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Bringing the Iron Islands into the fold.


Ser Vampyr

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Personally, as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, I would have destroyed every last one of their ships down to the last fishing boat. I'd have every shipwright and their apprentices put to the sword along with all of the great lords and their male kin. I would then outlaw any trading galleys from the Seven Kingdoms from so much as stopping at their ports.

Any captain caught selling to and buying from them will be sent to the Night's Watch. His ships will be sold within the Kingdoms and the bulk of the proceeds will go to support his family, if he has one, but the rest will go to his liege lord (depending on where he makes his home or where he was born).

The Iron Islanders can accept trade for Essos, clearly I have no control over that, but unfortunately for them, they're on the wrong side of Westeros. Furthermore, Pirates without ships will have nothing of value to trade in return. Looks like they'll have to start cultivating the land (which is going to be a nightmare on those islands). If this is too much of a pain, that's fine, I'm happy to accept your allegiance to the iron throne and the North, because that's where you'll be living. The gift will be resettled with these ex-islanders and they will swear fealty to the Starks. Their territory will be as far inland as humanly possible so I'd suggest they learn about agriculture, and quick.

Oh, you don't sow? Well you do now.

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13 hours ago, Little Lark said:

Personally, as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, I would have destroyed every last one of their ships down to the last fishing boat. I'd have every shipwright and their apprentices put to the sword along with all of the great lords and their male kin. I would then outlaw any trading galleys from the Seven Kingdoms from so much as stopping at their ports.

Any captain caught selling to and buying from them will be sent to the Night's Watch. His ships will be sold within the Kingdoms and the bulk of the proceeds will go to support his family, if he has one, but the rest will go to his liege lord (depending on where he makes his home or where he was born).

The Iron Islanders can accept trade for Essos, clearly I have no control over that, but unfortunately for them, they're on the wrong side of Westeros. Furthermore, Pirates without ships will have nothing of value to trade in return. Looks like they'll have to start cultivating the land (which is going to be a nightmare on those islands). If this is too much of a pain, that's fine, I'm happy to accept your allegiance to the iron throne and the North, because that's where you'll be living. The gift will be resettled with these ex-islanders and they will swear fealty to the Starks. Their territory will be as far inland as humanly possible so I'd suggest they learn about agriculture, and quick.

Oh, you don't sow? Well you do now.

You. I like you.

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Honestly, there is no way to change the iron born. They have no natural resources and cannot farm on their islands. Their only real means of income are from raiding, what I would do is give them the neck up by the wall to settle without disrupting the northern lords. Then I could convince them to raid essos and the islands nations such as naath for treasure and women. So we give them land and a steady source of income by allowing them to do what they know best without bringing harm to westoros.

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It's the economy, stupid. Beating the Ironborn into submission isn't going to work, unless you kill enough of them until economics dictate the isles can sustain those who haven't died or fled.

No, the real answer is in economics, and that means:

SHEEP.

Honestly. The economics of several island nations (Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the Shetlands in the North, New Zealand in the south) was built on wool. Note that all those isles in the northern hemisphere were Viking settlements.

Sheep do well on rocky cliffs with poor grazing. Sheep provide meat, cheese, leather and wool. Seriously. The Iron Islands could be the Britain of Westeros. They've even got a Fair Isle, just google the real world equivalent and you know why that's relevant. And best of all: you don't need to sow sheep. We do not sow? Indeed, we rear!

In addition, I'd promote migration. In effect, I wouldn't need to. The Ironborn lords would do that for me, as you really don't need that many peasants hanging around to successfully rear sheep. (See: Scottish highland clearances) Let those lowborn iron islanders work in Kingslanding or wherever in Westeros, and intermingle.

Destroy their ships? What a silly idea! I'd buy them more ships! Huge, strong, slow ships. Ideal for deep sea fishing and whaling, absolutely useless for the Ironborn style of war.

Obviously, they'd never accept any of this if it came from the King. Pay the Iron Price and whatnot. But I'm sure there are plenty bribeable lords willing to be rich with a 'new' way of business.

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If I'm Lord of the Iron Islands, I'm colonising the Stepstones. The Iron Islands don't have much natural resources, and on the west coast of Weseros there ain't enough sea-traffic for them to live off. So, set up shop in the Stepstones and rent your navy out to shipping interests.

That's right, it's the lucrative maritime security racket. Guarantee ships passing through your waters will be safe from pirates, for the right price - and for an extra fee, provide an escort. Just make sure a few ships that didn't pay up mysteriously disappear so people get the message. Get involved in insurance as well and you've got it made, plus it makes the whole thing look more legitimate.

Bonus option: rent the fleet out for mercenary purposes. How many sellsword companies can boast their own navy?

Of course none of this would fly with the Ironborn themselves, who have ancient cultural ties to their islands. But fuck 'em.

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1 hour ago, Hammermen's Revolt said:

It's the economy, stupid. Beating the Ironborn into submission isn't going to work, unless you kill enough of them until economics dictate the isles can sustain those who haven't died or fled.

No, the real answer is in economics, and that means:

SHEEP.

Honestly. The economics of several island nations (Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the Shetlands in the North, New Zealand in the south) was built on wool. Note that all those isles in the northern hemisphere were Viking settlements.

Sheep do well on rocky cliffs with poor grazing. Sheep provide meat, cheese, leather and wool. Seriously. The Iron Islands could be the Britain of Westeros. They've even got a Fair Isle, just google the real world equivalent and you know why that's relevant. And best of all: you don't need to sow sheep. We do not sow? Indeed, we rear!

In addition, I'd promote migration. In effect, I wouldn't need to. The Ironborn lords would do that for me, as you really don't need that many peasants hanging around to successfully rear sheep. (See: Scottish highland clearances) Let those lowborn iron islanders work in Kingslanding or wherever in Westeros, and intermingle.

Destroy their ships? What a silly idea! I'd buy them more ships! Huge, strong, slow ships. Ideal for deep sea fishing and whaling, absolutely useless for the Ironborn style of war.

Obviously, they'd never accept any of this if it came from the King. Pay the Iron Price and whatnot. But I'm sure there are plenty bribeable lords willing to be rich with a 'new' way of business.

That I actually pictured a person giving this as a speech and screaming the word, "SHEEP," made this whole thread for me.

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