04 Night's Watch.pdf - Chaos Bleeds

CHapter 3: beyond the WallHardhomeThe largest free folk settlement of the Far North, Hardhome sits at theend of Storrhold’s Point north of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. While thoseof the South would not think much of the makeshift buildings, muddystreets, and primitive docks of Hardhome, among the free folk it is ametropolis. While the population of Hardhome varies through the year, itrarely drops below a hundred, and the town has twenty permanent structures,most made of driftwood, planks from the Haunted Forest, and bitsof salvage, in addition to a continually shifting mass of tents pitched byvisiting tribes. The population of Hardhome shifts throughout the year asdifferent tribes stop in the settlement to trade, each tribe only staying fora few days before moving on again. There are handful of festivals throughthe year when many tribes come to Hardhome, causing it to explode intoa small tent city with a population nearing a thousand. During such celebrationsthere are dozens of parties, duels, deaths, and stolen wives, asone would expect among the free folk. Until Mance Rayder’s army thesegatherings were the largest collections of free folk in the Far North.Hardhome survives by being the only port that regularly trades withthe world beyond the Far North, bringing a steady influx of metal weapons,cloth, and other supplies to the free folk. Most of those outsiderswho come to Hardhome to trade are from the Free Cities, Ibben, orsmugglers from Westeros, though all comers are welcome at Hardhomewith no questions asked. The free folk bring skins, ivory, ambergris, andother goods to trade, though the merchants usually make out betterthan the free folk in these deals. Any visiting merchant who cheats thefree folk is unlikely to survive long enough to leave port if he is caught,so while merchants may push a hard deal, they learn quickly there arelimits. For the most part the free folk get along well with the merchantsand sailors that come to Hardhome since they are usually free spirited,not “kneelers” like the people of Westeros.Hardhome is not controlled by any one tribe, and its value to so manykeeps it from being seized by any one tribe. Several have tried to claimHardhome over the centuries, but all have been dealt with in short orderby other tribes that depend on the settlement. Hardhome has no ruler,but the aged hunter Kaygra the Grayhaired serves as the default leaderof the settlement. Over forty years old, she uses her great cunning andcharisma to keep the peace in Hardhome—or at least keep the violenceto acceptable levels. She holds no official power in the settlement, buteveryone listens to her for fear of her turning the settlement againstthem. Even Mance Rayder treats her as an equal, bringing her a gifteach time he has come to Hardhome.Since the raising of Mance Rayder’s army, Hardhome has all butemptied, with only a handful of merchants staying behind to carry ontrade with foreign merchants who still come. If Mance Rayder’s plansomehow fails, Kaygra the Grayhaired wants to have a backup plan.The Frost FangsOne of the largest geographic features in the Far North, the Frost Fangsdominate the western half of the Far North from the Fist of the FirstMen westward. They reach from the New Gift north to the Wall andbeyond to the Land of Always Winter. The mountaintops of the FrostFangs are continually covered in snow and ice, earning their name withtheir sharp, tooth-like peaks jutting up into the gray skies of the north.The Frost Fangs are extremely dangerous due to a mixture of cold, harshwinds, rock slides—and the free folk who call them home. From afar,there looks to be no reason to ever venture into such an terrible place,but between the austere stone peaks hide some of the most desirableterritory north of the Wall.Hidden among the Front Fangs is a network of fertile mountainvalleys protected from the worst of the storms of the Far North. Thesewildflower-filled valleys are not only suitable for farming but also havesizable deposits of tin and copper, representing the largest mineral wealthin the Far North. Massive waterfalls dot the edges of these valleys, creatingbeautiful vistas for those who survive to see them.These mountain valleys are some of the most verdant and fertile landnorth of the Wall, and much free folk blood has been spilled over them.Currently the largest network of valleys, called Thenn, is controlled by thebronze weapon-wielding Thenn tribes that have lived in the region sincethe Age of Dawn. Smaller tribes have claimed some of the less valuablevalleys, but they must continually fight to keep control of their territory.Since the mountain valleys of the Frost Fangs are the only source of metalweapons in the Far North, their value cannot be overstated.For Warfare, the Frost Fangs should be considered mountains, makingit very difficult for any military units to move through them, withthe mountain valleys counting as hills.The Fist of the First MenLocated on the western edge of the Frost Fangs, the Fist of the FirstMen is the last mountain as one travels east into the flatlands of theHaunted Forest. It stands on the banks of the Milkwater, the highestpoint for leagues in every direction. Even discounting the ruins of the91