Part 4: The First Blooding
I am Karlon Strongarm, son of Alexander and Baella.
My mother bore many children, but only three of those seemed to show any aptitude for fighting: myself. my close sister, and my youngest brother.
I was the best commander among the wildlings. Strong, smart, an excellent fighter and good diplomat, but rather poor at anything that wasn't fighting, talking, or carousing.
My sister Jonella was close behind me in terms of skill. She was a poorer commander and fighter than me, but she made up for it by being incredibly unpredictable.
The last of us, my brother Dywin, was skilled in both the art of diplomacy and warfare, but that was not his strongest point. His greatest strength was that he was, by far, the best fighter among the wildlings and could probably carve up any southerner that came against him.
We had watched as my mother had carved out her realm. We had each promised at her death bed to ensure that what she had wrought did not come to nothing. We were all present when our mother's last wish was fulfilled.
The first order of business was trying to hold our mother's realm together. While normally a wildling's realm splintered upon their death, carved up by younger and greedier people, my family's deeds and talents kept the wildlings under us in line, at least for a little bit. After all, my mother had taken the Wall and given the wildlings hope for the first time in hundreds of years. They knew that I was capable of bringing them more.
They also knew that they were capable of killing me if I did not deliver.
The first order of business was raising a sepulcher for me to be buried in when my time comes. This act was unusual, but I needed to cement the wildlings following me into one force by showing them that I would do whatever it takes to get us a home in the warm south. It would also serve as a reminder of my strength, as the runes that were inscribed upon the entrance to my sepulcher stated.
The next order of business was getting rid of my useless wife. She had born me two children, a sons and a daughter, but my son came out of the womb dead and my daughter sick. Clearly, the woman was trying to sabotage our marriage. I gave her a pittance of gold, pointed in the general direction of Dorne, and told her to leave and never return. In her place, I married Grisella, a beautiful woman with interesting tastes.
At the wedding feast that I held at Castle Black, I announced that I would be striking out south, to take as much land as we could from the Starks that had always kept us north of the Wall. I asked for any wildlings that wanted to come south and earn glory and plunder to come to the wall and gather into one large army.
I could never have predicted the response.
Untold thousands of wildlings flocked to my banner. A host strong enough to crush even the strongest army. I smiled and led my army south. For the next year and a half we pillaged the northern end of the Stark's lands. Karhold, the Dreadfort, Last Hearth, Skagos... All fell to my legions. We even took Winterfell from the Starks, though we were forced to end our war early lest the Iron Throne turn their eyes too far north. Attracting their attention might yet spell doom for us. When all was said and done, about a third of the great lands north of the Neck belonged to us.
With my victory over the Starks, a large number of their bannermen saw fit to revolt against them. I marched my armies further south, conquering more lands and earning more glory. Through it all I grew closer to my wife Grisella than I had ever been with the Dornish bitch. While she had not yet born any children, we were young still and it was not impossible. After all, I had been married for about eight years and only had one child to show for it.
It took another two years of warfare, but by the end of it we held the vast majority of the lands beyond the wall. The few holdings the Iron Throne still held were isolated and useless, incapable of producing any troops to them. The only land of importance they held in the North was the Neck.
But I was not satisfied. As long as the Iron Throne held lands in the North, they would not take kindly to wildling presence there. I sent a message to the Queen on the Iron Throne. The Wildlings were coming straight for her this time, and they would not stop until she recognized our claim on her northern lands.
It was around this time that an old and greying man came to me with a fantastical tale and a strange map. Apparently, he had a map that showed the location of a Valyrian steel sword, long forgotten and hidden. I asked him to be brought forward to me.
He spun a grand tale of Old Valyria, of how certain portions of it were still safe and traversible, of the fires that dotted the landscape and the night sky, of the solitary castle that held this sword of great value. I decided to undertake this venture, but I would need to take someone with me. While having another great warrior by my side might prove useful, what if their ambition overtook them once we found the sword? No, it would have to be someone unskilled in warfare. I would take someone learned in navigation, but alas, none of the wildlings under my command knew the first thing about sailing, and all the Northerners that were at White Harbor had been regrettably butchered. Taking the old man with me also seemed like a bad idea, for what good was he on a trip halfway around the world during which he might die? I decided that the best course of action was to take a person capable of tending to wounds on the trip. I was fully capable of dealing with enemies on my own, but having someone who could treat wounds would be an invaluable benefit on this journey.
We hired the next large cargo ship that docked at White Harbor, and with sufficient gold and blades convinced the captain to sail for Old Valyria. The journey itself was long and boring, with only a few bright spots. By this point in my life, I had become rather desperate for a son. While I still loved my wife very much, I decided to break my vow to her just this once and went to the bed of the comely maid that turned out to be my companion.
While she did not refuse me, she became rather cold to me until the time when we were beset upon by pirates. I ordered the ship's captain to bring us in for a boarding action, and went off to do battle with the enemy captain. While he was skilled, he could not hold up against my superior strength and bladesmanship. He died with a sword through his heart and Jorda, for that was the maid's name, became less hateful of me when she learned that the only reason she was not currently being raped by a bunch of pirates was my skill in battle. While she did not admit me back to her bed, she did start talking to me once again.
Unfortunately, our ship was caught in a storm, and we ended up crashing. It was small bit of irony that I had to tend to the person I brought along to tend to my wounds. While it was not the best of jobs, she did remember my deed and was a lot more talkative and helpful for the last part of the journey.
We wandered into the back entrance of a castle, and set to work moving through it without drawing attention. After a period of time, we came upon three levers and a gate. Upon the wall there was a riddle. I freely admit I had not the first clue, but my companion walked up and solved the riddle without the slightest hesitation. I thanked her and walked into the next room. Upon a pedestal there lay a sword. I knew not if it was the sword I had come here for, but considering how it had been secured, I assumed it was. As I stepped forward, Jorda asked me for a word. She said that while she was incredibly upset that I had slept with her, she was very grateful for all the things I had done for her and swore an oath of eternal fealty. She also revealed that she was pregnant, a fact that filled my heart with joy. I accepted her oath of fealty and went to pick up my Valyrian steel sword.
It took us a few months to get back to White Harbor, and another few months for Jorda to bear her child, but it was an event that brought great joy to my heart. I finally had a living son. While he was technically a bastard, I made him legitimate on the spot. My wife and brother might be a bit annoyed, but surely they understood.
It was fortuitous that I had arrived back in my lands when I did. A large army of the Iron Throne had landed in the North and sought to undo everything my forces had wrought while I was away. Taking my new Valyrian steel blade in hand, eager to try it out, I led my men in a battle against the Iron Throne. When we came upon their force, we discovered they were outnumbered three to one, with less than 1000 archers against our ten thousand. While we lost seven hundred men, our archers made their mark, and sent the southerners scurrying back with their tails between their legs.
After that defeat, my forces followed them down the Neck, taking every castle along the way. Five years after I started the war, the Iron Throne was driven out of the North. It had taken me fourteen years, but I had proven without a shadow of a doubt that I was a worthy successor to my mother.
When I reached the Neck, I saw that my actions had greater consequences than just driving out the Iron Throne. The war my mother had started by killing the former King still raged, and the Iron Throne was getting the worst of it. The Ironborn had taken the Riverlands and incorporated them into their realm, and the Queen's fresh defeat by my hand sparked a new wave of revolts amongst her subjects. The hand my mother gave up had killed tens of thousands more than I had.
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Side note: It appears that the realm disintegrates event did not fire properly for me, resulting in me keeping all my former lands. Don't know if bug or WAD.
