How would you make the North rich and/or powerful?

[Free Northman Reborn]

(Quote function doesn't work for some reason)

Both the Giants and the Mammoths are dying out, along with all the other great beasts and magical races. So they won't be around to be used for either conquest or ice cream, sadly.

Making a navy and founding new ports sounds like a good solution for bettering the North's position, however. It's actually verging on poor world building on GRRM's part for them not to have all that already. The insane Stark dictator Brandon the Burner died many centuries ago.

Especially given the fact that they have by far the longest coastline of any of the kingdoms.

[Bennis of the Brown Shield]

Especially given the fact that they have by far the longest coastline of any of the kingdoms.

Yeah, and that they seem to have very poorly developed infrastructure on land in large parts of the North. Mud tracks for roads and so on. In which case it's better to not bother and instead start traveling on water whenever possible, which is why for example the Norse became such a sea faring culture even though Scandinavia contains lots of land.

[jet199]

People got very rich selling wool in the middle-ages which should be easy money in the north. I can understand that wool and skins may have become unpopular during the long summer but then they could be stockpiled to take advantage when the prices for anything warm rises during the winter. Maybe the north is only poor now because of the long summer and the Starks always used to attack in the dead of winter because that is when they had the funds.

[The Frosted King]

(Quote function doesn't work for some reason)

Both the Giants and the Mammoths are dying out, along with all the other great beasts and magical races. So they won't be around to be used for either conquest or ice cream, sadly.

Making a navy and founding new ports sounds like a good solution for bettering the North's position, however. It's actually verging on poor world building on GRRM's part for them not to have all that already. The insane Stark dictator Brandon the Burner died many centuries ago.

Then manage the ones you have left.

Breed the mammoth population in the farthest north.

The same with the giants.

They're being wiped out due to overhunting and prejudice?

Then make it a crime to hunt them.

The solution is there, it just takes forethought and drive to resolve.

And a dictatorship is the best way to enforce changes, benevolently at least.

[The Golden Wolf]

The underdevelopment of the North is strange even with the long winters. Technology and science seem to have stagnated greatly which is odd as they should have come up with better ways to keep themselves warm and preserve food as those are the two biggest concerns they face.

I think all knowledge being concentrated and contained only in the Citadel is ridiculously contrived. I could see it being the greatest repository of knowledge in westeros but the only one in westeros for thousands of years? A continent that size but the only place to learn is in one kingdom you may go to war with. The way the Citadel and the system of maesters are set up actually may be what is stifling true innovation. Every kingdom should have an academy of some sort especially the North.

An academy in the North sponsored by the Starks dedicated to the betterment of the North and its people is something that should have been founded atleast 1000 years after the Citadel was founded. who knows they may have discovered steampower and gunpowder before Aegon landed.

[KING-OF-WINTERFELL]

The underdevelopment of the North is strange even with the long winters. Technology and science seem to have stagnated greatly which is odd as they should have come up with better ways to keep themselves warm and preserve food as those are the two biggest concerns they face.

I think all knowledge being concentrated and contained only in the Citadel is ridiculously contrived. I could see it being the greatest repository of knowledge in westeros but the only one in westeros for thousands of years? A continent that size but the only place to learn is in one kingdom you may go to war with. The way the Citadel and the system of maesters are set up actually may be what is stifling true innovation. Every kingdom should have an academy of some sort especially the North.

An academy in the North sponsored by the Starks dedicated to the betterment of the North and its people is something that should have been founded atleast 1000 years after the Citadel was founded. who knows they may have discovered steampower and gunpowder before Aegon landed.

Agreed.

[Ser Gawain]

1. Hire maesters to do a geological survey of the Wolfswood, the swamps and mountain regions of the Kingdom of the North. Start mining operations or farms depending on location.

2. Harvest and sell wood from the Wolfswood. Selling the wood to the Bravosi out of white harbor. In return acquiring a fleet of merchant vessels, and vessels of war. Fishing Vessels as well.

3. Update Moat Cailin and Greywater Watch

4. Establish a Castle along the ocean coast of the Rills, and a Market town, with the goal of it growing into a city.

5. Encourage young maesters to come north, and establish schools in the larger towns. Create a compulsory education system for children of both sexes between 5-12.

6. Establish a Military academy where those who are sent to, or choose to come to will be trained as soldiers and the best soldiers that exhibit leadership qualities become officers. Establish pacts with the Vale of Arryn and the Riverlands that students will be accepted from both places as well.

7, Establish light houses at Widows Watch, Flints finger and the new market town.

8. Pave the kings road from Greywater all the way to Castle black. Setting up inns and towns along the way, as well as post houses for messengers from the other parts of Westeros.

9. Recruit craftsmen from Bravos, Myr, Pentos, and Mereen.

10. Buy horses from the Dothraki via trade goods. Take a bigger hand in the trade of Horse and Cattle

11. Rebuild Winterfell, Castle Black, The Shadow Tower and Eastwatch.

12. Service to the Nights watch can be for a term of 5 years to life if one has no criminal record and wishes to volunteer. Their reward will depend on service given to the Kingdom.

13. Establish better trade routes between castles and towns. Require food and grain storage to meet a certain percentage in new villages and territories.

(First post, though I have lurked for a while now. )