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As the weeks and months passed the families of Winterfell grew with new life filling the halls and the irritation of mothers and fathers following behind them.
Edric and Lyanna had already welcomed their first child, Ben, some years earlier, welcomed their second child one crisp winter's morning, a girl they named Sarra, after Lyanna's beloved aunt.
Sarra was born with her father's dark hair interlaced with white streaks from her mother, along with her mother's hazel eyes. From the moment of her birth, she screamed and to the moment she could crawl she created chaos. A match made in a haven for Ben who was quick to take her under his wing as they created all kinds of chaos and problems, a match made in hell for Mom and Dad.
Jon and Jocelyn's first child, born under the soft light of a winter moon, was a boy they named Beric. Beric was a quiet child from the moment he opened his eyes, always observing the world around him with intensity. Unlike other children, who were loud and full of energy, Beric preferred solitude or often found sitting with his father keeping to himself, whilst he worked.
Alys, ever the graceful and composed sister of Brandon, gave birth to her first child in the height of winter, during a fierce storm that rattled the walls of Winterfell. She and Benjen named their son Torrhen Stark.
Torrhen was a strong boy from birth, with jet-black hair and piercing grey eyes. Even as a baby, he showed strength often throwing his toys around. He was full of energy, with a love for adventure and the outdoors, and would constantly ask to go outside.
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As the months passed and the children of Winterfell were born and grew, the North remained under the shadow of an uneasy peace. The fragile balance between the kings was held, by the threat of winter, which had begun to creep across the land after a summer that had lasted for years, the first of its kind, though no one complained of a long summer until it ended.
The first cold winds had begun to sweep down from the far north. The fertile lands began to harden, and the nights grew longer and colder, crops that had flourished in the endless sun now struggled by, with farmers predicting much lower yields in the coming harvesting season.
With winter set upon them, many began to speak of the sudden shift as retribution from the gods. In the weirwoods, followers of the Old Gods gathered, their eyes fixed on the skies, interpreting the long-absent winter's return as a sign. "Winter is here to claim the false believers who harm us," they claimed, believing that the cold had come to punish those who were responsible for attacking them throughout the north. The heart trees stood faceless and stood in silence, with tears falling down their faces.
Meanwhile, those loyal to the Celtic gods had their interpretation. For them, winter's return was a punishment at all of the North for having strayed far from the ancient ways. The priests of the Celtic faith warned of the dire consequences of abandoning their gods in favour of the weirwoods and the Olds Gods. They preached that the cold was a test sent to punish all the North for their transgressions, and that only through a return to the old ways and through 'sacrifices' would the gods spare them from utter ruin, through what they claimed as sacrifices was left vague.
As the snow fell, the kings of the North hunkered down, each waiting to see how harsh the winter would be, and what opportunities might arise from the suffering it would surely bring. Though they had refrained from attacking each other in battle, they watched and waited to see what would happen to the other kings. With the onset of winter and the threat of dwindling resources, they watched the coins and trade routes of the other kings.
The Red King struck first. He began pressuring the smaller kings around him starting with the Slate and Tower Kings first. The Red King flooded their markets with his Red coins where through his traders they would buy up all the goods in their markets and villages using his coins. Now that he owned large parts of their markets, they then forced other traders of those kingdoms to use their coins both through intimidation and convert violence with bandits. The Red King had essentially made it such that all trading in those kingdoms had to be done with Red Coins meaning other kingdoms' coins had to be changed into their coins to make deals.
He had been working on this for a while and it was only now that the other king had realised or found out what he was doing but by then Royce had already captured a large portion of the trade in the Slate and Tower Kings lands.
The Ryder King saw an entirely different path to wealth and influence. He had enjoyed the trade with the Flint King, their silver trade flourishing through maritime routes due to their proximity and ease of trade with boats. With winter here and land-based trade becoming more dangerous, the Ryder King turned his eyes further south, beyond the Flint Cliffs, to the lands of the Trident.
The petty kings of the Trident, much like those of the North, were fractured and constantly at war with one another. But where others saw instability, the Ryder King saw an opportunity. He extended his maritime reach deep into the Trident, where the constant warring left the local rulers open to external trade.
The first traders sailed cautiously down the coast, laden with, furs, timber, and bronze. Time would tell whether this new venture would flourish or fall prey to the chaos of the Trident's wars. His first ships returned to the North with grain.
At the heart of the North, Brandon pursued something else. His Kingdom's central position in the North, their higher weight and quality of coins along with his good reputation and fairness make it a good place for traders to gather and trade.
As tensions between the various kings grew, merchants from all corners of the North found themselves drawn to Winterfell's markets. The silver coins of Winterfell became the preferred currency for many traders. Stalls doubled in number, and new trade deals were made every day from farmers to traders from the Greenwood, Glover, Umbar, and more.
Under Jon's careful stewardship, Winterfell's economy flourished, and its market expanded to twice its original size. With merchants arriving daily at the security of Winterfell's walls it was becoming the centre of commerce in the North.
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As winter tightened, many farmers feared for their crops with many worrying about going back into the days of winter before the Long Night. The lands were freezing over, and crops were starting to freeze up. With the land hardening beneath a blanket of snow, and the waters in that land freezing many farmers began to look elsewhere to sustain their living.
Manny farmers had the same response and shifted to livestock, animals with thick fur could still survive in the cold, and live off the naturally growing lands, whilst still providing much-needed food, leather, and wool. Sheep, goats, and oxen became the new focus of many farmers.
However, many of the farmers of Winterfell went in a very different direction where with the Kings backing they gathered many farmers of the village and had them grow more cold-resistant crops. Many were doubtful of their claims but after the first harvest, the Stark farms and any farmers who believed them found they still had good harvests despite the cold whilst other farmers had very low harvests.
That was all the proof farmers needed to grow the crops and when they found out how they came to being and the idea of selective breeding many were quick to take to the practice and soon the surrounding fields worked by the village were growing crops again.
However, as the kingdom's reliance on livestock increased, so too did the desperation of those left without. Banditry became more rampant as the starving and the desperate resorted to raiding and plundering villages.
The Blackwood king grew more aggressive. Bands of his Celtic raiders began striking at any lands they could reach that was close enough to their forest to be able to hide them and they could retreat. These raids were brutal, targeting both the livestock and the people taking both of them. Villages along the borders of the Blackwood lands were not safe.
And with bandits and death came the monsters too, they were hungry and eager to get anything they could get their hands on, anything edible was taken. Time where getting tough, and people had gotten used to the pleasure of summer.