Alden Rothack

I'm wondering that too, one of the reasons free companies because popular that very wealthy countries without the people to spare for their own armies that isn't the case in essos

yes and the reason is because notable activity occurs there more often there is a rather large gap between what might normally be needed and say The Company of the Cat merchant caravans will employ sellswords, as many as they can because otherwise someone will steal their cargo. we know that many sellswords are employed in westeros during the war, the Freys and Stannis among others are noted as gathering in large numbers but even there no company names are given, they appear to be gathered the same as other fighters are by sending out the call.

I'm with the Great Jon as far as a united westeros goes

I am aware of the Free companies small sellsword companies who are affordable by most mid-ranked lords are going to have work most of the time, either due to feuds or trade protection, gold and food alone are going to provide a lot of work

Honestly it isn't going to make a difference in that respect most sellsword companies aren't large enough for the crown to care and the ones that are a single lord couldn't afford to have on retainer

the Far West is my favourite to think about outside of Westeros

the sellsword already has structure and recruitment, thats what a captain and officers do, in the absence of officers the Sargeants will do until new officers can be appointed. they aren't going to give up a chunk of their money to some lord unless the benefits are worth it its not like now where owning a company actually gives you enforcable power over it, sellsword companies are infamous for the lack of control lords have over them even when they are nearby.

Because curently they and only profit from their efforts. that is the difference between them and just about every fighter out there, because eeryone gets pay and plunder

Well actually it does, because a one sided relationship tends to result in them showing up only to burn your house with you in it. if you want it to matter then that house owning it has to benefit the sellsword company in fact the main difference between sellsword companies and those who recruited for the nobility was that the former did not care about anything but their own profit and the latter did so in answer to your question its feasible only if the sellsword company benefits from the arrangement.

yes thats my point, the sellswords get paid regardless so why would they allow someone else to own the company where they get nothing out of it, one of the very few good things about being a sellsword over being an armsman is not being beholden to anyone outside the company unless it is to the companies benefit to do so. the ironborn when not led by the crazy, stupid or both are just fine with making profit, as were both of their main inspirations so they would absolutely do it if the offer was good enough

What do the sellswords get out of it, in the case of the ironborn they to flee home and rebuild but that doesn't appear to be the case with the sellsword companies

While I wouldn't be suprised if westeros had cave lions at some point the only recent incident involving a lion suggests it is at best normal lion sized, a pack of hounds against a lion is impressive but doable, a pack of hounds against a cave lion is not. Back to the direwolves, Bran was comparing the size, though the direwolf weighing more than Brans pony isn't unlikely, Grey Wind and Ghost do seem to be large pony height though weight is uncertain. a scale up would conservatively put it at five times the weight of a real wolf

It seems to me that the information on direwolves is somewhat contradictory the direwolf mother is described as both bigger than a pony and twice the size of the biggest hound- this suggests a full grown female direwolf is at least 4ft high and 6ft long grey wind and ghost are eye level with a human- conservatively at least 5ft tall, cannot be based on length because several types of hound are 7ft long. ghost and nymeria are both twice the size of the largest wolf- twice the height and length would be similar to the previous point, cannot be weight because that is too little.

120lbs is the minimum per wikipedia with 150-180lbs being more like per same Your assessment of the size of a pony being is eually if not more flawed, it is true we don't know for sure whether a direwolf would beat a lion which was the actual point before you started your own lies and goal post moving However if you wish to bow out then do so.

no it wouldn't because wolfhounds weigh from 150lbs to 180lbs, they are extremely lightly built for their length, a mastiff for example is up to double the weight despite the wolf hound being on average much longer, a wolf the size of a pony would be a lot more than that. if the difference was as great as you claim no wolf would ever come near a lion and they do, we also specifically know that direwolves in the books can kill armoured knights, something I doubt is the case for lions. you clear up nothing because your realities are nonsense, the lion has a huge advantage over a wolf to the degree it does because its a lot bigger, if it was better for its size then even a entire pack of wolves would have no chance against a single lion. wolves and in particular direwolves are very good at killing bigger things

the exactly measurement of the direwolves are complex however the direwolf mother was bigger than a pony and very unlikely to be as lightly built as a wolfhound which is one of the lightest built 'large' dogs in existence, however we also need to consider whether Bran means by weight or by size, Because this makes a huge difference, for example the largest wolfhounds sit between the size of the common grey wolf and the real direwolf. if the direwolf is twice the weight of a wolfhound then its at least 300lbs, however if its bgger than a pony then its at least double that wolves do kill lions, they do so despite being on average four times smaller and being less well adapted for it than direwolves were I'm still betting on the direwolf

a cave lion is bigger than a real direwolf, its still tiny compared to the direwolves of westeros

yup, in fact the number of smallfolk itself requires certain assumptions, particularly when your comparing urban vs rural the number of people in cities for example tended to be the actual number counted whereas the number of rural people tended to be the number of households and/or number of people who owned or rented land, the counts in city also tended to be more accurate because city dwellers mostly paid their taxes in cash. smallfolk could run all the way from someone who farmed half an acre up to the guy who owned twenty villages, as many ships and a fish market, hes still a commoner because he has no right to hand out his own justice.

its worth noting that the difference between different ypes of smallfolk if they exist are only meaningful to other smallfolk to someone like Tyrion there is no difference between a crofter and a franklin but there sure as hell is to the franklin

it certainly does

I wish her the luck of it slavery will make monsters out of saints and planetos as nne of the latter to begin with

the dothraki are among those who deserve something like that

the ironborn vs the dothraki would an interesting fight, particularly as both sides have archers

Yes it depend on if its just the three or everyone I can't see the seven kingdoms wanting to fight everyone

good quality and loyal troops are very hard to do without having a strong social investment in the system that employs them. essos seems to favour one or the other rather than going for both, its not unknown for that to happen the thing about sense is isn't actually very common the presence of both the unsullied and large amounts of rabble suggests that whoever got the sense in essos it wasn't the people in charge. westeros by contrast seems to go for both, which is why i'm betting on them