Hey folks! So I’ve now completed outlines of Sam I, Cat III, and Tyrion III, which are an incredible run of chapters. Current plan is to do Sam I, then Politics of Dorne I, then Cat III, then Politics of Dorne II, then Tyrion III, and then finish off Politics of Dorne. And then it’s on to the next Kickstarter essay series! In the meantime, what do we have on the Tumblrs? ASOIAF: Who were…
So in this scenario, how do the create Justmen create an effective royal demesne without overly pissing off the Blackwoods and Brackens both? Presumably they have to take lands from both to set up their own. How could the Justmen be an effective mediator if they can’t match the power of either?
As discussed here, I would guess based on the story that the Justman seat and lands would be on the Red Fork between Stone Hedge and Raventree Hall, both because Benedict Justman’s support was initially from the houses of his mother and father, and because putting himself physically in between the Brackens and Blackwoods is probably the only way to keep them from fighting.
So I would imagine that the castle proper is on an island in the middle of the river overlooking a major ford over the Red Fork, but also controls lands on both banks. As for the name, I kind of like Scales – it follows from House Justman’s sigil, but it also works to allude to the fishes in the Red Fork and that general Trident vibe.
“As a boy, he was Benedict Rivers, despised by all, but he grew to be the greatest warrior of his age, Ser Benedict the Bold. His prowess in battle won him the support of both his mother’s house and his father’s, and soon other riverlords bent their knees to him as well. It required more than thirty years for Benedict to throw down the last of the petty kings of the Trident. Only when the last had yielded did he don a crown himself. As king, he became known as Benedict the Just, a name that pleased him so much that he set aside his bastard surname and took Justman as the name of his house. As wise as he was stern, he reigned for three-and-twenty years, extending his domains as far as Maidenpool and the Neck.”
I think this support came in part through the granting of lands by both houses to their new royal scion. In this fashion, the “over-mightiness” of the Brackens and Blackwoods would be diminished, giving the Justmans the strength to prevent or at least contain the fighting, but at the same time, both sides would at least know the land would be staying inside the broader family.
You’d definitely expect to see a fair number of smallfolk in the area, working the lands attached to the castle – whether they’re clustered together in settlements or more spread out, harder to say.
To take a really rough rule of thumb, take the garrison and multiply by 300 to get the number of smallfolk supporting the castle.
I don’t know about far weaker. The Tullys would probably be pretty close and important vassals to the Justmans, being neighbors who guard the Justman’s western border.
Well, I don’t know how much she drank in AGOT through ASOS, but starting with her AFFC chapters we can definitely see Cersei starting to fall into alcoholism – she drinks constantly and especially in relation to stressful events, she’s visibly gaining weight because of the extra calories (which takes some work with wine), etc.
I think the Justmans would have probably been focused on spreading out their dynastic ties, since they already have close ties to the Brackens and Blackwoods.
But down the line, I don’t think they’d have problems as long as they were careful to balance marriages, so if the Blackwoods get one the Brackens get one and vv.
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