04 Night's Watch.pdf - Chaos Bleeds

CHapter 3: beyond the WallCraster & His Daughter WivesThe old wildling known as Craster is the living embodiment of the negative stereotypes people of the south hold of wildlings. Vulgar,deceitful, incestuous, and willing to force himself on his daughters, the only taboo commonly associated with the wildlings he does notbreak is cannibalism. While those of the south and the Night’s Watch may see Craster as being representative of the wildlings, he is verymuch an outcast among the wildlings. The free folk want little to do with the old man and generally consider him a traitor for his dealingswith the Night’s Watch. He has little to no traffic with the free folk, declining to join Mance Rayder’s cause when asked. Unfortunately,due to his relationship with the Night’s Watch, his influence will be felt on relations between those on the north and the south of the Wallfor years to come.Narrators should consider Craster as a template: not every solitary family homestead is quite as disturbed as his, but there are manyhermits and small families living away from the free tribes in the Far North.Life Among the Free FolkLife expectancy among the free folk is short when compared to thelands to the south, and those who live to more than forty years areconsidered nigh-ancient. Most of the free folk succumb to cold, starvation,raids, animal attacks, or the stranger creatures of the Far Northlong before reaching that “venerable” age. Even those who do surviveto old age are scarred by a lifetime of hardship, marked with battlewounds and lost extremities from frostbite. It is rare to find a tribalelder with all of his fingers, toes, and ears intact.The unvaried diet of most free folk does not help, nor does their overallpoor hygiene and close living conditions. Bathing is known among thefree folk, but to partake in such activities is to put your life at risk muchof the time due to the threat of freezing. Children fare worse than adultsand far more die before their second birthday than survive. In most tribeschildren are not named before their second year to avoid family membersgrowing too attached to them, since they will in all likelihood not survive.Children who are born deformed or disabled rarely last long amongthe free folks, and leaving them to die of exposure is not an uncommonpractice.Gender RolesAmong the free folk man and woman are seen as being as equal as anindividual man and woman are able to prove themselves. Each personis judged on their individual strengths and weaknesses, with their sexgiven far less consideration than in the lands south of the Wall. Womenare allowed all the same societal roles, behaviors, and choices asmen, but there is always an undercurrent of masculinity in the cultureof the free folk that undercuts true equality. While women may go towar or lead a tribe, men still joke about beardless men being womenand lacking in vigor, and Mance Rayder has only one woman amonghis war leaders.Women are free to prove their worth to the tribe through displaysof strength, skill at arms, or application of great cunning, but they areworking within what is still a male-dominated society. Compared to thelands south of the Wall, northwomen have far more freedom, assumingthey have the strength to make use of that freedom. They can marrywho they wish if they fight hard enough, they can go on raids over theWall if they can prove their prowess, and they can lead a tribe if theyprove themselves a leader.LeadershipAs fits with their culture, the strongest and most cunning lead the tribesof the free folk. While strength is usually given more weight than cunning,a sufficiently determined and devious individual can make it farin the free folk if they put their skills to use for the greater good ofthe tribe. Some tribes use ritualized contests to determine the leader oftheir tribe, such as the great hunts of the Walrus Men, while others relyon simple challenges of arms and deceit to determine their leaders. Inthese tribes a challenge can be issued any time for leadership of the tribeand any leader must be ever ready to defend his position. Each tribe hasits own guidelines as to what it sees as a fair contest; the cannibal clansof the Ice River see using poison in a fight for leadership of a tribe as ananathema since it prevents the consumption of the loser’s corpse, whilesuch methods are completely acceptable in many of the cave dwellerclans. In most tribes a simple declaration of intent is all that it takes tochallenge a leader, and the matter is settled through a contest of armsat the earliest opportunity. Any leader who tries to avoid a fairly madechallenge will quickly see his authority undermined as his people willnot follow such a coward.In line with their method of selection, a tribal leader among the freefolk only remains in power as long as he keeps all possible rivals cowedand proves a capable leader. While a strong but ineffective leader maykeep control of his tribe, he is likely to see his followers melt away as theyleave to follow more successful leaders. In a few scattered clans, such asthe Thenn tribes, there is enough discipline to stave off such losses, butthese are the exception. Any tribal leader among the free folk who regularlyleads his people to defeat is likely to be a short-lived leader.While the free folk give some extra measure of respect to a well-likedleader’s children, they are by no means guaranteed any manner of successionto leadership of the tribe. Blood ties are not seen as any indicatorof greatness among the free folk and the concept of such is seen bythe free folk as being one of the more ridiculous ideas promulgated bythe people to the south. The free folk are only concerned with what aperson can do, not what his or her ancestors did.As noted above, it is possible for a woman who proves herself capableto head a tribe among the free folk, but it is a rare occurrence at best.Any woman with the power to take control of a tribe can lead it accordingto the free folk, but while their attitude towards women is freer thanthose of the people of Westeros, women tribal leaders make up only atiny portion of the leaders among the free folk.75