Votes for this Turn:
A1 - Combat - 28
A2 - Leisure - 0
A3 - Scholarly - 3
A4 - Diplomacy - 6
A5 - Language - 6
A6 - Communications - 0
S1 - Wikipedia - 38
S2 - Steam - 2
S3 - Paradox - 0
S4 - World - 0
Names:
Ghost - 24
Pochita - 18
Caerbannog - 2
Griffith - 1
Samson - 1
Enki - 1
Rolls for this Turn:
Personal: Wikipedia
Thanks to the Harelle, there has been a revolt in Heart of the Gods town over the increased taxes imposed by your father, which have largely just been going to build up a winter surplus in the time since he resigned as lord.
As a result, your uncle has gone over your head and forcefully lowered the taxes back to their "Traditional" level, meaning you will need to raise them again should you wish to do more than maintain your lands as is, once you take the lordship.
This act also tells the People of Heart of the Gods that if they should feel any sort of displeasure with you in the future, the Stark in Winterfell is entirely willing to go over your head.
As such, you have lost a great deal of respect that you might have otherwise had from the people of the Long Lake region over this debacle, despite being too young to have actually done anything about it.
Additionally, due to the lowered taxes, you will no longer receive an allowance from your lands, only “your father's investments” (aka the rolls), meaning that when the allowance starts, it will be 2 resources per turn, not 3. (See World Roll)
Do not underestimate the effect this loss of prestige will have on your future as a Lord.
Your uncle did his best not to let it turn into a full-blown disaster, but the people see you as “the Lord,” not a 9-year-old kid, and so their POV on this whole affair is of you being forced to stop “your” needlessly harsh and greedy taxes by the “real” lord of Long Lake, Ned Stark.
World: Elder Scrolls Wiki
Thanks to the Polished Shell Shard, Long Lake now has Mudcrabs that occasionally drop gem-like shell shards, which can be sold for good profits in the south.
For once, it’s Long Lake rather than the Heart of the Gods town that gains something.
Additionally, despite having just gone down, we already recovered that 1 resource per turn.
So it’s unfortunate that it could have been 4 per turn, but fortunate that it won't actually be 2 per turn for any length of time.
This will also give us a (VERY) minor boost to diplomacy with Essos and the South, as people who have no reason to know about the north might still have heard of Long Lake due to the Shell Shard Gems that come from there.
Story:
A few weeks earlier, Uncle Ned had ridden north to Heart of the Gods town to deal with some trouble Father had left behind when he went off so suddenly.
Nobody had explained the whole business to you, which only made it worse, because half-known trouble always seemed larger in the dark parts of your head.
You knew only the important bits, with: your own people were there, the matter had gone bad enough for Ned to ride himself, and anything left to fester that long was not likely to have improved from neglect.
The yard did not care about any of that.
Ser Rodrik still wanted feet set right, shields kept up, and blows recovered from before the next one landed.
That was part of what made training so unpleasant some days, because your body was expected to learn even when your thoughts were trying to run north after your uncle and every ugly possibility that came with him.
Jon was still the easiest person in the world to train beside and the most aggravating.
He never made a show of anything.
If you were wrong, he said so.
If he was wrong, he fixed it.
If the same correction had to be given six times, then he gave it six times and did not seem to think that made the world unjust in any special way.
That should have made him pleasant.
Instead, it mostly made him impossible to argue with.
That day, Ser Rodrik had you working on recovering after a missed strike, which turned out to be one of those simple lessons that stayed simple right up until your body was asked to do it cleanly.
Strike, miss, pull back, set your feet, raise your guard, and do not stand there like an idiot waiting to be hit for your efforts.
Jon was good at it because he was good at anything dull enough to be useful.
He kept his feet under him, kept his balance, and kept looking as though the whole thing cost him less thought than breathing.
You did not manage it so neatly.
Once your step ran too long and your weight followed it, and Jon stopped just long enough to tell you your head was somewhere north of your body and ought to come back before the rest of you made a fool of itself.
That stung because it was true.
You had been thinking of Heart of the Gods town again, of whatever Father had left to rot there, and of your own people waiting for Ned to sort it out.
Jon did not ask about any of that.
He only told you to keep your head where your feet were and made you do the sequence again.
Theon was the surprise.
If anyone had told you months ago that Theon Greyjoy would turn out to be decent company in the yard, you would have assumed they had taken a blow to the head.
Yet there he was.
He was not sweet, not soft, and not suddenly some new, better person either.
He was just easier than expected.
Jon gave you the plain truth and left it there.
Theon gave you the same truth with enough mockery wrapped around it that it went down easier.
If you showed a strike too early, Theon told you even a blind shepherd would have seen that coming.
If your shield drifted, he asked whether you meant to invite the blow in properly or were merely being generous by instinct.
None of that was kinder in the strict sense.
It was still easier to take.
He also saw different things than Jon did.
Jon cared whether the motion was right.
Theon cared whether the motion would get you hurt by someone meaner than the yard.
That made him useful in a different direction.
Then there was Rob.
That part sat wrong from the start.
He was not cruel.
He was not openly angry.
He was simply colder than he had been before the war, and colder in a way that was harder to answer than plain temper would have been.
Once, he would have laughed first and corrected after.
Now he corrected first, and sometimes did not laugh at all.
He moved well, watched sharply, and looked every bit like someone who had spent too long around men trying very hard not to die.
That was what bothered you most, if you were honest with yourself.
Jon felt like Jon.
Theon felt stranger, but in ways that could still become familiar.
Rob felt like Rob after something had been taken out and not yet put back.
You could not have said it that neatly then.
You only knew the yard felt different with him in it.
A mistake that would once have turned into teasing now only got a flat look and a short order to do it again.
That should not have mattered as much as it did.
It mattered anyway.
The four of you ended up sharing the yard often enough that the differences became impossible not to notice.
Jon was steady.
Theon was sharp and easier than he ought to have been.
Rob was there and not entirely there.
And you were trying to learn in the middle of all that, while some part of your mind kept circling back to Heart of the Gods town and the thought that men went off to settle trouble and did not always come back with the same shape they had when they left.
The one comfort was that you did improve a little, and only after enough repetition to make your shoulders hate you.
One run through finally held together.
You missed, recovered, stepped back into place, and got your guard up before Jon could speak, before Theon could grin, and before Rob could give you that tired level look that somehow felt worse than a sharper rebuke.
It was not much.
It was still yours.
By the time Ser Rodrik broke the session, you were sore in the right places and dirty enough to prove the day had not been wasted.
Jon told you to shorten the step and trust it.
Theon said you were less hopeless than before, which, from him, counted as real praise.
Rob only said good, and even that sounded more tired than warm.
Then the yard was only a yard again, and your thoughts ran north at once, back to Ned, to Heart of the Gods town, and to the hope that whatever Father had left behind there would prove to be the sort of trouble a man could settle without losing too much of himself in the doing.
Skills:
Combat:
(2) Westerosi CQC - 75/100 (+25)
(2) Westerosi Swordsmanship - 70/100 (+25)
(3) Northern Archery - 80/100 (+25) (Knack)
(2) Northern Equestrianism - 49/100 (+7) (Knack)
(1) Heavy Armour - 97/100 (+35) (Skilled)
Diplomacy:
(3) Interpersonal Communication - 20/100 (+20) (Skilled) ←
(1) Public Speaking - 45/100 (+5) (Skilled)
(3) Management - 25/100 (+25) (Prodigious) ←
(1) Stewardship - 82/100 (+3) (Knack)
(1) Northern Law - 73/100 (+3) (Knack)
(1) Westerosi Law - 63/100 (+3) (Knack)
Language:
(3) Common Speaking - 5/100 (+10) (Knack) ←
(3) Old Tongue Speaking - 25/100 (+10) (Knack)
(2) Valyrian Speaking - 7/100 (+10) (Knack) ←
(2) Common Reading - 60/100 (+7)
(1) Westerosi Runes - 40/100 (+0)
(2) Valyrian Reading - 38/100 (+7)
Scholarly: (+1)
(2) Math(s) - 39/100 (+10)
(2) Accounts - 42/100 (+10)
(3) Northern History - 63/100 (+12) (Knack)
(2) Westerosi History - 9/100 (+10) ←
(3) Northern Peoples - 5/100 (+10) ←
(2) Westerosi Peoples - 9/100 (+10) ←
Leisure:
(2) Northern Hunting - 63/100 (+10)
(1) Fishing - 55/100 (+5)
(1) Swimming - 70/100 (+5)
(1) Sailing - 10/100 (+0)
(1) Acting - 10/100 (+0)
Rolls for Next Turn:
T3 = Objects/Effect on Another Place
L7 = Most convenient
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 - Wikipedia Rolls
Wikipedia is less magical in its outcomes, but the result of that is that I don't need to tone down the rolls…
Still, as early-game disasters go, a loss of income and a reputation disadvantage from the start are the kind of things we can easily overcome given time and some luck with the RNG.
So I guess you guys were probably right, better something bad but mundane, than risk something like another Chaos worshiper dropped into Heart of the Gods town…
Plus, RNGesus clearly smiles upon us with this next roll!
Write-In/Questions:
1 - Do you have a favorite source/wiki for Rolls? And why is it your favorite?