04 Night's Watch.pdf - Chaos Bleeds

CHAPTER 1: The NIght’s WatchSexuality & the WallMen come to the Wall for their own reasons. Some come because they have no choice, some because they have no other option, andsome for no reason that others can discern. The Game of Thrones is about loyalties, bloodlines, and inheritance. Legacies are power, andmatrimony and progeny is how these things are secured.That sort of life is not ideal for everyone, though. In the oath of the Night’s Watch, it states: “I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father nochildren.” Short of a maester’s chain, the Watch is nearly the only group in Westeros where both highborn and common men who do notwant a wife or children can live unpressured by society, not thought of as strange or somehow deviant for not wishing to (or being unableto) provide an heir. Sex with women is prohibited to the extent that it forms external ties; the Watch tends to turn a blind eye to sexualexpression that precludes those possibilities, whether it’s visiting girls in Mole’s Town, romancing free folk women, or same-sex relationshipsbetween brothers.It is clear from the novels that homosexuality is not viewed in anything like the way modern society sees them. Close same-sex relationshipsare common and expected throughout society. Physical intimacy in those relationships is also common and expected. Sexual intimacyis an act, not an identity, and exists apart from and alongside same-sex bonding within Westerosi society. So long as personal attachmentsand preferences don’t get in the way of the Game of Thrones, it’s no one’s business—and on the Wall, the Game of Thrones is largely moot.In short, however a man stays warm on the Wall is, frankly, his own business, so long as all parties are consenting. There are more importantthings to worry about when the Long Night comes.hooks, and seeds for ideas that can help bring the stalwart defendersof the Wall to life. For those interested in the mechanics of a Night’sWatch campaign, or eager to take the black themselves, jump ahead toCreating Night’s Watch Characters on page 29.Taking the BlackThe Kingsroad, easily the most important stretch of road in Westeros,spears north through the land and carries men and trade goodsalmost the full length of the seven kingdoms. Few travel the full thousandleagues of the great road. Fewer still follow it to its northern endwithout intention to join the Night’s Watch, for the Kingsroad’s otherterminus is Castle Black.Past Winterfell, the woods hang heavy over the road and the air growsever colder until the Kingsroad passes over the Last River. The Frostfangsgrow to dominate the western sky and the ground gives way to foothillsand granite. Beyond the road itself, little other sign of habitation can beseen until it finally passes into the hardscrabble farmland of the Gift forthe final fifty leagues to the seat of the black brotherhood’s power.It is a long walk, and almost a month’s journey remains after Winterfell.Most who make the trip do so in the company of one or moreSworn Brothers of the Watch. The land’s chill seeps into the bones andfills men’s hearts with uncertainty regarding the future. Once he hasreached Castle Black to begin his training, only one thing in their futureis clear: he will spend the rest of his days, however long or short a spanthat may be, on the Wall.With the wealth and warmth of the South available to them, whywould any man surrender family and liberty for the cold and ice of theWall? What drives a man to forsake all he has in favor of a lonely deathat the end of the civilization? There are as many reasons as there are menof the Watch, but like the peoples of Westeros, they can be broken downinto two rough groups: highborn and lowborn.Few lowborn have much choice in their trip to the wall. The majoritytravel north as criminals, sentenced to take the black rather thanbe executed. For them, the Night’s Watch is a final chance. They havedelayed the hangman’s noose, and the Sworn Brothers charged with escortingthem watch closely for any sign that a convict is having secondthoughts. A criminal deserter is killed as soon as he can be found, hispardon forfeit when he flees his duty.Some lowborn recruits come of their own volition, or leap at theopportunity when it is offered. The tales of the Wall as a place where aman succeeds on his merits entice men who want a better future. Forthem, the restrictions of the Oath are no great hardship. It’s easy toabandon gold when a man has never known it. Easier still to abandontitle and lands that have never been his. In exchange a commonerwho joins the Brotherhood gains things he never had access to before:education, a warm bed, and three meals a day. A man receives equipmentthat might cost a year’s earnings or more for following ordersand working hard.It is the reputation of the Wall itself that keeps lowborn men fromflooding the Far North. There is no illusion that the Wall is anythingless than a death sentence—the final stop on the way to the Stranger’sside. Some common-born families grieve for their sons in the Watchas though death had already claimed them. It is a sad yet appropriateresponse given that they will neither see nor hear from the child again,and even in death his grave will be a lonely marker on the stony frozenground of the Far North.There is another lure in the hard life of the Night’s Watch, and itdraws both noble and lowborn commoner alike. The chance, howeverslim, that they might forget their past drives some men to take theblack. This idealized image of the romantic allure of the Wall resonatedin the old sagas and ballads, filled with tales of wronged men who havelost everything and don the black to be born anew. Under an assumedname, devoid of all possessions, a driven man can build a good life forhimself even if he can never again leave the service of the Watch.Some nobility who take the black do so for the same reasons as theirlowborn brothers: it is an acceptable choice over their own death. Notall losses in the game of thrones can be measured as bodies, and often aperson on the wrong side of war or intrigue is given the option to jointhe Night’s Watch rather than be executed. Some lords—especially inthe North—still respect the Wall and the men who serve there, and8