The Winter kingdom

Version 2.0

Some time had passed since Connell's disappearance, and in the weeks that followed, a calm settled over the North. The tension that had gripped the kingdoms eased, if only slightly, and the fear of rebellion and war started to fade into the background. The villages continued their daily struggles as complaints still came to Brandon, as they always did. People asked for any food Brandon could spare, (and with the winter crops growing Brandon did have some crops he could give.) They complained of bandits that still lingered and of some few remaining Ironborn raiders or some that were brave enough to come this deep into Northern lands. But for the first time in what felt like years, there were no major incidents. It seemed the Ironborn were just focused on the western coast of the North.

The only odd thing of note was the scattered reports of monsters moving through his lands. A few villagers claimed they had seen plenty of them moving past their lands only some complaining of missing livestock, or of claw marks left on the outskirts of their homes. But Brandon dismissed most of these as little more than hungry monsters venturing further afield in search of food. They were hungry like everyone else and so opened their hunting ground further.

As more time passed, the North found itself in a strange period of uneasy stillness. Brandon continued his duties, overseeing his lands and tending to the needs of his people. One morning, a raven arrived from the Slate King. The Slate King's lands seemed to be plagued by an increasing number of monsters. He was requesting currently free mercenaries who were looking for work and were good at hunting monsters.

Brandon through little of it and passed the message on to the mercenaries residing in Winterfell, knowing that many of them would seize the opportunity for coin. As expected, quite a few left to journey south to the Slate King's lands, eager for the work.

As the days rolled on, more and more people came forth with warg abilities. Wargs that had been incredibly rare in humans were becoming more common, emerging in villages from the frozen far north to the swamp of the Neck. For the kings who followed the Old Gods—Greenwood, Glover, Marsh, Frost, Warg, and Winter—this was seen as a blessing, from their gods that the North was awakening to the Old Gods. They welcomed the wargs into their kingdoms, treating them well, and offering them jobs and positions often in the King's Guards. Manny joined the armies as a scout or secret weapon, whilst many simply found haven among people, free to explore their powers without fear and continue the simple life.

But in the kingdoms ruled by the Celtic faith—Fisher, Blackwood, Barrow, and Locke—the rise of the wargs was met with hostility bar the Locke King. The Celtics viewed warging as blasphemy, and a dangerous, uncontrollable power that had no place in their lands. Villages were searched, people interrogated, and anyone suspected of warging was swiftly rounded up. Those found with the sin of warging were either locked away in dark dungeons or executed as heretics. Entire families were dragged from their homes in the night where often the entire family was accused of this sin and were burned together at a stake.

The Locke King, however, stood apart from his fellow Celtic rulers. While he too saw the danger in warging, he thought differently about the danger. Wargs were valuable as spies, as scouts, and as weapons in his growing army. Though they were not treated with the reverence that the Old Gods' kings offered, neither were they slaughtered. The Locke King kept them under tight control, watching their every move, but allowed them to serve him, using their powers to his advantage. This earned him the contempt of the other Celtic Kings, who saw his actions as weak, and a betrayal of their beliefs. But the Locke King cared little for their opinions, and focused instead on his ambitions and the edge that wargs could provide in the growing tensions across the North.

In Brandon's Winter lands, he gathers those who had shown signs of warging and wished to join his forces formed a specialized unit within his King's guard, and placed them under the command of Halvar, to train them and hone their skills. Under Halvar's guidance, they were taught not only to fight but to master their connection with the animals they connected with.

The unit was small but growing with Wargs bonded with wolves, eagles, and other creatures, using them to scout, track, and if needed, fight in the front lines, though that would need to be tested with the small numbers.

Beyond Brandon's King's guard, the presence of wargs became noticeable in the daily life of people. Many who discovered their warg abilities chose different paths. Some, eager for adventure or coin, joined mercenary bands, their powers making them sought-after. Others joined village militias, using their connection to animals to help defend their homes from bandits and wild creatures alike. Some wargs simply kept to themselves, preferring to live quietly, continuing their lives as hunters, farmers, or tradesmen, despite their newfound gifts.

It wasn't just the wargs themselves who became a part of the landscape. Across the North, seeing domesticated wolves padding calmly through the streets of villages, eagles perched on rooftops, and even some ghoul following a warg master become increasingly common. The sight of a wolf napping outside a village inn or an eagle circling overhead villages became a common thing.