04 Night's Watch.pdf - Chaos Bleeds

CHapter 3: beyond the Wallshared history. According to stories, the Walrus Men once lived in harmonywith beings similar to the Children of the Forest but who dweltin the seas off the Frozen Shore. These stories claim that the walrusesthat now dwell along the Frozen Coast are the half-breed children ofthe Walrus Men and these water spirits, making them holy in the eyesof the Walrus Men. Anyone caught hunting walruses by the WalrusMen are put to death by being thrown naked into the freezing watersoff the Frozen Shore.The Walrus Men primarily subsist by fishing, as well as hunting whalesof all varieties, from orcas and narwhals to humpback whales. WalrusMen hunt in packs using kayaks and harpoons, with multiple huntersharpooning a single creature, waiting until it tires itself from draggingtheir kayaks behind it, before they kill it with spears. This is an extremelydangerous process, with numerous hunters dying each year from drowningor hypothermia. Occasionally they also manage to catch other aquaticbeasts such as sharks, dolphins, and giant squids, many of which are seenas delicacies. While the Walrus Men have not encountered a kraken inrecent memory, they have legends of fighting such monsters, which oftenappear in cautionary tales about going too far from land or hunting alone.The Walrus Men have developed a variety of specialized tools forsurviving in their frozen homeland, the most important being thewhalebone chariots they use for transportation. Longhaired dogs areused to pull these chariots, and the chariot wheels can be switched outfor skis for particularly soft or deep snow. Walrus Men also make use ofwhale oil lamps, whalebone snow goggles, and numerous other devicesto make their lives easier. One of their more disgusting habits, at leastin the eyes of other tribes, is rubbing whale fat on themselves undertheir coats when the weather turns extremely cold. A similar techniqueis used among some Walrus Men hunters who fear being pulled underwaterwhile hunting.While the Walrus Men do not have many competitors for their foodsupply, they are still active raiders, attacking other tribes to take wives,metal goods, and other foods. Using their whalebone chariots, the WalrusMen are the most mobile armed force north of the Wall. In combat theyuse javelins from their chariots, preferring to stay out of reach of theirenemies while striking from a distance. They can move their entire tribeat speed for days at a time, allowing them to easily outmaneuver enemytribes and strike when least expected. The Walrus Men have long beenenemies of the cannibal clans of the Ice River, as the Ice River flows ratherclose to the Frozen Shore, leading the two tribes into regular conflict—and the Walrus Men do not take kindly to their own being eaten. Sincejoining the horde of Mance Rayder, the Walrus Men have become thecavalry of the army, providing mobile, ranged support fire wherever theyare needed, as well as giving cover for siege engines and giants as theymove into position.The Walrus Men were led by Aekin Bonespike, a massive warriorwho wielded a spear of whalebone, until he was slain by Mance Rayderfor actively working against Mance’s attempts to unite the free folk.Ever since, the Walrus Men have followed Mance, more out of the needto escape the Others than due to his victory over their previous leader.The Walrus Men value the ability of a hunter above strength on battle,choosing their leaders based on whoever can bring the most food tothe tribe during the yearly Great Hunt. With their departure from theFrozen Shores, the Walrus Men do not have a single leader and thusare fragmenting, their distance from their homeland making the GreatHunt all but impossible.Geography ofthe Far NorthTo the people of the south, the Far North is a desolate wasteland withno discernible features. They see only snow, impassable mountains, andforests haunted by all manner of villains and monsters. As is the case withmany things in the lands north of the Wall, there is some truth to thesedescriptions, but at the same time there are ruins from ancient times,thriving settlements, and natural wonders to be seen north of the Wall.The territory of the Far North is extremely cold and any characterbraving it must be prepared, or face the effects. While such conditionsdo not persist eternally across the entirety of the Far North, most regionsnorth of the Fist of the First Men suffer from such conditionsdaily, as does the entirety of the Far North at night. Only a few scantspecial areas, like the valley of Thenn, are protected from these harshconditions.Haunted ForestStretching from the Wall north to the Deadfields, and from the FrostFangs east to the Shivering Sea, the Haunted Forest covers the lowlands of the Far North. Rarely touched by fire or the axes of man, theHaunted Forest is ancient. In its depths are trees that saw the arrival ofthe First Men, and were once the homes of the Children of the Forest.Only at the southern end of the Forest, where it approaches the Wall,has it been cut significantly. In the heyday of the Night’s Watch, theHaunted Forest was regularly cut back to prevent wildlings from usingit as cover to approach the Wall. With the waning of the Night’s Watch,this duty has fallen by the wayside, and the Forest has grown right upto the Wall in most places.The Haunted Forest is primarily made up of sentinels and ironwoodtrees, though weirwoods also dot the forest. Godswoods are commonthroughout, due to the many Children of the Forest that once called ithome. Now the Forest provides shelter to the majority of the free folkincluding the Hornfoot, Ice Wives, and Nightrunner tribes. The climateof the Haunted Forest is not pleasant, but the trees do provide someshelter from the fierce winds of the Far North, and provide a ready fuelfor fire. The soil of the Haunted Forest is sufficiently rocky and frozenthat it is poorly suited for agriculture, forcing most who live in the forestto exist as hunters and gatherers.For Warfare, the Haunted Forest is considered heavy forest.Craster’s KeepLocated within the southern reaches of the Haunted Forest near theWall, Craster’s Keep is the home to the wildling Craster, renowned onboth sides of the Wall for his vices, cruelty, and repugnant behavior. Thecenter of the keep is no castle, but only a daub-and-wattle longhousemade from wood, dung, and sod. The space within is divided up intorooms by hanging skins, the only real separate area being the loft whereCraster’s daughter-wives sleep. While the longhouse is warm, it is filthyand reeks of the many humans and dogs that live within.Outside the longhouse is a pigsty, sheepfold, and midden heap surroundedby an earthen wall. A single gate allows entrance through89