- Pronouns
- they/them
Another masochistic snow exercise by IronGiant and AeksioOndos
Storrold’s point is a piece of land on the eastern coast of the lands beyond the Wall, jutting into the Shivering sea north of Eastwatch and Skagos.
It is the former location of the only large scale settlement known to have formed beyond the wall, Hardhome, which sits at the tip of the point.
In this project we want to revitalise this section of land beyond the wall. However, we will be leaving Hardhome alone and the very tip of the point alone so that a separate application/application can be made in future.
The Lore
Storrold’s Point lore: -Storrold's Point is a peninsula beyond the Wall on the Shivering Sea. At its tip is Hardhome, a ruined freefolk settlement. ASOS
-Crab gods are worshiped by some tribes who live along Storrold's Point. TWOIAF
-At the harvest feast in Winterfell, Hother Umber says wildlings cross the Bay of Seals in little boats and wash up on Umber lands. He demands a fleet of longships be built to stop them. ACOK
-The waters of the Shivering Sea teem with life. Hundreds of varieties of fish swim through its depths, including salmon, wolf fish, sand lances, grey skates, lampreys and other eels, whitefish, char, shark, herring, mackerel, and cod. Crabs and lobsters are found everywhere along its shores. Seals, narwhals, walruses, and sea lions have their rookeries and breeding grounds on and around the countless rocky islands and sea stacks. The sea is also home to many whales, including grey whales, white whales, humpbacks, spotted whales, and leviathans. The westernmost reaches of the Shivering Sea, are the richest fishing grounds in the known world. TWOIAF
-The haunted forest is bounded to the east by the Shivering Sea and the Bay of Seals. Cotter Pyke writes to Jeor Mormont that elk herds have been streaming toward the Shivering Sea and Bay of Seals, and that mammoths and large footprints (giants probably) have also been spotted near Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. AGOT
Hardhome lore: Located on the tip of Storrold’s Point. A great cliff looms above the settlement, pocked with cave mouths. It sits on a sheltered bay and has a natural harbor deep enough for the large ships. Wood and stone are plentiful. The waters teem with fish, and there are colonies of seals and sea cows close at hand. ADWD
Nowadays there is no shelter there for people but for the caves, dubbed the screaming caves by the men of the Nights Watch. ADWD
Hardhome was close to becoming the only true town north of the Wall. AWOIAF
Hardhome was destroyed abruptly 600 years ago. The settlement burned so high and hot that watchers on the wall thought the sun was rising in the north. Ash rained down on the Haunted Forest and the Shivering sea alike for 6 months afterwards. Traders investigating Hardhome reported a landscape of charred trees and burned bones, waters choked with swollen corpses, and shrieks echoing from the cave mouths. ADWD and AWOIAF
A ship sent by the Night's Watch also reported the strange screams. AWOIAF
The free folk never again settled the site, which became overgrown by wilderness. Rangers north of the Wall told tales of Hardhome being haunted by ghouls, demons, and burning ghosts with an unhealthy taste for blood. ADWD (if Aeksio's memory is serving him correctly)
Ruddy Hall lore: Tormund Giantsbane is introduced as the Mead-king of Ruddy Hall, among a string of titles, by Mance Rayder. ASOS After the death of two of his sons, Tormund is no longer the jolly man he was at Ruddy Hall.
Yes, that is all there is for Ruddy Hall canon.
Plan
Plan
Based on the evidence provided, Storrold’s Point is the most densely populated and perhaps the warmest spot Beyond the Wall. Animal migrations head there for the approaching winter and wildlings would inevitably follow the food source while the fish stocks of the Shivering sea and the Bay of Seals would provide all year sustenance.
Therefore, the main sustenance of the settlements in the project is sea life. Seals, fish stocks, ‘sea cows’ and crabs are abundant in the nutrient rich waters off the coast (canon) and the river inland hosts salmon/trout (not canon) or similar migratory fish.
Further inland settlements begin hunting and herding elk and depend more steadily on the seasonal elk migrations.
One of the settlements along this divide between nomadic elk and fishing is Ruddy Hall, through which there is barter of washed ashore trading goods, elk skins and other things.
The plan is to have 4 settlements along the coast, with a maximum of 12 houses and average of around 8. These will include the crab worshiping tribes mentioned.
The idea for the largest of the tribes is to have an altar on a stretch of rock above the tide with a basket of red crab bodies within it. There will be an area nearby with tidal pools and similar bodies of water in which some crabs and fish might be caught. Essentially primitive tidal fish traps.
There will also be some small boats to facilitate proper fishing for crabs.
The current river on the peninsula will be updated and will have two settlements and ruddy Hall on or nearby it. These will have an average of 9 houses.
Most settlements will be abandoned as the inhabitants will have journeyed to Mance’s or have been killed by the Others. This will be indicated by having houses with cold hearths and stripped bedding, everything taken rather than things suddenly dropped and covered over by snow, left as if people had suddenly disappeared like the wildling camp Will finds in the very first chapter of AGOT.
There will, however, be a tent camp on the western border migrating to Mance’s camp, perhaps multiple. There will also be a number of smaller Bothies and lone longhouses scattered around the region. The building style is based on a mixture of Scandinavian Viking age, pict and Northern European Neolithic settlements.
Terrain: Aeksio wants to remove all the old trees and work together with Otty to create a more immersive and beautifully haunting Haunted Forest in the area. The terraforming of the old river and coastline will likely require redoing snow over the entire area. Expect a huge singular //smooth area. He is considering a possible extension to the peninsula tip but would prefer if this was done in a separate project, especially as he is unsure how to approach the terra in regards to the Hardhome cataclysm.
Inspiration
Prehistoric settlements in Finland and Northern Europe. Lofotr/Borg Longhouse, Hvaldr Longhouse, Kierriki, assorted Pictish longhouses and roundhouses.For terra there are influences of the Icelandic shoreline, Cape Breton on Nova Scotia and areas of forested Finnish lake and river systems.
Ice: Aeksio wants to make this section of coast far less icy than the Bay of Ice on the western coast of Westeros. This would mean cutting back the ice sheet from the shore so that stony beeches can be represented well. Additionally, Aeksio wants to make some of the remaining ice sheets into floating ice packs, sometimes rising 4 or 5 blocks out of the water at most. At least once one of these will have washed ashore and be sitting on the pebbled beaches that would cover part of the coastline. Aeksio wants to do this to escape the monotony of snow shores that has developed in the Mountain Clans, partly fostered by himself.
Key:
Purple - Inlander settlements
Orange - Riverfolk + Coastal settlements.
Big purple/orange spludge - Ruddy Hall
Light blue - River
Blue line - fishtraps
Green thin lines - flood plain of the river
Big thick red line - end of project
Red dots - Proposed weirwoods
Last edited:
