The Winter kingdom

Version 2.0

Weeks pass as the winter starts to settle itself comfortably into the north, as kings stay at home they play their power in new alliances.

In the west, a powerful coalition had formed in an attempt to curb the growing influence of the Ryder King, who had started to expand his maritime trade routes and wealth through his dealings with the Flint King and the petty kings of the Trident. This alliance had been formed for a whilst, made up of the Fisher, Barrow, Warg, Glover, and Greenwood Kings, and initially presented a united front against the Ryder King's growing dominance. However, cracks had begun to show in the alliance, as the underlying tension between the Celtic and Old Gods believers drove a wedge between them.

The Fisher King and Barrow King, both devout followers of the Celtic faith, had joined the alliance only to contain the Ryder King. As the winter intensified, their Celtic priests began speaking more fervently about the divine wrath that the Old Gods had brought upon the land. They saw the harsh winter as punishment for the North's drift away from the ancient Celtic rites, and as the days passed, they started to view the rest of the alliance with wary eyes.

Meanwhile, the Warg, Glover, and Greenwood Kings, all staunch believers in the Old Gods, were growing wary. To them, it was a test from their gods, and here to take away the Celtics that came after them. They had no interest in returning to the ways of the old Celtic gods and saw the Fisher and Barrow Kings' religious fervour as a distraction from the true threat.

Tensions started to rise as the Ryder King's men were sited marching around their borders in small numbers, not attacking but simply observing.

To the east, another alliance focused on halting the expansion of the Red King. The Red King had been steadily encroaching upon the lands of his neighbors, both through war and demanding they use his coin and raiding their villages when they refused. In response, the Slate, Tower, Umbar, and Frost Kings allied to check the Red King's expansion and defend their lands.

It was a newly formed alliance still fresh and full of excitement between the kings as they waited for winter to start to settle, and for the kingdom to go back into a balance. Well, that is what they hopped for.

In the center, Brandon was checked by both the Blackwood and the Marshe king who from two ends raided into his lands constantly keeping Brandon's men and himself busy having to slit his men into two groups. With both kings being able to hide in their lands it was next to impossible to counterattack in the other lands. Instead, Bradnon was on the defences, where he would battle with raiders every day whilst underprepared villages fell.

Many a raider were repelled by the village levies but many still fell and goods were taken. However, Brandon was not alone in this. Raids became more frequent across kingdoms, as the long summer had lulled people into complacency. People had not stored enough or could not, food grew scarce, and fear and desperation began to take hold.

In the markets, food prices soared to increase, along with animals and more. The first to suffer were the small villages along the borders of the larger kingdoms. Bandits and raiders roamed the countryside in growing numbers hitting farmers and traders. So instead of staying they left and started to move to coastal and river villages where fishing was still plentiful and so the markets were instead flooded and filled with coastal goods of fish, lobsters, crabs, and such.

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As the hunger deepened, so too did the fear. In the back of everyone's mind was the shadow of the Long Night. Though no one dared say it aloud, many felt that times were going back to the days before the Long Night where a winter to starve the North would set in. It was a prime time for religion to flow into people's minds.

The Old Gods' followers spoke of the winter as a test, a trial from their gods to separate the strong from the weak. Priests gathered in front of weirwood trees, offering prayers, begging for mercy and a reprieve from the cold. The smell of burning offerings wafted through the air as the winds howled, but still, the cold persisted.

The Celtic believers saw the winter as divine retribution for the North's abandonment of the old ways. Their priests preached in the streets, warning that the gods of their ancestors had brought this suffering upon them for straying from the true faith. They had their sacrifices as well and though it took a while people did eventually find what they sacrificed and when they found out it was human sacrifices many people were not pleased, to say the least.

But as food became increasingly rare, people did whatever they could to survive. Families began rationing their meager supplies, eating just enough to stay alive, but never enough to feel full. Children grew gaunt, their faces pale and their bodies frail. The elderly often refused food, allowing the younger generation to eat in their place, knowing they had little chance of surviving if the winter got worse, and instead, they prayed to their gods.

The houses, for the most part, fared better, with stores of food in their castles, but even they were not immune to the growing panic. Many lords began hoarding what little food they had hoping for the best. Through Brandon was still confident in their cold-resistant crops that were continuing to grow and gain traction with farmers around Winterfell.