Entry Thirty-Seven

Date: June 23, 300 After Landing, Spring, Long Winter

Location: Sea Dragon Point

I know that many of my recent entries have involved the Ironborn, but it seems interesting things keep happening there.

Euron left. Asha wrote to say that her uncle took a few hundred allies, a fleet of several hundred ships (about a fifth of what they had) and said something about "blowing the horn himself." Whatever that was supposed to mean. But with Crow's Eye and his strongest supports gone, Asha Greyjoy is now the uncontested Queen of the Iron Isles.

Elsewhere in the world, things aren't working out for the better nearly as much.

Westerlands: Lord Tyrion has finally managed to reopen the gold mines under Casterly Rock. However, King Stannis has raised the taxes on the Westerlands to such a point that nearly all of the mines future output will need to be used for that. None of the wealth of the Lannister family will be available to pay loyalty's or rebuild the parts of Lannisport that were burned. Part of me understands the reasoning; the crown has debts and needs to punish a Lord so why not kill two birds with one stone. But on the other hand Tyrion is my friend and an ally of the North, so with King Eddards permission the Kingdom of the North will help the Westerlands as much as we can.

Crownlands: The number of Red Priests continues to climb, and the few of them have been seen crossing into the Riverlands. But most of the people defecting to the North are coming from King's Landing. They are spreading stories of mass burnings and other horror stories. I believe part of it, mostly the forced conversions, since killing for the sake of killing isn't the King's style. Then again, he may not even be aware it is happening. In any case, for every Sparrow killed during the burning of King's Landing, two have risen to take their place.

Worse, "leaders" for the Red Lord and the Sparrows have risen as well, funded by local Lords faithful to either side they have begun arming these crusaders with sword and scripture. People who have never read before are now quoting scriptures. A Holy War has begun.

Vale: Under the regency of Petyr Baelish, the Vale is starting to look more and more like Vulture sitting atop its mountain and waiting for the Stag or the Wolf to kill one another. He has offered to marry Lord Arryn to Princess Sansa, which would nominally add the Vale to the North's Kingdom, but neither I nor Eddard believe Baelish would allow such to happen which makes us wonder why he made the offer. What to do? I can't really help Eddard in this situation, I'm the Lord of War, not Lord of Matchmaking.

One bit of great news. While scouting my domains, I found a deposit of coal in a coastal cave just a few miles from the Capital. I'll have to have some workers go out and start mining it. With such, I can keep the North warm as this winter continues to get worse. And without having to burn any wood that may be better used in construction.

Also, I've begun writing down the books I can remember from school. Math and Science mostly, but also philosophy. With my printing press now working as intended, and paper production working (one 8x10 sheet is still fairly expensive but the price is coming down quick), I can plan to open Sea Dragon's first school by August. The builders assured me that, while not finished, that section of the capital would be useable by then. With me doing a lot of the heavy lifting (literally, I'm lifting the heavy stuff), I can make sure of that. It is mostly a barn parked next to the Capital, but will work until the final product it done.