04 Night's Watch.pdf - Chaos Bleeds

TimelineThe Night’s Watch has a long and storied history, more so than most within Westeros could remember—even if they’d known it tobegin with. The men of the Watch remember, however, and their castles are filled with untold numbers of books documenting their lives,histories, and challenges.YearEvent8,300 Years Ago8,200 Years AgoThe Long Night. A winter came that lasted for decades, and within it, a darkness that lasted a generation. Famine andfear gripped the land. During this time, the Others came from the far North with their thin blades and icy magic,battling the First Men and the Children of the Forest, pushing them southward.The Great Wall was built. In the wake of the alliance between the First Men (and the hero Azor Ahai) and the childrenof the forest who threw back the Others, Brandon Stark, also called Bran the Builder, created a great wall made of ice,stone, and magic to keep the Others sealed in the north. Stark becomes the first King of the North.The Night’s Watch is founded to guard the wall and prevent the Others from crossing it. The name of the first LordCommander is lost to the ravages of time.The Night King. The thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch is seduced by a woman from beyond the Wall.He declares himself king with her as his queen and binds the men under his command with sorcery. The wildlingsand the Starks band together to destroy him; once they do, it is learned that he was sacrificing the Brothers under hiscommand to the Others. His name is stricken from the annals of the Watch forever.3,000 Years Ago The Watch kills the brother kings-beyond-the-Wall, Gendel and Gorne.300 Years Ago The men of Snowgate and the Nightfort declare war on one another. The Starks are forced to intervene to put a stop to it.48 ALThe Nightfort, the first castle on the wall, is abandoned.Good Queen Alysanne and King Jaehaerys bequeath the New Gift to the Watch. Snowgate is renamed Queensgate.Deep Lake is commissioned and financed by Queen Alysanne.228 AL Maester Aemon refuses the crown and takes the Black.288 AL Ser Jeor Mormont becomes the 997th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch.Gender & the Night’s WatchWhenever one approaches a setting based on an existing property, thequestion must be asked: “How much do I want to emulate the originalmaterial?” This is especially true when approaching a setting as popular—andas embracing of some of its uglier societal aspects—as A Songof Ice and Fire. There is a strict gender divide within the novels; althoughthere are characters who manage to step outside their prescribed socialroles, the society usually mercilessly extracts a cost for doing so.Nowhere is this more true than in the Night’s Watch, which, as afeudal, remotely stationed military organization, has a definite monasticinfluence upon it. It is unashamedly male, from top to bottom. Thereis no sign saying “No Girls Allowed,” but there might as well be. In acorps filled with murderers, rapists, criminals, common and uncommonmen of all types—all sworn to celibacy—there just isn’t any room formixed genders on the Wall. The story of Danny Flint, the young womanwho dressed as a man to take the Black and ended up raped and murderedfor it, stands as a stern warning against such things.By this means the Iron Throne keeps the aspirations of the Night’sWatch in check; no hope of progeny and no heirs for a legacy makeit difficult to justify turning against one’s king. If the players wish tostrictly emulate the books, then there cannot be female characters inthe Watch. Women live in the Gift and fight among the free folk inthe lands beyond, but they will never stand watch on the Wall. Thisbook was written with the novels in mind, and thus has held to thatstricture.That being said, keep in mind the cardinal rule of roleplaying: HaveFun. Maybe Queen Alysanne has sponsored a sisterhood to hold hercastle, standing separate from the Black Brothers yet equal to them instatus. Perhaps the Watch, in desperate straits, has begun to take onwomen to make up for the lack of manpower—or more radically, inyour group’s version of the setting, they have always allowed womento sign on. Regardless of what you and your group choose, however, ASong of Ice and Fire will never portray a world with gender equality; theconcept is simply not present within the books. Of course, every rulehas its exceptions, and player characters are nothing if not exceptional.Make your choices with that in mind.6