House Among Chaotic Kingdoms

Votes for this Turn:

A1 - Combat - 53

A2 - Leisure - 0

A3 - Scholarly - 0

A4 - Diplomacy - 8

A5 - Language - 1

A6 - Communications - 2

S1 - Wikipedia - 12

S2 - Steam - 0

S3 - Paradox - 0

S4 - World - 52

Ideas: So Far

(20R) A Northern Lord's Armour for Jon (Gambeson, Chainmail, Brigandine, etc.) - 31

(5R) A Book of northern teachings and legends for Shireen. - 21

(34R) A Simple Set of Full-Plate Armour for Jon (will require him to start training with it). - 16

(2R) A Hunting Tutor to bond better with Jon and Sansa. - 10

(2R) A Custom-Crafted necklace for Yara, meant to look like a Kraken. - 10

(4R) A Custom-Crafted Weirwood Bow for Sansa with the family's familiars carved into it. - 7

(0R) Some weirwood saplings for Shireen, to plant in a new Dragonstone godswood - 4

(0R) Save Resources - 1

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Rolls for this Turn:

Personal: Dragon Lance Wiki

Thanks to Rabbitslayer Jon now stands to inherit a Valerian Steel Dagger as soon as he leaves Winterfell.

Your Uncle ned keeps pushing it off, but because he knows this dagger could save Jon's life, he has sworn to inform Jon of his mother and to give him the dagger before either or both of them next leaves Winterfell for a prolonged period.

Unknown to Ned is that this dagger was enchanted by (whoever you lot vote for in its backstory) to return to its owner whenever lost, and so once Jon takes it up, it will stay with him until he’s dead (and stays that way for a while).

World: Brandon Sanderson Wiki (Coppermind)

Thanks to Heelis, the people's discontent in your lands now has a Leader.

Specifically, she worked her way up the different positions until she was a bailiff when your father was put in charge of Long Lake, giving it a direct lord for the first time in years.

She and your father greatly disapproved of each other and weren't subtle about it.

But as a bailiff appointed directly by the Warden of the North, she couldn't be fully dismissed by your father, and he didn't want to go whining to his older brother about his problems.

Once he abdicated his seat, lots of people, including Lady Heelis (title due to her position, not birth), viewed his leaving as her winning their little spat, which legitimized her quite a bit.

This led to her secretly pushing for the tax issues that your uncle later left to solve on your behalf.

Even worse, while there, he promoted her to the position of Justiciar of Long Lake, a position that even your uncle can't remove her from without a good deal of evidence and time.

At the moment, she is de facto the highest person of authority in the Long Lake province of the North, and she is already laying the groundwork for your power base to dismiss any changes you attempt to make to the province’s laws.

It’s not all bad, however, as the Stark name holds weight.

Even if your father was a fairly unpopular lord of Long Lake, there isn't and never has been enough support for an outright rebellion.

People will still obey your legal orders and will follow at least the word of your edicts.

However, many of them, especially the ones living in more rural areas or small fishing villages on the lake, will look to her to “interpret” any of your orders and trust her in whatever she says about them.

(Note:

She isn’t actually evil or anything, and will do what she can to promote fairness and justice in Long Lake province.

So don't expect much evidence to be forthcoming to convict her.

She just happens to be against the idea of a Lord of Long Lake, as she sees them as unnecessary burdens on the already struggling citizens she has sworn to serve.

She doesn't even dislike you, personally, and has done nothing to harm your reputation in particular, just the position of “Lord of Long Lake.”)

(Believe it or not, this was actually an L2, not an L1.

If it were an L1, she would have been doing her absolute best to get the people of Long Lake against you in particular.

Instead, you get someone very committed to the people of your province, and a genuinely capable advisor… who will vehemently resist any changes you attempt to make.)

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Story:

The yard had felt different ever since Theon left, because Rob no longer had that easy sideways company he had fallen into with him, and Arya by then had bullied her way firmly enough into your lessons that nobody could pretend she was only visiting for novelty anymore.

That changed the shape of things in ways both obvious and small.

You, Jon, and Arya had found a rough little rhythm together almost without meaning to, while Rob seemed to stand a little apart more often than before, and though he had not said anything outright his face had begun taking on that closed look of his whenever Arya turned up in the yard ready to learn as though she had every right in the world to be there.

She did not take to archery with any special gift, and for once, there was no miracle in it, because while she liked the bow well enough and was game to try again every time she missed, the arrows did not leap to obedience merely because Arya glared at them and demanded excellence.

Still, she enjoyed it all the same, because she liked being there with you and Jon, liked having something hard to throw herself against, and liked even failure better than being left out.

Swordwork was another matter.

There she moved with the sort of swift, efficient grace that made a person stop and look twice, because once a blade was in her hand and footwork entered the lesson, she began improving at a pace that would have been irritating if it had not also been so thoroughly astonishing.

She was still behind you, and quite a bit behind Jon, but not by enough to make anyone comfortable, because every correction seemed to sink straight into her bones and stay there.

Sir Rodrik noticed, of course, and once he noticed, he began changing her drills.

At first, you thought he was only being harder on her in his usual way, but then he had her stop trying to meet force with force and started teaching her to turn out of line, slip past the stronger side, cut at openings instead of defenses, and trust speed where a heavier fighter would trust weight.

When asked why, he answered in the sort of plain honesty that made things easy to understand once one got past the sting of hearing them, because Arya was unlikely ever to win by strength against a grown man and would be a dead fool if she tried, so she had to learn to be swift, exact, and difficult to catch.

Then he used you as the other side of the lesson.

You were the only one in the yard being trained specifically with full plate in mind, because though Rob did sometimes work that way, he clearly preferred lighter northern harness, while Sir Rodrik had already decided that if you kept growing as you had been growing, then you would make a better anvil than a dancer.

You were still younger than Rob and Jon, but already taller than they had been at your age, and Sir Rodrik plainly expected that by the time you were a man plate would not merely fit you but suit you, so while Arya was being taught to evade, cut, and vanish from the line of force, you were being taught to plant your feet, hold ground, and let strength, reach, and armor do the work they were meant to do.

Arya thrived the moment the drills matched the kind of fighter she actually was, because once she was told to move faster instead of harder she came alive under the lesson in a way even she had not under archery, and though she was not magnanimous about any of this in the least, which meant that every small success came with a grin or some smug little spark in her face, her joy was so open that it was difficult not to catch it from her.

Jon certainly did, even if he showed it in his quieter way, and you did too, because the yard had become much more fun with Arya in it.

Rob did not seem to agree.

He still trained, still listened, and still did what was asked of him, but there was something stiffer in him whenever Arya was praised, and something colder whenever Sir Rodrik adjusted a lesson around her as though this was real and worth investment, which it plainly was.

Perhaps it was because she was a girl, perhaps because she was his little sister, or perhaps because Theon’s absence had left him without the old easy counterbalance he used to carry into the yard, but whatever the cause he watched more than he joined and seemed to disapprove in that silent way that made the whole thing heavier than if he had simply said his piece and been done with it.

You, unfortunately, did not have the comfort of sharing his doubts, because by the end of the lesson, one fact had become impossible to ignore, which was that Arya was still behind you now and would not stay there for long.

Jon remained well ahead of both of you because he had the best mix of steadiness, practice, and practical sense in the yard, but Arya was climbing fast enough that you could already feel the future of it pressing at your shoulder.

Still, as the lesson ended and the practice swords were put away, you found you could not regret any of it.

The yard had changed, and not subtly, but for all that, it felt more alive than it had in some time, and as you walked off with Jon and Arya still bright with the work while Rob hung back with his own thoughts, it was hard not to think that this new pattern was there to stay.

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You had already gotten gifts for your other grown cousins by then, so it began to feel only fair that Jon ought to have something too, especially now that he was reaching the age where practice gear and hand-me-downs were no longer quite enough, and proper armor was beginning to make real sense for him.

Rob was heir to Winterfell and would never want for what he needed, while you were heir to one of the North’s richest provinces and so hardly in danger of being overlooked yourself, but Jon was only Uncle Ned’s son and nothing more on paper, which made it easy for useful things to drift a little later in his direction unless somebody chose to put them there on purpose.

So you did. You considered getting him full plate like your own, but that would have turned a gift into an obligation, because Jon had been training in the more traditional northern harness, and there was no kindness in handing him a whole new way of fighting merely because it suited your own path better.

In the end, you had him given proper northern armor instead, the sort he already knew how to move in and would only grow more dangerous with as he got older, and though you suspected Uncle Ned might have been planning something similar before too long, you reckoned he would have just as fair an opening to put a proper horse under Jon instead.

When next you saw your uncle, he gave no sign at all of disapproving, which settled the question neatly enough, and Jon himself was so plainly grateful that any lingering doubt died on the spot, because he thanked you with real feeling and promised to make full use of the new armor.

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Skills:

Combat:

(5) Westerosi CQC - 95/100 (+40) (Talented In North)

(5) Westerosi Swordsmanship - 25/100 (+25) ←

(7) Northern Archery - 30/100 (+35) (Skilled) ←

(4) Northern Equestrianism - 80/100 (+12) (Knack)

(5) Heavy Armour - 55/100 (+50) (Prodigious)

Diplomacy:

(6) Interpersonal Communication - 30/100 (+15) (Skilled)

(2) Public Speaking - 95/100 (+5) (Skilled)

(9) Management - 30/100 (+30) (Prodigious) ←

(3) Stewardship - 72/100 (+7) (Knack)

(3) Northern Law - 54/100 (+7) (Knack)

(3) Westerosi Law - 44/100 (+7) (Knack)

Language:

(6) Common Speaking - 30/100 (+15) (Knack)

(6) Old Tongue Speaking - 45/100 (+15) (Knack)

(4) Valyrian Speaking - 85/100 (+15) (Knack)

(5) Common Reading - 35/100 (+10)

(2) Westerosi Runes - 80/100 (+10)

(4) Valyrian Reading - 70/100 (+10)

Scholarly: (Knack in North)

(4) Math(s) - 90/100 (+10)

(4) Accounts - 90/100 (+10)

(6) Northern History - 75/100 (+15) (Knack)

(3) Westerosi History - 80/100 (+10)

(5) Northern Peoples - 45/100 (+10)

(4) Westerosi Peoples - 70/100 (+10)

Leisure: (Knack in North)

(4) Northern Hunting - 89/100 (+12)

(3) Fishing - 1/100 (+7) ←

(2) Swimming - 61/100 (+7)

(1) Seacraft - 34/100 (+3)

(2) Climbing - 44/100 (+30) (Skilled In North)

(2) Acting (Lying Convincingly) - 12/100 (+3)

(5) Herbology - 40/100 (+30) (Prodigious) ←

War:

(3) Strategy - 100/100 (+25) (Prodigious)

(1) Castrametation - 60/100 (+0)

(1) Poliorcetics - 60/100 (+0)

(1) Fleetcraft - 10/100 (+0)

(1) Battlewise (coup d’œil) - 10/100 (+0)

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Earning: 4

Spending: 20

Banked: 14

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Rolls for Next Turn: (Snake Eyes!)

T1 = Person/Event in the World

L1 = Inconvenient

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Voting:

Main Actions: (+ = Low, ++ = Mid, +++ = High)

A1 - Train with Jon, and sometimes Rob, and Ayra in the Yard. (Combat Focus)

(Reputation: ++ Arya, ++ Jon, + Rob, - Cat)

A2 - Go on Hunts With Jon and Sansa. (Equestrianism + Leisure Focus)

(Reputation: ++ Jon, ++ Sansa, + Ned, - Cat)

A3 - Keep up your studies with Sansa, Maester Lewin, and Berenice. (Scholarly Focus)

(Reputation: ++ Sansa, + Cat, + Ned)

A4 - Learn Lordship from your Uncle Ned with Rob. (Diplomacy + War Focus)

(Reputation: ++ Ned, + Rob)

A5 - Spend your time speaking the Old Tongue with Arya and Omek. (Language Focus)

(Reputation: + Arya, + Yara, + Ned)

A6 - Follow Rob until he shares his Friends and Activities with you. (Communications Focus)

(Reputation: +Rob, + Cat, + Ned)

Personal Rolls Sources:

S1 - Wikipedia

S2 - Steam Games

S3 - Paradox Wiki's (D30)

S4 - World Rolls List (D12) (On Cooldown 1/1)

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Information:

1 - Reputations as of Chapter 36 (In order of best to least.)

Jon - Lifelong Friends

Sansa - Lifelong Friends (-)

Arya - Close Friends

Ned - Close Friends

Rob - Friendly

Yara - Friendly (-)

Cat - Good (-)

(Neutral → Fine → Ok → Good → Friendly → Friends → Close Friends → BFF’s)

(+) Means we’re one “+” with that person from it going up a rank.

(-) Means we’re one “-” with that person from it going down a rank.

Thanks to the armour and picking a Jon action this turn, we actually gained +6 to Jon this turn!

2 - On a possibility with the levels. (No Vote yet, just a discussion!)

While I did my best to avoid this, we're still leveling faster than I would have thought, and I can't really slow it down without cheating us.

So, something I'm considering that I’d like some input on is the idea of removing the Level cap.

This would allow us to keep training and keep getting ludicrously skilled at the things we're best at, but would also mean that our skills won't compare as well to the real heavy hitters for a while yet.

Given that someone like Barristan Selmy would have had an Arya-like skill, along with decades of dedication.

Which is why it feels so weird to know that we’ll likely match him in less than a decade of training under the skilled but hardly legendary Sir Rodrik.

If you lot hate the idea, then I’ll just leave the cap be, and we’ll max out our skills (starting with management) at 10, but if not, then what do you think the scale should be for most people?

Previously, I had 5-6 as “average” for a young but fully qualified person in a skill, like someone Newly Knighted, having CQC and Swordsmanship at 6 and other skills like Equestrianism and Armor at 5, with a few tertiary skills such as Archery at 3-4.

But with the cap removed, should I leave that be, or assume average to be a bit higher, like 7-9?

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Write-In/Questions:

1 - What is the Name of Jon’s new Dagger, and who enchanted it?

Examples:

Companion - A Targaryen ancestor in Old Valyria for a Younger Daughter.

Remembrance - Purchased and Enchanted by a now extinct First Men house in the Veil of Arryn.

Keepsake - Found in the Stepstones in the Ninepenny Kings War, true origin & name Unknown.