'we do not kneel' nonsense to deal with and a northern threat for be faced.

    "You have unleashed this evil upon us all, then. A distraction as you pillage our lands?" Ned Stark's eyes were ice. Had this been the face he wore when he destroyed 'King Joffrey'?

    Ygritte turned in annoyance. "No." She paused, a sickened look on her face. "The deep ones are rising because they've run out of food. Used to be our chiefs would seek to appease them with what beasts and captives we could toss down there, but it's not enough. Not with this kind of winter. They'd have come to the surface and the Wall wouldn't have slowed them much."

    Her eyes flicked to you briefly, but she said nothing of your opening the way. "It wasn't made for them, after all. Once they were done eating us they'd climb or dig their way to eating you."

    "Father." Ned Stark did not look at you but he nodded in acknowledgement. "The threat is real. They killed Uncle Benjen. If we do nothing they will carve a path of destruction through the North and all Westeros. Unless we stop them here."

    You continued, trying not to stumble as you strung together the half-unconscious theories you'd figured as Ygritte dragged you from the tunnel toward the Wall. "The opening the Wildlings want to use is the same one the Children will use. They'd be mad not to. If we move fast we can make a bottleneck and stop them." You pointed to the wildling girl. "All of us."

    "Jon," he said his voice tight. "You are suggesting we ally with Wildlings."

    "Yes. I am."

    "And then what? Shall we live in harmony? This girl and her ilk have killed thousands. My father's grandfather. Do you think the Umbers and Mormonts will keep faith with Winterfell if I unleash the horde upon their homes? The Wildlings spit upon the laws of men."

    Ygritte snarled in anger, her freckled face as red as her hair. "It's you lot who've fucked us! Trapped us on the shit side of your wall to die and cut down whoever tries to get us south."

    How long had it gone on like this? Northmen and Wildlings. The First Men divided. From the start, you supposed. When Bran built his wall and some poor fools decided to keep to the villages their fathers' fathers had built. Since Joramun Horn-Blower all those thousands of years ago.

    When would it end?

    The Wildlings wanted land. A land to live in peace and to practice their culture - even if it was a shitty one. Reparations for the injustices they had faced. The Northmen wanted that too - justice for a hundred thousand sisters and mothers stolen from their beds.

    When would it end?

    You had been born for a reason. Rhaegar Targaryen had seen something - or read of it - something he believed in. Perhaps he was just a madman, like his father. Like your grandfather. But perhaps it had happened for a reason. Perhaps all this was happening now for a reason.

    It was up to you, Jon Snow.

    [] Propose your peace terms between the North and the Wildlings. (Write-In)
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    Author's Note: Not dead, though there've been some close calls and a working schedule that's made it difficult to write anything. Ready to finish this though.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • We could settle them in the mountains alongside the Mountain Clans. Their cultures are similar enough that the cultural clashes should be kept to a minimum (for wildlings and mountain clans that is), and the loyal clans can be used to keep an eye on the most troublesome wildlings.

    Does anyone know how strong the wildlings are compared to the North's mountain clans?
     
    HanEmpire said:
    We could settle them in the mountains alongside the Mountain Clans. Their cultures are similar enough that the cultural clashes should be kept to a minimum (for wildlings and mountain clans that is), and the loyal clans can be used to keep an eye on the most troublesome wildlings.

    Does anyone know how strong the wildlings are compared to the North's mountain clans?
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    They have a pretty violent history due to their proximity. The Wildlings are certainly more numerous, with the clansmen able to raise a few thousand men in times of war. It's one thing to suggest, along with the Gift, "haha we're turning on you too Wildling scum and then pinning them in the tunnel with the deep ones", settling them somewhere in the South (the Iron Isles are already full of dickheads), etc.
     
    Its either resettlement to Essos or killing them in the tunnels. Let the ones who want to follow the laws stay in Westeros.
     
    Possibilities...

    1. Take the Black - Some number of them are going to need to join the Night's Watch to bolster their numbers. It'll help the Watch to have some scouts and trackers who are familiar with the new enemy anyways.
    2. The Old Gift - Settle them in the Gift. Maybe have them help repair and man the castles along the Wall, and have each castle run by a man of the Watch assigned by the Lord Commander. Somewhat problematic because someone else is going to need to give them food for this winter, since they won't have long enough to prepare it themselves. Wildlings have to swear oaths heart trees to not cause trouble, but aren't required to kneel. To make the Northern Lords less salty about the deal, return the New Gift to the North (the Watch ain't using it and can't defend it) so they get some extra lands they can use after winter is over.
    3. Send them to Dorne! Those guys are big on not being bowed, right? Even though they totally did to King Robb! And hey, it's warm and the Dornish are kinda tolerant, and have no historical reason to hate the Wildlings. Kind of a crack idea, but still...
     
    Another couple serious possibilities...

    1. King's Landing - Put them to work rebuilding the capitol. IIRC half the population there died, so there's going to be a need for people to do stuff - even unskilled labor would be useful. Some might also join up with King Robb's forces, to bolster his numbers.
    2. The Riverlands - Been some devastation there, and it could be useful to repeople the area somewhat. It's also far south enough that there should still be some more harvests before winter, and the Wildlings could provide some extra hands to do that.
     
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