Date: 299 After Landing, Spring
Peg, sometimes I really hate being right.
First, the good news. The training over the winter went well. I put about 4500 men though what would have been boot camp where I went through, and except for a few would-be nobles who thought they didn't have to listen to a "foreign dog" everything was fine. Those few who couldn't cut it were sent home, and a raven was sent to their homes explaining how their sons (true born or bastard) were too weak. I imagine they will have some interesting talks about that.
Ramsey Snow, Lord Bolton's bastard and only living son, took to everything better than all the other noble-born children, and actually seemed to be enjoying the torturous drills I put everyone though. Something about him seems…wrong, but he has certainly earned one his rank. I guess I should also mention that I have enacted a modified version of the armies ranking system. For now, Captain is the highest rank, and Snow has worked his way up to Second Lt and command of one of the archery boats.
Speaking of the boats, we – mostly the Tulleys – have started calling them Trouts after their House Sigil. I still call them PB's (Patrol Boats), but unofficial names are fine.
I think the reason training has gone so well is because of my Commandos. They already knew the training, the schedule, because they had gone though it once before. So I was able to delegate some of the work to them and focus on improving defenses around Harrenhal as well as building up the river fleet. As well as a few other things.
Prince Robb visited here for a few days a little over a week ago, and he and I talked. It was actually enjoyable, and his Direwolf "Grey Wind" is a beautiful animal. For someone so young, he has a good grasp on leadership and seems open to ideas. Mentally flexible. We spoke of Nationality, and how it relates to the people. There is already a form of Nationality in the North, a sense of Us vs Them along ethnic lines. While one group, say a mountain clan, may think of themselves as one autonomous group, they still recognize that they are from and of the North. The language, culture, religion and customs of the North unite those people, but a dynastic hegemony that draws its power to rule from the top down only serves to divide the people they rule. Such disunity ultimately makes the nation or state weaker. A sense of nation self-determination is wonderful, but needs to be the will of the people more than the will of the one. I had similar talks with King Eddard in Winterfell, and I drew the parallels about what he and Robert Baratheon did to those of the Founding Fathers of my America. Only instead of taking the opportunity to build a better government, they simply traded one weak King for another.
Maybe it's was because they didn't have several centuries of great thinkers to draw inspiration from. But that is an odd development in itself. As far as I can tell Westeros (maybe the whole world) has had several thousand years of the same technological and social stagnation. Where is the innovation? Where are the ancient scholars that modern great thinkers can draw inspiration from? Where is their Roman Republic? Their John Locke? I laid out the ideas of "Life, Liberty, and Property" to Robb who actually seemed to grasp the idea. And at my suggestion, I helped the Starks and Tulleys form a combined national banner or flag for all Houses to fly. A Dark Grey Direwolf on a field of snow-grey with red and blue strips, a combination of Stark and Tully colors. Each House can fly their own sigil, but this one must fly highest.
Hopefully, by the time I leave this world I will have helped build a government that protects its citizens instead of a bunch of Houses that get rich off the sweat of the poor.
I may, especially after what happened a few days ago, find myself living at Harrenhal for a long time.
The bad news is that King's Landing has fallen to King Stannis Baratheon. From the reports we are getting, Tywin Lannister is either dead or a captive. As is his daughter and Queen, Cersei. What I know for sure is that Jaime and Tyrion Lannister both made it out of the city, but Joffery and Tommen Baratheon – or Lannister if you believe the incest rumors – were both killed. Oddly enough there is no word on Myrcella, but I heard whispers of her being sent off somewhere by ship some time ago.
So it looks like the Westerlands have been dealt with, they will be rebuilding for years, and now the North will have another war to face. We already received "orders" from Stannis to bring "Lord Eddard Stark" to King's Landing so he can swear fealty. He even agreed to let Eddard keep his rank and titles as he was rebelling against an false King. But now the "One True King" wants what he thinks is his. Stark has already spoken with the other rulers of the north, and they all seem adamant about keeping what is theirs. "It was the dragons we knelt to, and the dragons are dead." I'm thinking of sending some pictures to each of the Lords of the North and Riverlands, the "Join, or Die" image from my homelands own war for independence seems appropriate.
Funny, I was just asked a few hours ago why I wear red, white and blue. I explained that they were the colors of my homeland, where I was born and what I fought for, and then noticed how the Kingdom of the North flag shares those colors as well. I wonder if I planned that, or it was a happy accident?
Anyway, the first ten PB's have been constructed, their weapons loaded, and their crews trained. The base we are building at Isle of Faces is nearly complete (the weirwoods is a little unnerving) but the harbor of Harrenhal is ready. I am putting Ramsey Snow in charge of the eastern river fleet, and Benfrey Frey in command of the southern river fleet. I am also constructing a series of manned signal stations along the river, should only take another week to finish them since we started two weeks ago. All of my men know how to use the signal codes by blinking light of a small mirror, and in the case there isn't time to send a message a fire can be lit on top that will be the "oh crap, come quick" signal flare. When the fighting starts, my men will be ready.
One more thing, we have a new guest here who arrived with Prince Robb but stayed behind when he left. Dacey Mormont. She is an odd woman, but that isn't a bad thing…
Anyway, until next time. Steve.