First post for me too! I think I've found two nods to one of my favourite SF-F writers ever - aunt Ursula... :P The usual name for the Stark rulers of old - Kings of Winter = "King of Winter", Ursula's short story from the Hainish series. Children of the Forest - small, green, tree-hugging philosophy, peaceful until pissed-off = Athsheans, hilf natives of the Athshe/New Tahiti in "The Word for World is Forest"