CHapter 3: beyond the Wallbedtime stories as the people of Westeros do, the free folk have no betterinformation as to how to fight the Others. Thus far no tribe hassuccessfully repelled the Others through force of arms, though manyhave tried.Resources & IndustryWhile the lands north of the Wall have resources in the form of wood,skins, and stone, they have little in the way of iron, coal, gold, or othermineral wealth. Tin and copper are mined in the mountain valleys ofthe Thenn tribes, but no other tribes have knowledge of how to do so oraccess to suitable mineral deposits. Some have found limited depositsof gold and silver in the north, but such deposits are usually harvestedby panning from nearby streams or from crude pit mines, both of whichproduce limited results. Most weapons of the free folk are made ofstone, wood, and bone, with more advanced weapons found only amongthe Thenn tribes or as plunder from raids over the Wall. Because of this,any steel weapon is highly prized among the free folk and can fetchseveral times its value in the south as long as skins, animal meat, andcrude jewelry are accepted in trade.Because of the limited materials available north of the Wall, the freefolk tend towards staffs, clubs, stone-headed maces, bows, and firehardenedspears for weapons. For armor most of the free folk wear skinsand hides of some fashion, with many tribes clothing themselves in theskins of the animals most important to their tribe, such as the bearskinsworn by the Ice Wives. A few mismatched bits of metal weaponry andarmor are common in most tribes as heirlooms from past raids to thesouth or gained through trade. These items become more common thecloser one comes to the Wall. Some of these weapons and armor arefrom the armories of the Night’s <strong>Watch</strong>, either taken from dead membersof the <strong>Watch</strong>, carried over the Wall by a crow who fled his vows, ortraded to the free folk through one of the many illicit deals between themen of the <strong>Watch</strong> and the free folk. The Thenn tribes are the only tribesable to equip all of its warriors with metal weapons and armor; althoughthese weapons are only bronze, they still give the Thenn tribes a massiveadvantage when fighting other free folk tribes, making them one of themost feared tribes in the north.While the free folk are not particularly skilled in making armor orweapons, they are extremely adept at making equipment to protectthem from the severe cold of their homeland. From massive bear furcoats to whalebone snow goggles, the free folk produce a wide varietyof tools to better help them survive and navigate their homeland.These vary from tribe to tribe based on the terrain and environmentalconditions they commonly face; snow goggles are common in themassive polar expanses of the Frozen Shores, but not so common inthe region around the Haunted Forest. The dogsled is very common,used by many tribes of the Far North. Pulled by a pack of long-hairedwolfhounds, these sleds are the best way to get around the regionsof deepest snow where horses flounder in the high drifts. It is a lackof such tools that often dooms travelers from south of the Wall, andeven those of the Night’s <strong>Watch</strong> only make use of a limited selectionof these items. More technologically advanced devices like far eyesand lodestones are all but unknown north of the Wall, and those thatdo exist were all either taken from the Night’s <strong>Watch</strong> or brought toHardhome by foreign merchants.WarfareWar among the free folk is different from that waged among the peopleof Westeros. To the free folk war is equal parts sport, a method ofpolitical change, a means of finding a mate, and a form of populationcontrol. The free folk never play at war or dueling, as any contest maywell end in a death since the free folk are so reluctant to give in to anenemy. At the same time, the free folk are always willing to start afight, having a very low threshold for what will drive them to violence.Even their courtship rituals are steeped in violence—it is a part oftheir everyday life. While the people of Westeros are often exposedto violence, they do not use it as a means to solve problems nearly ascasually as the free folk. To the free folk, fighting is as good a way topass the time as most others, and if someone dies in the process, atleast they died fighting.Unlike the lands of the South where only knights and soldiers are expectedto know the arts of war, every man, woman, and child among thefree folk is expected to fight when called upon. When a free folk tribegoes to war, all but the youngest and the oldest answer the call—andconsidering the short lifespan of most of the free folk, there are few thatsurvive past their fighting years. When tribes go to war over resources orterritory the tribes will usually snipe at each other with raiding parties,fighting a war of attrition until one side decides its losses are too greatand leaves the area.In such conflicts, tribes are more concerned with forcing the enemyto leave the area than conquering them. Tribes rarely seek to force othertribes to join them, not wanting the possibly disloyal extra mouths tofeed. Sometimes conflicts get more personal, such as when one tribegives grievous insult to another or kills a well loved tribal leader. In suchcases the two tribes mobilize in raiding parties and fight until one tribeis completely wiped out. Such conflicts are rare since the free folk seesome level of brotherhood among all the free folk and every tribe willbe needed when the Others come.When going to war the free folk prefer to operate in small groupsof raiders, using their mobility and knowledge of the terrain to theiradvantage. The free folk never take the field in open combat like thearmies of Westeros, lacking the training or discipline for such combat.The free folk are fearsome guerrilla combatants, and any army thatinvades their territory will pay heavily for every step it takes—but thefree folk would have little hope of actually stopping such any manner ofarmy in open combat.The GiantsThe free folk can trace their lineage back to the First Men, before theWall when the Children of the Forest still walked the land, but thereare more ancient inhabitants of the lands north of the Wall woken bythe Horn of Winter in the Age of Heroes. Now holding only a shadowof their ancient power, the giants are still one of the strongest forcesamong the free folk.Giants are large humanoids, standing at least twice the height of aman and weighing at least four times, though giants rarely stand upstraight to make full use of their height. Hunched with longer armsthan legs, they look something like the apes said to inhabit the SummerIsles. Their lower torso is noticeably thicker than their shoulders,77
CHapter 3: beyond the Wallalso use large throwing rocks. Their massive strength and resilience allowsthem to enter combat with these simple weapons and still wreakdevastation among human opponents. Unfortunately the giants havehad no more luck fighting the Others than the free folk.The giants do have a king in Mag Mar Tun Doh Weg (or Mag theMighty among the free folk), and his rulership of the giants is basedon his strength as it is with the tribes of the free folk. The giants areexpected to follow the commands of their king, facing his wrath if theyrefuse to do so, but he gives few such orders. In fact, the only one givenin the last few centuries was for all giants to join the cause of ManceRayder. Since this order, scores of giants have joined the King-beyondthe-Wallalong with their mammoth mounts, providing much neededmuscle to the army.Mance Rayder’sHordeand they are covered in a thick layer of fur that is usually brown incolor. Their feet are wide and flat, giving them good traction, withsoles so thick and tough that they need no shoes. The faces of giantsare flat and fierce with pronounced brows and noses crowded aroundsmall, black eyes.The giant tribes are found in the most remote reaches of the FrostFangs and the Haunted Forest. They rarely number more than a scoreof members and keep to themselves, avoiding humans when possible.These tribes are led by the oldest giant in the tribe, who is usually alsothe strongest. Only a few humans have managed to earn the trust ofthe giants, but giants are not naturally hostile to humans. Instead theytend to find humans wearingly excitable, much like children, and havelittle patience for the constant stream of chaos humans leave in theirwake. Among the free folk the giants are treated reverently due to theirprior claim to the lands north of the Wall and their immense strength.There are many free folk songs about what they see as the innate sadnessof the giants and their homeland that is now filled with the massof humanity.Not needing the tools of men, giants have little industry or organization.Naturally capable of surviving the cold of the north and havingfew predators, most giants wear nothing aside from leather beltsfor holding weapons and food. Mammoths are used by the giants asmounts and can be extremely effective when used in combat. A numberof other animals have been domesticated by giant tribes, particularlyhardy mountain goats that the giants rely on for milk and meat. Giantsmake use of simple stone tools, and most arm themselves with treetrunks when going to war, sometimes tying rocks to the end of theirweapons with leather cord to create primitive hammers. Some giantsThe free folk have always been a fractious, disorganized group that rarelysaw more cooperation than small tribal alliances. They have come togethera handful of times under someone who has managed to claim thetitle King-beyond-the-Wall, but such leaders come around only onceevery few score generations. Another such leader has come in the formof Mance Rayder, the current King-beyond-the-Wall. He did what noone had done for centuries, uniting the free folk under his leadershipand organizing them into a host whose numbers dwarfed many of thearmies south of the Wall. At the head of this army he means to marchsouth past the Wall and into the lands of the south, securing a place forhis people in the lands of plenty found there, safe on the other side ofthe Wall.The horde of Mance Rayder has spent months marshaling and organizing,marching from the northwest ice fields of the Frozen Shoresouth towards the Wall, gathering more and more strength along theway. Hardhome is all but emptied, as are dozens of other villages alongthe way. The Thenn tribes have left their mountain valleys, and thecannibal clans the banks of the Ice River, all following Mance Rayderin his march to the Wall. The exact numbers in the horde are notknown, but they number at least thirty thousand, all of them readyfor war.While the free Folk are united under the leadership of Mance Rayder,this does not mean they have stopped quarreling, wife-stealing, andfighting. Now all these behaviors take place in the compacted ranks ofan army, making already difficult alliances even harder to keep. Hornfootsand Nightrunners brawl and ambush through the army ranks,Thenn tribes fight with any who disrespect the Magnar, and the independentnature of the free folk rises again and again to threaten to tearthe army apart. So far Mance Rayder and his advisors have been able tokeep these elements under control, but each day strains the army a bitmore—and all the while the Others close in on them from the north.Mance Rayder knows he cannot keep the free folk united forever, andhe must move them quickly if he hopes to breach the Wall before hisarmy disintegrates or the Others strike.While his power, cunning, and victories were good reasons for thefree folk joining Mance Rayder, the most pressing reason was his promise:to lead the free folk to where the Others could not follow them.78
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