Votes for this Turn:
A1 - Jon - 0
A2 - Sansa - 1
A3 - Ned - 1
A4 - Rob - 1
A5 - Arya - 7
A6 - Yara - 29
S1 - Wikipedia - 27
S2 - Steam - 9
S3 - Paradox - 1
S4 - World - 0
Names: (The)
Unhalig (Anti-Faith of 7) - 14 (See Thorison’s Post for the Lore)
Profundal (Deepest part of a Lake) - 5
Retribution (Anti-Pirate) - 5
Lakefire Blade - 4
Nebelbeil (Mist-cleaver) - 2
Black Water Blade - 1
Long Blessing - 1
Garou - 1
Frost - 1
Rolls for this Turn:
Personal: Wikipedia
Thanks to the Krull (film), Renly Baratheon gains the power of “Ergo the Magnificent” and thus is now a shapeshifter with the ability to temporarily take on the form and instincts of different animals.
(The alternative was the power to manipulate fire, but we already did that, so he gets shapeshifting instead.)
World: Dragonlance Wiki
Thanks to the Sage Academy, Heart of the Gods Town now has an academy for training locals in basic academic skills such as Reading (Trade Common), Math, Accounting, and Northern History.
As a result, Heart of the Gods is considered the Center of Education for the North, along with the go-to spot to commission Armor.
(Once again, we have a backlog on naming votes, but feel free to think of names for this academy, since it’ll likely be what we vote on next turn.)
Story:
Inviting Theon and Yara Greyjoy out to the stream had seemed, at first, like the sort of idea that would either work very well or go badly enough to become a story.
That was often true of Arya too, so perhaps the warning signs had not stood out as much as they should’ve.
The place itself was good enough.
It sat near one edge of the Wolfswood, at a spot you and Jon had found on one of your smaller hunts, where the stream widened into a deep clear pool before narrowing again over stones and roots.
There was room to swim.
There were fish enough that somebody competent might catch them.
There were flat rocks for sitting, trees enough for shade, and just enough distance from Winterfell to make the whole thing feel like a proper outing instead of merely loitering with ambition.
You’d expected Theon to take more convincing.
Instead he agreed almost at once, likely because there was water involved and because being offered something that was not a lesson, a courtesy, or a managed kindness probably suited him.
Yara took longer.
She looked at you for a while first, as though trying to decide whether this was a trick, a pity invitation, or merely a poor decision, and then agreed in the tone of somebody willing to endure a poor decision if it led somewhere interesting.
The first trip went well enough.
Theon loosened first, which was not difficult to notice because until then he had spent much of his time at Winterfell carrying himself like a boy determined to find the insult in every kindness before it reached him.
The moment he saw the water properly, some of that edge came off him.
Yara changed less on the surface, but she changed too.
She stopped looking back toward the castle and started looking at the stream instead, which was near enough the same thing as trust where she was concerned.
Fishing, as it turned out, was not your gift.
This was irritating because the stream had looked simple enough when the idea was still in your head and not yet in your hands.
Theon handled the line as though it had come attached to him.
Yara was no worse.
You, by contrast, managed: one tangle, one snag, one cast so poor it nearly became a threat to local birdlife, and a long enough stretch of staring into perfectly good water that even you had to admit the fish were beginning to take your lack of talent personally.
Theon laughed.
That helped more than it should’ve.
There was a difference between the sharpness he wore around Winterfell and the freer sort that came out once he had actually decided to enjoy himself, and once he started mocking your fishing properly the whole day changed shape.
Yara joined in not long after, though she was worse about it because she was quieter and therefore somehow more cutting.
By the time Theon had his second fish and you had managed nothing but damp hands and wounded pride, the whole thing had stopped feeling like an outing with wards and started feeling more like one with cousins.
So you went back.
Not every day, and not in any way that turned it into some solemn habit, but often enough over the next stretch of time that the path became familiar underfoot and the place began to feel a little like yours collectively rather than merely yours first.
Some days were more swimming than fishing.
Some days were more fishing than talking.
Some days the water was cold enough to make the whole thing feel like a challenge issued by the gods themselves, and some days the three of you simply sat on the rocks afterward and talked long enough that getting back before sunset became the only part any of you took seriously.
The pattern of it settled without much discussion.
Theon nearly always caught something.
Yara usually caught something too, though she was better at pretending not to care whether she did.
You remained terrible at it in a manner that became increasingly undeniable and, after a point, almost useful.
There was only so guarded Theon could remain while also laughing at you for being outperformed by the local fish on a regular basis.
There was only so distant Yara could stay while correcting your grip, your timing, your patience, and once, with considerable scorn, your entire understanding of what a line was meant to be doing.
Swimming helped too.
There were only so many ways to keep up walls once everybody was in the water and freezing for the same reasons.
Theon swam like he had been born to it, which perhaps he had.
Yara wasted nothing.
You did your best not to look half drowned by comparison and likely failed often enough that neither of them felt obliged to mention it every single time.
After a while they started showing off openly, which was another good sign.
People did not show off unless they expected to be watched, and they did not expect to be watched unless they thought they belonged there at least a little.
The talking changed over those trips too.
Theon started telling stories about the sea without sounding like he was performing them for effect.
Yara corrected him now and then, then added details of her own, and before long the two of them were arguing about tides, boats, and rocks off coasts you had never seen and likely never would.
You let them.
That was half the point.
They sounded more like themselves out there, and after a while they sounded more like themselves with you than around you.
By the time the stream had become a place you returned to rather than a place you had merely shown them once, the whole business had turned into a quiet kind of victory.
You still could not fish worth a damn.
Theon still could.
Yara still looked at you now and then as though trying to decide whether you were deeply unimpressive or useful in some less obvious way.
But they had warmed to you in earnest by then, and not in the careful manner of people trying to behave well in somebody else’s hall.
They mocked you freely.
They argued in front of you freely.
They forgot to be guarded, which was better than either politeness or gratitude.
So the trips went on for a while.
Not enough to become ordinary, and not enough to stop mattering, but enough that by the end of them Theon and Yara no longer felt like strangers set down in Winterfell by the end of a war.
They still felt like Greyjoys, because of course they did, with that hard sea edge in both of them that did not belong to the North at all, but they also felt like yours a little, or at least like people who had begun to think of you as one of theirs when the water was near and the castle was not.
Skills:
Combat:
(2) Westerosi CQC - 29/100 (+10)
(2) Westerosi Swordsmanship - 26/100 (+10)
(3) Northern Archery - 18/100 (+12) (Knack)
(2) Northern Equestrianism - 5/100 (+12) (Knack) ←
(1) Heavy Armor - 42/100 (+12) (Skilled)
Diplomacy:
(2) Interpersonal Communication - 60/100 (+10)
(1) Public Speaking - 35/100 (+0)
(2) Management - 50/100 (+25) (Prodigious)
(1) Stewardship - 73/100 (+3) (Knack)
(1) Northern Law - 64/100 (+3) (Knack)
(1) Westerosi Law - 54/100 (+3) (Knack)
Language:
(2) Common Speaking - 55/100 (+25)
(2) Old Tongue Speaking - 70/100 (+10)
(1) Valyrian Speaking - 70/100 (+7)
(2) Common Reading - 29/100 (+7)
(1) Westerosi Runes - 30/100 (+7)
(1) Valyrian Reading - 7/100 (+7) ←
Scholarly: (+1)
(2) Math(s) - 9/100 (+10) ←
(2) Accounts - 12/100 (+10)
(3) Northern History - 14/100 (+12) (Knack)
(1) Westerosi History - 79/100 (+7)
(2) Northern Peoples - 45/100 (+10)
(1) Westerosi Peoples - 79/100 (+7)
Leisure:
(2) Northern Hunting - 18/100 (+10)
(1) Fishing - 40/100 (+25)
(1) Swimming - 55/100 (+25)
(1) Sailing - 10/100 (+0)
(1) Acting - 10/100 (+0)
Rolls for Next Turn:
T2 = Person/Event at Home
L4 = Just what's described
Voting:
Main Actions: (+ = Low, ++ = Mid, +++ = High)
A1 - Train with Jon, and sometimes Rob and Theon in the Yard. (Combat Focus)
(Reputation: ++ Jon + Theon, + Rob)
A2 - Go on Hunts With Jon and Sansa. (Equestrianism + Leisure Focus)
(Reputation: ++ Jon, ++ Sansa, -- Cat)
A3 - Keep up your studies with your cousin, Sansa, and Maester Lewin. (Scholarly Focus)
(Reputation: ++ Sansa, + Cat)
A4 - Act as your Uncle Ned’s page with Rob and Theon. (Diplomacy Focus)
(Reputation: ++ Theon, + Ned, - Rob)
A5 - Spend your time teaching/watching little Arya and your Wolves with Yara. (Language Focus)
(Reputation: + Yara, + Jon, + Sansa, + Cat, + Ned, + Rob)
A6 - Follow Rob until he shares his Friends and Activities with you. (Communications Focus)
(Reputation: + Cat, + Ned, - Rob)
Personal Rolls Sources:
S1 - Wikipedia (On Cooldown 1/2)
S2 - Steam Games
S3 - Paradox Wiki's (D30)
S4 - World Rolls List (D12)
Information:
1 - Reputation List
So I went back and counted up our reputation for the Stark Household, and figured I’d give it to you as a list.
But keep in mind that the +++ or -- things are meant to be a general sense of how that person would feel about the action, not a number to add or subtract from a spreadsheet somewhere.
But with that in mind:
Jon - Friendly
Sansa - Good
Aunt Cat - Ok
Uncle Ned - Ok
Yara - Fine
Theon - Fine
Rob - Poor
And Arya is too young, so she’s technically “Neutral” on that list, but in practice, she’s locked into “BFF” with whoever is giving her attention at that moment.
2 - What's up with “- Rob”?
So different characters have different personalities, and how much they like us affects this.
Jon is pretty lonely most of the time, and likes us, so hanging out with him in any context gets treated as a ++ Jon.
Meanwhile, Rob has plenty of friends and things to do, and views us forcing our way into those activities as annoying.
So he dislikes us and views us hanging out with him during his main activities as - Rob.
If we get Rob up to “Fine,” then the “- Rob” will drop, but until then were in a tricky spot in terms of our relationship with him.
This is what I meant by not letting us treat Reputation like a Sims game.
It’s not just Cat disliking us hanging out with Jon, but the fact that what pleases Jon annoys Rob.
Or other things like Yara having a more suspicious personality and not a lot of overlap in activities, so there's not much chance to buff our reputation with her.
Write-In/Questions:
1 - In chapter 14, a Priest of R'hllor came to the North seeking to kill practitioners of the Dark arts, such as Necromancy.
What is his/her Name and History?
Why did this priest choose to dedicate him/herself to this task, rather than the more common ways of serving R'hllor, the Lord of Light?
Feel free to insert a reference/crossover character here, like:
Severus Snape, who dabbled in the dark arts and lost his best friend over it.
So he now scours the world to ensure nobody else makes the same mistake.