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Anonymous asked: How long would it take to raise a city of comparable size to White Harbor and its fortifications on the river that passes through the Rills? I meant the one that leads to Torrhen’s Square, but I’m interested to know whether you think another river would be a better candidate.

Ok, now that I know what you’re getting at, I feel like I can answer that question. 

Torrhen’s Square is a good location for a city – you’re building on top of an already-existing settlement with good defenses, the lake offers quite a bit of space for docks, you’ve got direct access to the Saltspear, Blazewater Bay, and the Sunset Sea, and its location nearby to the Wolfswood gives it a natural monopoly on Northern timber exports. 

The biggest potential problem I see for Torrhen’s Square’s economic development is that it’s right by Barrowton, which is already a town with a strong economic presence (I’m pretty sure it’s a major livestock market, with sheep, cattle, and horses on offer), and has a shorter route to the Saltspear and thus foreign markets. So if the Dustins decide to make it a competition, Torrhen’s Square would be decidedly the underdog. 

As for how long…well, King’s Landing took only 25 years to go from nothing to bigger than White Harbor, so it all depends on what level of investments go into it:

  • Sawmills, timber yards, carpenters, etc. – the necessary foundation for an economy, as proximity to the wolfswood is TS’ main value added. And this is going to take some significant up-front investments, because sawmills and the like are not cheap. 
  • A Northern canal – would turbo-charge TS’ economic development, similar to how the Erie Canal changed upstate New York from a rural backwater into an industrial hotbed – depending on competition from other canals. Both Torrhen’s Square and White Harbor would grow significantly, with White Harbor gaining new western markets for its wool and its silver, and Torrhen’s Square gaining new eastern markets for its timber and woodcrafts, as well as the added revenue from providing commercial services to the passing trade. 
  • A Stark navy-yard – given the proximity to essentially unlimited timber, if the North wants a navy on its west coast again, and it desperately needs one, putting a navy-yard and naval base on Torrhen’s Square makes a ton of sense. The raw materials are right there, the lake allows you to have a lot of ships in construction or moored up in one place, the distance from the coast makes it very hard for Ironborn to burn your fleet at anchor, etc. And it would provide a baseline of demand for a shipbuilding industry to develop, and you’re going to need one of them if you want to capture the maximum value-added from Northern exports and generate additional economic growth you’ll need to pay for all of this. 

After doing some reading about “ancient greek railways”, hard stone roads with grooves for car wheels. I got to thinking, instead of a canal across the neck, could the north build an ice road? A trench of packed ice that would allow goods on sleds to be SLID from coast to frozen coast. or White Harbor to Winterfell. What do you think? Maintained with ice from farther north during spring it could stay frozen into summer until regular transport resumes

Well, it would be some help, but you can really only pack 300 pounds of goods onto a dog-sled. Modern river/canal barges can carry 3 million pounds of goods, and even your old-fashioned narrowboats could do 140,000 pounds. 

So an ice road is never going to be anywhere close to as efficient as a canal. 

After the Dance of the Dragons, 1) Why did the Targaryens keep wedding brother and sister (Baelor married Daena, Aegon IV to Naerys)? With no dragons around, wouldn’t it have been smarter to wed them to powerful lords and ladies instead? 2) How come no Lords Paramount tried to secede from the Iron Throne, especially during the reign of Aerys I?

1. I’ve read some theories that trying to preserve the Targaryen mystique and look was a big deal in the post-Dance period, hence the brother-sister thing. 

2. In the reign of Aerys I specifically, you had the alternative approach of supporting the Blackfyres instead. 

Do you need the king’s permission to charter a new city, or is your Lord Paramount good enough? If the former, is a Warden capable of chartering a city in the name of the king?

It’s hard to say, because the Darklyns were Crownlanders, so the Targaryens were their liege lords in either case, and we don’t have any examples of Lords Paramounts giving city charters. 

Certainly, we know kings can create cities – Aegon founded King’s Landing, Aerys II proposed creating new cities, etc. Whether it’s a concurrent power, I don’t know.

But I don’t think Wardens can. Wardens are military leaders, so their powers would be military in nature, as opposed to civil. 

Hypothetically, if Robb had won the war and married Roslin Frey, who would have been tw best internal marriage options for Edmure and Sansa to help integrate the two portions of Robb’s kingdom?

stannisisawesome:

goodqueenaly:

racefortheironthrone:

theladiesmormont:

racefortheironthrone:

Assuming that Robb doesn’t need external alliances, it would be a good idea to marry Edmure into the Manderlys – they’re a powerful Northern House, but they’re also the most conversant with Southern culture of any of Robb’s original bannermen. Moreover, their naval and commercial presence at White Harbor would enhance North-Riverlands connections if properly exploited. 

As for Sansa, I’m not sure who I would handle. But one idea that does come to me is for Robb to settle Harrenhal on her – Harrenhal is going to be incredibly important for him holding the Riverlands from attacks from the south, so a Stark presence there will probably be necessary for making it actually perform. 

Except that the curse of Harrenhal is real and even if it weren’t, Catelyn is superstitious and from the Riverlands. She would never stand for Sansa holding Harrenhal.

She is, but she’s also of House Whent on her mother’s side. 

Lucas Blackwood, perhaps, as her consort? House Blackwood is one of the most prominent Tully vassals, Stark and Blackwood have been historically tied, and second son Lucas would inherit nothing on his own. It’s even a conciliatory move to the divided religion of his realm: Lucas doubtless worships the old gods, while Sansa has both prayed to the old gods and shown a decided fondness for her mother’s Seven. The only trouble I would see is not pissing off the Brackens – there are no extant Bracken males of suitable age anyway, but Jonos would never sit for a Blackwood becoming Lord of Harrenhal and getting a royal bride.

Isn’t Harrenhal already going to Vargo Hoat, though? I seem to recall Hoat being made officially Lord of Harrenhal by Robb for his part in capturing  it from the Lannisters. It seems unfit to give Harrenhal to someone like him, but still, this is something that has to be resolved.

In a context where Robb and his kingdom survives, there’s no way in hell he ratifies what is essentially Roose trying to dodge the curse by wildly exceeding his own authority. By right of acclaim and conquest, Robb is overlord of the Riverlands and the disposition of Harrenhal is his to decide, not his bannerman’s. 

Hey,i am rereading asoiaf and Robert is mentioning Wylla and refering to her as Jon’s mother. What do we know about her ,I mean who is she?

Wylla is a servant of House Dayne, who served as Edric Dayne’s wet-nurse, and who Ned claimed as Jon Snow’s mother when asked by Robert Baratheon. 

My belief is that Wylla was both a wet-nurse and a midwife and had been sent by Ashara Dayne to the Tower of Joy to help her brother Ser Arthur prepare for the impending birth of Rhaegar’s child. 

As a result, she was one of the few people who was there for Jon Snow’s birth. We know that there was someone else that Howland Reed who was there at the Tower of Joy since “they had found him still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman, Howland Reed, had taken her hand from his.” The plural there means that there had to be someone there at the ToJ who didn’t partake in the fight, and her being busy at the birthing would explain that. 

She then went with Eddard to Starfall and was Jon’s wet-nurse for the time that Ned spent at House Dayne’s seat. I also think that she may have accompanied Eddard briefly to King’s Landing (Jon probably still wasn’t on solid foods), because Robert remembers her.