Northman

**Northman** or **Northerner** is a term used on the continent of Westeros, which has different meanings depending on the region.

Most commonly, the term "Northerner" is used to refer to the people established in the region north of the Neck but south of the Wall, where the blood and traditions of the First Men still hold sway and belief in the Old Gods of the Forest remains the dominant religion. For thousands of years, the Northerners formed their own independent Kingdom of the North ruled by House Stark of Winterfell. The North submitted to Aegon the Conqueror during his conquest and "the North" became one of the constituent regions of the unified Seven Kingdoms.

## Nomenclature

The names "Northmen" or "Northerners" are used somewhat interchangeably.

The Northmen are proud descendants of the First Men, who successfully repulsed the Andals from the North when they invaded Westeros six thousand years ago in a mass migration. South of the Neck, the majority of people from the other kingdoms of Westeros are all descended from the Andals, intermixed with the conquered local First Men, but the defiantly independent First Men remained the dominant ethnic group north of the Neck. Except for the crannogmen, Northmen are sometimes collectively referred to as "wolves", in reference to the sigil of House Stark.

The "Northmen", the crannogmen of the Neck, and the wildlings are all descended from the First Men, and all three groups still follow the same religion of the Old Gods, but their cultures diverged in different ways across the millennia.

In a cultural context, the term "Northmen" often excludes the crannogmen, the reclusive people that inhabit the swamps of the Neck itself. Like the other "Northmen" (such as the Starks) the crannogmen are also descended from the First Men, but their culture branched off from their Northmen cousins to adapt to the unique conditions of the swampy lands they inhabit.

While the Northmen and crannogmen are culturally distinct, they have both *politically* been united under the authority of Winterfell for hundreds of years, so southern courts such as at King's Landing will often lump the crannogmen in with the "Northmen" as an umbrella-term for "noble Houses that are ruled by Winterfell".

The Northmen tend to call people from the other parts of the Seven Kingdoms "Southrons", generally meaning those areas dominated by the Andals. In general usage, Dorne is often lumped together as one of the "southerner" kingdoms, because while the Dornishmen are predominantly descended from the Rhoynar, they still have some Andal blood and some also follow the Faith of the Seven, thus they have a culture of noble courts and knights, albeit with significant variations.

The wildlings who dwell in the wilderness beyond the Wall consider themselves the "true" Northerners, using the term "southron" to refer to all peoples who live south of the Wall, regardless of their cultural background.

## Culture

In the lands south of the Neck, where culture is predominantly Andal and the Faith of the Seven is the dominant religion, Northerners are looked down upon as a superstitious and unruly people.

The Northmen face the heaviest brunt of Westeros' winters, which can last for years at a time. While it rarely snows in the southernmost regions of Westeros such as Dorne or the southern parts of the Reach, in the North snow can fall even during the summer. Surviving winter is often a life-or-death struggle, so the Northmen are particularly zealous about cultivating and preserving their limited resources. Because cooperation is essential to survival, Northmen tend to have fewer wars over petty feuds and lovers' quarrels - though conversely they still have some internal competition over finite resources, such as the centuries-long rivalry between the Starks and Boltons.

The North is also the only region of the Seven Kingdoms with an outright "foreign" border, and constantly has to deal with wildling raiding parties that circumvent the Wall. Every few generations or centuries, the wildlings are united by a King-Beyond-the-Wall and launch major incursions to the south - and the Northmen are always the first line of defence. Because of these threats, Northmen do not hold formal tournaments as the rest of Westeros does; they see mock combat as wasteful and frivolous, when such resources should be preserved to combat the next wildling raid or prepare for the coming winter. That being said, many Northerners have taken part in tournaments held in southern Westeros for the sake of wealth or glory, though, notably not since Durran's War. Likewise, Northmen tend to dismiss the courtly life and political intrigues of the south. Because of the grim, utilitarian nature of their existence,

also tend to have much less complex Heraldry than is found in some of the southern kingdoms such as the Reach.

Northmen do not regularly become knights because of that institution's ties to the Faith of the Seven - which has few followers in the North - but also because the Northmen are so hard-pressed for basic survival against external threats that they do not *need* a separate subclass of professional warriors; *every* Northman has to have skill at arms in order to survive.

A number of the traditions established by the First Men still hold strong among the Northmen: the strict observance of guest right and laws of hospitality, as well as the belief that justice should be dispensed and enforced by the very lords that pass the sentence. While guest right is held sacred by all religions and peoples in Westeros, the Northmen are noted for taking it particularly seriously: given their very harsh winters, the act of giving a guest shelter and food during cold weather when they otherwise might starve or freeze in the wilderness is a gesture of trust that is never to be taken lightly.

Northern lords adamantly pride themselves on holding to the laws of the First Men, that the man who passes a sentence of execution must swing the sword himself. In southern Westeros, professional executioners will often carry out a sentence at the command their liege lords - in the case of the King, this duty is performed by the King's Justice - the royal executioner. While executions may be dispensed because of petty quarrels in the south, the life-or-death struggles for survival that the Northmen have to face means that they take the weight of command very seriously. The Northmen feel that if a lord cannot look a condemned man in the face as he personally executes him, he is unworthy of the weight of responsibility and consequences of his own orders.