If you could change anything about ASOIAF's worldbuilding, what would it be? [update]

[Mysecondaccount]

As a preface, I'm not trying to insult the quality of GRRM's works. Nor am I claiming that my "additions" are "improvements" to the original novels or if it would even be workable in the narrative. Instead, I'm just putting in what I think would be interesting to see in the world of ASOIAF. There is a heavy emphasis on "I think", as it is just my opinion, and many of you most certainly wouldn’t care to see any of this in the lore.

This is also just a creative writing exercise that I'm only doing for fun. I love the world of ASOIAF, and I simply wanted to play around the with the lore. There is nothing more to it than that. If any of you find this post familiar, it is because I made a similar post here last year. However, I added more entities to my outline since the previous post, and made a considerable amount of changes to the already existing ones.

Another thing that I should warn about is that this post is incredibly lengthy. On my google document where I store it, my outline is over 20 pages long. There are also 42 entries in my list. If this is too much of a read for you, I understand completely.

If you could make any changes to the world of ASIOAF, what would it be? Here are the changes I would make:

Essos:

Part 1 (West of the Bone Mountains):

1.Dothraki:

With the Dothraki, I wouldn't make them civilization destroyers, as they were in the novels' backstory. As I don't think relatively under equipped and fragmented nomads like the Dothraki would have the resources for that. In my "reimaging", they are just a loose collection of nomadic bands/khalasars. They are still a dreaded terror for small villages, weaker pastoralists, and forager bands, a considerable threat to traveling merchants, and have been known to devastate armies sent against them with guerilla warfare. 

However, unlike the novels, the Dothraki won't be conquering/besieging major cities, as they don't have the weaponry, manpower, or the logistics for such operations. In other words, the Dothraki genocide of the Sarnori and the Century of Blood wouldn't have played out in my "version" as the way they happened in the official ASOIAF timeline.

Thus, the Essosi city states consider the Dothraki to be minor yet scary nuisances. They mostly leave the Dothraki alone, unless a Dothraki Khalasar raids one of their outposts/villages. In such a case, they will send a punitive expedition to punish the offending Khalasars, and then leave. If anything, the Essosi states consider the Dothraki to be somewhat valuable trading partners. I picture the Dothraki trading animal furs and slaves to the Essosi city states, in exchange for livestock and iron tools.

Dothraki subsistence also isn't dependent on pillaging. They extensively hunt and raise livestock (like sheep and goats) of their own. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the Dothraki indulge in a lot of trading with other Essosi peoples. Last but not least, I would make the Dothraki almost entirely Great Plains Native Americans (with some Navajo influences crossed in) analogues rather than Turco-Mongol expies. The more far eastern Jogos Nhai will be the counterparts to the Turco-Mongols and other Eurasian Steppe Nomads.

2.Valyrian Free Cities:

Once a powerful empire, the Valyrian Freehold have now since fragmented into 9 rival city states. Each battling the others for supremacy. Most aspects of the Free Cities from the books will be kept in my version. Much like the novels, the Valyrian Free Cities are all oligarchical republics in one form or the other, though some do lean towards religious theocracies.

They are also highly dependent on the slave trade. Slavery in the Valyrian city states takes a variety of forms. Criminals, debtors, and even the impoverished selling themselves as an escape from poverty are typical scenarios for enslavement. Many Valyrian city states also practice chattel slavery, whom are usually war or raid captives delivered to them from suppliers like the Ironborn, Dothraki, Basilisk Islanders, Greater Moraqi, Telosi, and Stepstone privateers. Prisoners taken from wars with other city states are also often enslaved. 

One point of divergence of the novels is that the Free Cities have their own standing armies, and aren’t as dependent on mercenaries. However, the Valyrian city states still employ mercenaries (mostly recruited from their own citizens or from other Free Cities). Mercenaries are typically reserved for covert operations requiring plausible deniability. 

All Valyarian city states practice compulsory enlistment, but there is a considerable amount of variation in the draft age. In some city states like Lys, the mandatory age of recruitment is 15. Braavos on the hand has 22 as the age when enlistment is required. However, Lys only requires a minimum 5 years of service and an additional 10 years on reserve, while Braavos has a minimum of 10 years of service and 12 years in reserve. 

Additionally, there are a plethora of communities inhabiting Western Essos independent of any of the city states' rule. They range from small autonomous towns, tiny self-ruling villages and tribes, nomadic caravans, and even isolated families and lone hermit frontiersmen, and are collectively known as “the Orphans of Valayria.” Most of these “Orphans” consist of escaped slaves, fugitive criminals, runaway debtors, political dissidents, draft dodgers, refugees from poverty, and their descendants. Their sources of revenue is rather diverse, and ranges from farming, fur trapping, mining, and even banditry on some occasions.  

Most of the city states officially regard Orphans as dangerous nuisances. They often send expeditions or commission Dothraki Khalsars to wipe them out. However, the city states also have been known to do business with them. Furs and minerals are the most common goods exchanged in such transactions. Some Orphan groups act as traveling merchants who wander from city state to city state.

For clothing aesthetics, my version of the Valyrian city states was inspired by 16th and 17th century Western Europe. Their politics were borrowed from classical era Greco-Romans. The “Orphans of Valyria” were loosely inspired by 17th to 19th century Frontier America settlements, with a dash of Romani and the Maroons added into the mix.

3.Lhazar:

For reasons I’ll discuss later on in this outline, my Lhazareen differentiate from Martin’s in their pacifism and their political structure. They don’t have their book counterparts aversion to violence, and are hunter gatherer semi-nomads rather than being fully sedentary shepherds.

The Lhazareen are divided into hundreds of bands. Each band mostly consists of a single extended family, which are generally ruled by the oldest male. When young men reach of age, they are expected to leave and find brides from other bands. Usually they join their wife’s band or return to their own band with their bride depending on how the marriage is arranged, but kidnapping their wives to strike out on their own isn’t unheard of. 

They subsist on fishing, hunting, and foraging. When food is plentiful, the Lhazareen set up camp with their plant foliage tents. In times of famine or drought, they vacate to search for lands with more food resources.

Like with the books, the Lhazareen have a troubled history with the neighboring Dothraki. They have a habit of killing Dothraki animals (and occasionally the herders tending them) like horses, sheep, and goats, as the Lhazareen don’t understand the concept of domestication. This in return enrages the Dothraki into targeting them for slave raids.  

My Lhazareen are loosely modeled after Californian and Aridoamerican Native American groups like the Hupa, Puma, Kumeray, Chichimeca, Luiseño, Mojave, Karankawa, Chumash, and the Pomo etc.

4.Saath:

I’ve composited the Sarnori and Qaarthi together in my version. The Jogos Nhai rather then the Dothraki, were responsible for the genocide and near destruction of the Sarnori people. Though the Dothraki khalasars still preyed on a few stray Sanori refugees that wandered into their territory to flee from the Jogos Nhai advances. 

As with the novels’ narrative, the few surviving Sanori refugees fled into the Jade Gates to hide from the Jogos Nhai. They established cities like Saath on the coasts, and slowly earned back their wealth from becoming a middleman in trade routes connecting Westeros and the far east of Essos. Their newly minted position as the broker of Essosi trade has thrust them into competition with the Empire of Greater Moraq.

Saath lacks an individual head of state and is ruled by an oligarchical council of merchants known as the Pureborn. My version was inspired by various asiatic Indo-European peoples and states such as the Tocharians of the Tarim Basin, the Sogdians, the Kushans, Sasanians, etc.

5.Ghis:

The Ghiscari city states’ extravagance and dependence on slavery would be toned down, though still present. Although they still a hub for the slave trade, the Ghiscari city states also export wines and minerals to their trading partners.  

There would also be a greater population of freedmen, so it would offer slaves more an exit path from slavery, and provide a defense against slave uprisings. The Ghiscari city states also aren’t dependent on slave armies like the Unsullied (who don’t even exist at all in my version) and mercenaries, and have standing armies of freemen at their disposal.

However, unlike the Valayrians, the Ghiscari don’t maintain standing armies on a long term basis. In peacetime, armies of Ghiscari city states are more akin to civil guards who maintain order and defend their borders from outside intrusions. Their size is often token at best, and they only build up their strength through volunteers and drafting during war time. After active fighting ends, the Ghiscari tend to decommission the vast majority of their rank and file soldiers, leaving only a select few professional specialists active. 

Another difference is that the Ghiscari city states are ruled by kings known as “Pharaohs” rather then a ruling class of slave owning noble families. The Ghiscari city states would be designed after Ancient Egypt and the Mesoptamian city states under me. 

6.Ib:

My take on the Ibbenese is relatively faithful to Martin’s original designs. They remain a Homo subspecies who have taken up whaling, fishing, and sealing. My Ibbenese are just as distrustful of outsiders as they in the novels, and only allow visitors at some Northern posts on Ib. 

The primary difference is that my Ibbenese are more tribal than Martin’s, and are roughly divided into the tribes that remain in Ib and the tribes that settled in the Ifequevron coastal forests. There is a considerable amount of variation in Ibbenese dwellings depending on the tribe, but they lack any sort of cities. Ifequevron Ibbenese structures consist of lodges built into the ground, while the majority of Ib tribes dwell in wood tents and handcrafted igloos (though some Ib tribes construct lodges similar to their Ifequevron kin).

Although they are primarily whalers, fishermen, and sealers, they also have a deeply seated warrior tradition. Ibbenese youths frequently raid their traditional enemies, the Wildlings of Westeros, the Dothraki of Essos, and rival Ibbenese tribes for prestige within their own tribes. 

My Ibbenese were modeled after the Russian Far East Natives and Canadian First Nations. To be more specific, the tribes that remain on Ib are designed after Russian Far Eastern groups such as the  Inuit/Yupik, Aleuts, Koryaks, Nivkh, Ainu, and the Chukchi. Ifequevron Ibbenese take cues from the Pacific Northwest Coastal chiefdoms such as the Tlingits, Makah, and the Hadia. 

7.Telos:

Rather than being a singular minor city state under the Slavers Bay umbrella, the Telosi are a collection of 12 petty kingdoms. Each kingdom is ruled by a king. Theoretically, kings are appointed by family inheritance. In practice however, Telosi kings often simply “adopt” their favored lieutenants in order for them to be eligible heirs.

They are all a warrior people who war amongst themselves incessantly. Slavery is a primary source of revenue for the Telosi kingdoms. Captives taken from wars with rival Telosi kingdoms are commonly sold to slave markets in the Valyrian and Ghiscari city states.

My vision for the Telosi are mainly Bronze Age Aegean kingdoms (such as the Myceaneans, Minions, and Nuragics) infused with the Biblical Israelites. 

8.Stepstones:

My version of the Stepstones as being a piratical haven is similar to the novels, but with some differences. Under my direction, the Stepstone islands contain a collection of various small farming communities and port towns. Most of the inhabitants are a mix of Dornish and Valyrian (especially those from Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh) settlers, renegades, and their descendants.

The Stepstone islands are heavily disputed by various Valyrian city states and the Iron Throne. Despite the various claims to them, they are in practice lawless, and are mostly administered by pirate kings. The pirates and the farming communities have a long lasting symbiotic relationship. Which consists of the pirates protecting the farmers in exchange for crop tribute and submitting to their authority. 

Pirates operating in the stepstones also often act as privateers for the Valyrian city states. They are often commissioned under the tables to disrupt the shipping lanes of their rivals, and supply their markets with slaves. In such circumstances, pirates kings often switch to raiding land targets to avoid their clients’ taxation on loot taken from merchant ships.

My version of the Stepstone pirate colonies and the adjacent farming communities are designed after the Caribbean Buccaneers, the Barbary Coast states, and the Hospitaller Malta to a lesser extent.

Part 2 (East of the Bone Mountains):

9.Thousand Isles:

I’ve completely revamped the Thousand Isles from the novels. In my version, the Thousand Islanders are ordinary humans rather than being blatantly Lovecraftian Deep Ones. They are foragers who both comb the beaches for seals, fish, and birds and their islands’ forests for game.

The Thousand Islanders are scattered into hundreds of family based bands. Each is ruled by a shaman who is said to communicate with their creator god of the sea and ancestral spirits. They have little contact with the outside world, save for sporadic encounters with the Ibbenese and the Mussovy. Whom they flip flop between trading and raiding.

I’ve redesigned the Thousand Isles after various Patagonian indigenous groups. More specifically the Tierra del Fuego natives such as the Yaghan, Selk'nam, and the Kawéskar.

10.Carcosa:

Carcosa is a deeply isolated and xenophobic kingdom located deep in the treacherous heart of the Mountains of Morn. The Carcosa have such a deep seated paranoia around outsiders, that if any outsider steps foot into Carcosan territory, they would most likely be lynched or executed on the spot.

They are a theocratic people who are ruled by monk-kings known as “Dalmas.” In simplified terms, the Dalamas teach that self reliance in all things is the key to spiritual enlightenment. Accepting any form of help from outsiders is seen as a sign of corruption and weakness. 

Although the Carcosa don’t have any history of external aggression, the Dalamas are very authoritarian toward their people. Even the vaguest whiff of dissidence is ruthlessly cracked down on. Foreigners are used by the ruling Dalmas as scapegoats for their kingdom’s problems, and the Dalmas justify their rule by claiming that they’re protecting their populace from them. 

I’ve designed the Carcosa after various Himylanan Kingdoms such as Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim, and Nepal with some elements of modern North Korea added in.  

11.Lengi:

Like with the published lore, the island of Lengi has two different peoples inhabiting it. The most predominant group are the former YiTi settlers who have taken over much of the island. They have sworn off their former forebears and formed a nation of their own. 

Unlike their motherland, the Lengii settlers have developed a feudal society not dissimilar to Westeros. Although the emperor is theoretically the head of state and is regarded as a deity by the populace, he is nothing more than a puppet ruler. Scores of noblemen known as daimyos, are the true rulers of their fiefdoms. Daimyos rely on Samurai to protect their lands and enforce their will.

The indigenous tribes dwell in the remote jungle highlands of the island. They subsist on farming. Their relationship with the Lengii settlers is strained, but they collaborate in fending off YiTi incursions. One difference I would make with the native Lengi from Martin’s version is that I would take out their excessively tall heights. 

The settler Lengii are a transparent fantasy version of medieval Japan, while the native Lengii were modeled after the Taiwanese aborigines, the Dayaks of Borneo, the Igorots of the Philippine island of Luzon, and the Sumatran Bataks and Nias.

12.Hyrkroon:

Hykroon under my version somewhat follows the official lore with some differences. The practice of gelding the majority of the male population won’t be included in my take. Though women still take up primarily provider roles, while men fill more “submissive” caregiver niches in the household. Men also serve as farmers, scribes, cooks, craftsmen, etc. As with the novels, they lack an individual head of state, but are ruled by a council known as the “Great Fathers.” 

The Hyrkroonian city states are famous in the known world for having women dominate their armies. This stems from the belief that only women, being the givers of life, should be the only ones allowed to take life. They follow R'hllor, and sacrifice war captives (especially the hated Jogos Nhai) to honor the Lord of Light. 

I envision the Hykroon city states as being loosely inspired by various Hindu Indian kingdoms and petty states such as the Cholas, Mauryans, Gajapati, and Chalukyas. The Sri Lankan kingdoms such as the Kingdom of Kandy were factored into my design of them. 

13.Mejhah:

The Mejhah are a few of the peoples here that I’ve created entirely from cloth, and have no book counterparts. Their name was taken from Vaes Mejhah, one of the many cities that were sacked and destroyed by the Dothraki. In my version, the Mejhah are a people closely related to the  Hyrkroonians.

Unlike their warrior women cousins, the Mejhah are tribal and have taken up a forager lifestyle. The Mejhah also diverge from other forager peoples in that they are sedentary. They live in the dense forests of the Bone Mountains, which provides a bulwark against their various enemies such as their Hyrkroonian kin and the Jogos Nhai. As a result of countless centuries of raids and invasions from those foes, the Mejhah have a knee jerk hostility to outsiders.

Any outsiders that wander into their territory or enemies that they capture are sacrificed to their Earth gods. These offerings are meant to fertilize the plants that they pick and ensure the availability of animals they prey upon.

I’ve designed the Mejhah after various Indian Adivasi peoples like the Veddas of Sri Lanka, and the Santhals and Khunds of Eastern India.

14.Asshai:

Rather than be some mystical and foreboding deathland of sorcerers, Asshai is a nation just like any others. Though they still are ruled by powerful sorcerers, the “deathland” aspects will be removed entirely. They have recently unified under a single banner after centuries of bitter wars between rival kingdoms. 

Asshai has been an important trading port in Essos, but their traditional enemy YiTi has slowly outshined them over the recent centuries. The recently anointed emperor is interested in waging war against YiTi in order to both remold Asshai into a single nation and to reclaim their position as the primary tradehub of Essos.

My version of Asshai is a composite of several mainland Southeast Asian kingdoms such as the Khmer Empire, Dai Viet, the Champas, and Siam. 

15.Stygia:

There are no similarities between my Stygia and the books’ version beyond them sharing a name. In the lore of the original books, Stygia was an enigmatic and foreboding “lost city.” Under my direction, the Stygians are a vague collection of hill tribes and petty kingdoms living in Asshai’s western and southern borders. 

The name “Stygian” only exists in the minds of the Asshai, and is a blanket pejorative comparable to how the Greco-Roman states used “Barbarian” to describe any hostile foreigners. “Stygian” tribes and petty kingdoms are extremely diverse, and many don’t have any affiliation beyond living in close proximity to each other. 

However, one of the very few traits shared by many of the Stygian peoples is the dependency on rice cultivation. A good number of Stygian tribes also practice head hunting, and use heads taken from their enemies for crop fertility rituals. 

Historical influences for my Stygians vary from tribe to tribe. Several Stygian tribes are designed after amalgam of various hill tribes of mainland Southeast Asia such as the Shans, Kachins, Miao-Hmongs, Karens, and the Wa. Others take inspiration from the Assam hillmen such as the Nagas, Kuki, Abors, and the Chin-Lushanis.

16.YiTi:

My YiTi is more or less the same as the official novels. As with the books, YiTi is one of the oldest and most powerful nations in the known world. On paper, YiTi is a centralized empire composed of dozens of different provinces that answer to a single Emperor.

In reality, the power of each individual province is so strong, that they are virtually their own autonomous kingdom. To the point that they developed their own separate policies and cultures from the royal palace. The central Emperor’s authority is publicly upheld by the provinces’ governors, though behind closed doors is an entirely different matter altogether.

Yiti often goes through massive civil wars between the rival provinces every few generations. Remnants of the defeated armies usually scatter into the Southeastern borderlands with Asshai, and form themselves into often bitterly competing bandit gangs/rebel groups. These gangs and insurgents are often known as “Flagmen” for their use of flags as an identifying insignia. Flagmen use the treacherous jungles as bases for their operations, and are often the de facto rulers of the lawless YiTi-Asshai border. They frequently war with Stygian hill tribes, rival Flagmen gangs, YiTian and Asshaian armies for their fiefdoms. 

YiTi under my version is inspired by a composite of several historical Chinese dynasties (particularly the Shang, Qin, Tang, Song, and the Ming), with some Korean dynasties (particularly the Silla, Josen, and the Goguryeo, etc) added in as well. The “Flagmen” were taken from the 19th century Haw/Flag Armies, who were the remnants of Taping rebels who fled China to evade Qing forces after the end of the Taiping revolt, and formed their own bandit gangs in Indochina. 

17.Cannibal Sands/N’Dath:

In my version, the so-called “Cannibal Sands” are home to dozens of warlike farmers, who organize themselves into small and primitive “cities”. They are referred to as “Sand Cannibals” by outsiders for their practice of wartime cannibalism and eating parts of loved ones’ bodies during funeral rites, though the Sandmen call themselves the N’Dath. The Cannibal Sands are a mostly barren desert with large but scattered pockets of fertile oases. 

Such oases are highly prized by the N’Dath, and they are a favored location for their cities. Rival N’Dath cities have fought countless small but merciless wars with each other for control over them. They are so protective that the N’Dath also often kill outsiders for straying too close to their oases. The oases are a trove for dietary resources such as game and fruits, and provide a water source for the crops of N’Dath farmers. 

I faintly designed the N’Dath after the Çatalhöyük proto city, though a considerable amount of artistic license was taken.

18.Jogos Nhai:

There is little distinction between my “reimaging” and the original Jogos Nhai. With the exception of some fragments that have taken up forest foraging, the Jogos Nhai still mostly remain nomadic horse tribes and war is a way of life for them. Their distinctively fluid gender roles and women integrated into combat are still kept. Raiding other neighboring peoples like the YiTi, the Mussovy, the Hyrkoons, and the N’ghai is a rite of passage for many young boys and girls alike. 

They are Essos’ civilization destroyers, while the more Western Dothraki are mere raiders of small villages and caravans. Perhaps the only real difference between Martin’s Jogos Nhai and mine is the usage of armor. My version utilizes lamamour armor akin to the Mongols and other Euriaisan Steppe Nomads, their historical inspiration. As far as I know, the Jogos Nhai of the novels seem to fight unarmored. 

As mentioned above, not all Jogos Nhai are horse nomads. There are a small portion who take up a forest foraging lifestyle. These tribes are much smaller and weaker than their nomadic kin. Forest Jogos Nhai tend to organize themselves into small family based clans, who scour the Mussovy forests for game. The influence for Forest Jogos Nhai are Siberian Tungus tribes like the Evenks, Nanai, and the Evens. 

19.N’Ghai:

The N‘Ghai, known by the YiTi as the Grey Waste Men, used to dwell in the Mountains of Morn, where they built their towns into the cliff walls. Many N’Ghai were expelled from their homes by the Jogos Nhai, though some have created underground “bunker cities” to hide. Prior to their expulsion, the N’Ghai used to be divided into hundreds of independent and bitterly feuding cliff towns. 

Each town was governed by a coven of shaman-priests. N’Ghai cliff-towns subsided on their farming and often traded their crops with other neighboring cliff-towns and occasionally more distant lands like YiTi, Mussovy, and Asshai.

They were quite a balkanized people, and the N’Ghai frequently warred against themselves. Their incessant wars and inability to form a united front left them vulnerable to the advances of the Jogos Nhai. The Jogos Nhai invaders conquered and drove off cliff-town after cliff-town until only a few allies remained. Waves of N’Ghai refugees fled and invaded Mussovy, YiTi, and Asshai to a lesser extent. 

YiTi garrison units are now forced to contend with N’Ghai refugees desperate to overcome their walls. My version of the N’Ghai were modeled after the so-called “Cliff Dwellers” of pre-Columbian Southwestern United States.   

20.Mussovy: 

In my envisioning, the Mussovy are farmers who dwell in “mound-towns.” Each individual mound-town is autonomous and ruled by its own chief-king. With the help of priests under their command, chief-kings are the head of Mussovy religion. 

Despite the independence of each individual mound-town, they align themselves under alliances dominated by more powerful mound-towns. They pay tribute to the dominant mound-towns in exchange for protection from rival mound-towns and external enemies like the Jogos Nhai and the N’Ghai.

My version of the Mussovy are designed after the pre Columbian “Mound Builders” of midwestern North America. They were also taken from the Northeastern American tribes that contacted English settlers in the 17th century, such as the Wamponongs, Pequots, Delawares, Nipmucs, Mohawks, and the Powhatans.

21.Ulos:

My Ulosians are a loose collection of tribes inhabiting the isolated mountain island Ulos. Each Ulosian tribe distinguishes themselves by the color of the robes they wear. Northern tribes wear red robes, the southern tribes wear black robes, the eastern tribes wear gray robes, and the western tribes wear white robes. Tribes are ruled by a chieftain who often inherit their power from their fathers, brothers, and even occasionally cousins and uncles.  

All Ulosian tribes have a strong enmity with each other. Every seasonal harvest, they will raid each other for women and heads. Severed heads of enemies are collected for fertility rituals for the tribe’s crops. They also believe that a wedding ceremony in the spring will ensure a successful marriage, hence why bride raids are also conducted alongside headhunting expeditions.

The Nuristanis and their Kalash cousins were the primary inspirations for my Ulosians. Additional influences include other Afghani peoples such as the Pashutans, Hazaras, and the Tajiks.

Westeros:

Part 1 (Theoretically incorporated through treaty into the Seven Kingdoms):

22.The North:

The North in my version will be much more politically independent, though still somewhat vassalized to the Iron Throne. Their cultural distinctions from the more southern Andal kingdoms will also be more pronounced. More specifically, Northern farmers have much more freedom of movement than their smallfolk counterparts in the south. There is also a greater degree of urbanization in the North than the Andal kingdoms, though much of it is still rural. 

Boyars, northern nobles, are more mercantile driven compared to the Southern Andal nobles that are dependent on their lands. They don’t have as much control over how farmers consume their crops, though they do manage the exportation of those goods. Lesser boyars lack noble houses of their own, which are only reserved for high ranking families such the Starks.

In spite of this, Andals from the southern kingdoms still erroneously categorize them as “noble houses” using their geographical holdings (particularly towns) as references. For example, Iron Throne authorities think of the petty boyars that preside over the town of Umber as “House Umber.” There also is no emphasis on Knighthood in the North whatsoever, and the only ones that exist are Southern migrants.

As with the novels, the Faith of the Seven is nonexistent in the North, despite repeated Andal attempts at proselytization. This has been a point of contention between the North and the Iron Throne, and has occasionally sparked wars. However, the worship of the Old Gods is more centralized in my version, and services are led by monks.

My version of the North is an amalgam of various Slavic and Eastern Othrodox kingdoms from the Middle Ages, such as the Byzantine Empire, Kievan Rus principalities/Novgorod Republic, Bulgarian Empire, and the Romani principalities.

23.Andal components of the Seven Kingdoms (Riverlands, Vale, Stormlands, Crownlands, Reach, and Westerlands):

Most of Martin’s descriptions of the Southern Andal kingdoms would be retained in my version, though with some major and minor differences. One major difference in note is that there would be more linguistic diversity between the Andal kingdoms, with each region speaking a different language. They have more autonomy from the Iron Throne in their internal affairs, though are still dependent regarding foreign relationships.

There would also be cultural distinctions in the form of varying social norms. For example, men and women eat together in the Reach, while they are segregated in the Vale. Knocking on a door 4 times is the preferred greeting in the Riverlands, while 2 times is the rule in the Stormlands. Each kingdom puts its own emphasis on a different aspect of the Seven Who Are One deity. The Reach fixates more on the Warrior and the Maiden, the Riverlands focuses on the Mother and the Smith, etc. They also have their own exclusive holidays and festivals not observed in other regions.

A second important distinction between the Andal Kingdoms is the types of armor that they use. Being the poorest kingdom, the Riverland knights and men at arms only use nasal helmets and hauberks similar to the Normans. The Westerlands and the Vale still primarily use mail and nasal helmets, but also have kettle hats, great helms, enclosed helmets, and gambersons in their stockpiles. Plate armor, along with sallets, bascinets, armets, are available to knights and men at arms in the Crownlands, Reach, and the Stormlands. 

Another significant deviation I would make is to add more titles and ranks among the nobility. In order of prestige from left to right, their rankings would be wardens, dukes, marquess, earl, viscount, and barons. Wardens preside over a kingdom, dukes control the most powerful noble houses, marquess’ and earls manage noble houses subordinate to the duke houses, and viscounts and barons usually lack noble houses of their own. Viscounts and barons mostly affiliate with the noble houses of their higher ranking relatives or run their cadet branches. However, they may be given houses of their own as rewards from their superiors. 

A more minor and nitpicky change I would make would be women’s fashion. Womens’ hair length in my version is a status symbol in Andal culture. Smallfolk women tend to have their hair medium or short, ranging from ear to upper arm length at the most. Noblewomen on the other hand wear their hair very long, typically waist to even ankle length. Married women of all social classes publicly cover their hair for modesty, while unmarried women and girls are allowed to have theirs exposed. 

Like with the original novels, the Southern kingdoms are inspired by a composite of various medieval  era Western European kingdoms. 

24.Dorne:

Although Dorne still theoretically answers to the Iron Throne, I would make them much more culturally distinctive from the rest of Westeros beyond some lax sexual taboos. For example, the Faith of the Seven has no presence beyond a few isolated individuals, and worship of the old gods is almost non existent save for a few enclaves and migrants.

Rather, almost all of Dorne follows the Rhoynar religion. This has frequently been used as a pretext for several religious wars with other Westerosi kingdoms (especially Reach). Both sides have made attempts to force their perspective religions on the other. Despite the religious flavoring, those wars in truth are more akin to over glorified border disputes. Both Dorne and the Reach desire to control the bordering regions for their fertile farmlands, and are trying to wrest control of them from the other.  

Another difference is that slavery exists in Dorne, but its prevalence has been dialed down over the centuries through treaties with the Irone Throne. Prior to the union with the Seven Kingdoms, the Dornish used raid the Andal kingdoms for slaves. Most of the victims were either made to work in mines, orchards, brothels, and as household servants or sold to Valyrian slave markets. A series of agreements with the Iron Throne forbade the importation and raids for slaves, though those that were abducted prior and their descendants remained grandfathered in. In spite of this, gangs of Dornish traffickers still continue to kidnap Andals directly or purchase captives from Ironborn merchants under the tables. 

The Dornish peoples are roughly divided into two categories, which consist of the sedentary townsmen and the nomadic tribes. They are closely linked, but have drastically different cultures and lifestyles. The nomadic tribes are ultra conservative and tend to be more draconian about traditions then their sedentary kin. 

For example, nomad custom dictates that ones’ face must be concealed in all but the most private of settings. Depending on how hardline the tribe is, punishments for such infringements could range from temporary shunning to executions by stoning. Sedentary Dornish prefer men and women to wear turbans and veils, but they regard those traditions as guidelines.They allow faces to be exposed and are more lenient towards those who don’t follow religious taboos.

Nomads subside on animal husbandry, while the townsmen depend on agriculture. Generally speaking, the nomadic tribes and the sedentary Dornish have a dim view of each other. The nomads see the townsmen as “heretical weaklings”, while the sedentary townsmen in return regard the nomads as “savage fundamentalists.”  

Despite this, violence between them is rare, but not exactly unheard off. When bouts of fighting do occur between nomads and townsmen, it generally follows a specific pattern. Usually, it’s sparked by some nomads raiding a merchant caravan or farming stead. The sedentary Dornish would then send a punitive expedition to punish the wrongdoers, which in return would provoke further raids on sedentary targets. Rinse and repeat. If the violence is serious enough, then authorities might intervene to stamp it out.    

Despite adopting Andal like noble houses, Dornish nobles are more superficially closer to their northern counterparts than their Andal neighbors. Their power is more concentrated on administering towns and theoretically nearby nomadic tribes (though their hold on them is often tenuous at best), and operate much like city mayors. In other words, Dornish nobles are much more concerned with governing their towns, while Andal nobles focus around overseeing agricultural developments in their fiefs.

As in the novels, Dorne is its own kingdom in all but name. Like with the northern Ironborn, they have their own foreign policies separate from the Iron Throne. The inspiration for the sedentary Dornish are the Berber-Arabic caliphates such as the Abbasids, Fatmids, and the Umayyads with some elements of Roman era Judea and the Ottoman empire added in, while the Dornish nomads were modeled after Berber-Arabic nomads such as the Tauregs and Bedouins. 

25.Ironborn:

Like the Dothraki, I would dampen the Ironborn obsession with raiding coastal settlements (though they still extensively practice it), and get rid of the taboo against trading. As no society could function without a viable source of subsistence/income. In fact, they have extensive trading contacts throughout Essos and the Southern islands. The Ironborn also don't contain any noble houses in their political system, though other Westerosi erroneously view their chiefdoms as a noble house. Similarly to how the ruling Northmen viewed the Northern Mountain Clans as petty noble houses in the novels.

On that same note, Ironborn don't have a Monarchy in the classical sense of the term. They elect their high kings, who are selected from the warrior elite. Relatives of Ironborn high kings nominally don't have any power, but their brothers and sons have a strong possibility of succeeding him if he proves to be popular.

Their islands would be more remote and fortified against foreign enemies. The Iron Islands would also be much larger (perhaps around the size of Alaska) and mountainous. So the Ironborn will have a sanctuary to hide in, if a punitive force shows up to wipe them out.

As with the books, they are their own kingdom in all but name (to the point of having foreign policies independent of the other Seven Kingdoms), and do everything in their power to undermine the Iron Throne's authority on them. They also despise how the other Westerosi try to enforce their morals on them and criminalize many Ironborn traditions and customs. Like their worship of the drowned god, slavery, and polygamy. The Treaty of Pyke (which was signed centuries ago under Aegon the Conqueror) that forcibly annexed the Iron Islands into the Seven Kingdoms remains a great shame for the Ironborn.

The Ironborn also have more contact with the Wildlings in the novels. They are trying to unite the various tribes under their command for a full scale war against the Seven Kingdoms. However, their efforts are hit or miss. Some Wildling tribes appreciate a helping hand, while others don’t want to be subjected to outside rule. Their inspirations are the Norse and pre Roman Germanic tribes. 

Part 2 (Peoples not treaty incorporated into the Seven Kingdoms):

26.Free Folk/Wildings:

My Free Folk/Wildings are very close to their book counterparts. They still retain their raiding culture and personal freedom is a key tenant in their society. A difference is that my Wildlings are more organized then they were in the novels.

In my version, they all consolidated themselves into large tribes governed by an elected chieftain. Family based bands that sometimes exist in the books aren’t a part of Free Folk society. Wildlings also are more advanced, and capable of crafting their own metals. 

The temperatures around their homeland beyond the wall are also more moderate. Although beyond the wall can experience some very cold periods, it goes through many warm summer periods as well.

Wildings are more inspired by historical Celtic peoples such as the Gauls, Picts, and Celitberians rather than the generic “Northern Barbarian” archetype.  

27.Thenns:

The Thenns are a separate entity from the Wildlings in my version. My Thenns are isolated tribes that make their homes in the tundras and polar mountains in the so-called “Land of Always Winter.” In the books, the Thenns are the most technologically advanced and organized of the Wildling tribes. Under me, it’s completely reversed as the Wildlings are an Iron age peoples, while the Thenns only use copper tools. 

As stated in the previous paragraph, they are completely isolated from the rest of Westeros, even from the more southern Wildlings (who dwell in more temperate climates near the North). It is to the point that most of the other Westerosi are only vaguely aware of their existence at best. Thenns only sporadically contact passing Ibbenese sealers and Valyrian merchant-explorers. 

Thenn tribes frequently war over dominance of copper mines and sparse farming lands in the Land of Always Winter. As depicted in the show, the Thenns practice wartime cannibalism, and warriors devour their defeated enemies to absorb their strength. 

I’ve modeled the Thenns after Chalcolithic Alpine Europeans, or Otzi the Iceman’s people. Other European Neolithic and Paleolithic material cultures such as the Linear Pottery Culture also helped shape my vision for the Thenns.

28.Skagos:

My barebones vision for the Skagosi is essentially the same as the official novels. They remain an isolated people theoretically ruled by the Starks and the Iron Throne by extension, but are independent for all intents and purposes. Skagosi are very primitive in comparison with their stone age technology to the majority of Westeros, but they make it up in their abilities to camouflage themselves in the treacherous mountains in their remote island home.

The Skagosi are tribal, though loosely unified under a single confederation. However, confederations are very fragile, and tend to break apart when the dominant tribes grow weak. As with the Ironborn, Andal outsiders mistake their tribes for noble houses.  

Another thing they have in common with the Ironborn is that they resent Westerosi mainlanders’ encroachment on their lives. They retaliate by launching devastating hit and run raids on nearby mainlander homesteads, and then retreat back to Skagos with loot and captives. As mentioned above, the treacherous Skagos mountains offer a formidable refuge from mainland punitive expeditions. 

Most of the abducted victims are either sacrificed to their gods or forcibly adopted into the tribe. On very rare occasions, Skagosi tribes have been known to opportunistically barter their prisoners to passing traders from the Valyrian Free Cities in exchange for iron. My version of Skagos was based on various Uralic reindeer herders such as the Sami, Khanty-Masi, and Samoyeds. 

29.Northern Mountain Clans:

The Northern Mountain Clans under my direction are a loose confederation of communities known as “hosts.” They have achieved a semi autonomous status from Stark rule in a begrudging exchange for military service to them. Most of their services consist of stamping out Wildling and Skagosi uprisings and launching counter raids against the Ironborn. This has earned them the reputation of being the “Stark’s attack dogs.”

Despite their tentative (and often fraught) alliance with the Starks, they have a strong disdain for nobility. To the Northern Mountain Hosts, being subjected to the rule of kings and lords is the same as slavery. They refer to themselves as “freemen” and pride themselves on their democracy. Northern Mountain hosts elect their general-chiefs known as “Hetmans.” Most of the other Westerosi view the Northern Mountain Host as “savages” for their bellicosity towards monarchy and pugnacious defense of their autonomous status. 

Their historical inspiration was various Cossack hosts, more specifically the Cossack Hetmanate. My Northern Mountain Clans also contain elements of Balkan Slavs such as the Montenegrins, Albanians, and the Maniots.

30.Vale Mountain Clans:

My take on the Vale Mountain Clans is superficially similar to the books, but with stark differences. Similarities that they share are that they are both isolationist, have a long standing enmity with the Vale kingdoms, and are somewhat democratic. Every member of a tribe has authority to petition the chieftain on his political decisions, and chieftains are elected into power by the tribe’s vote. 

The main point of divergence is that my Vale Mountain Clans are more advanced than their book counterparts. They are capable of crafting metals they mined themselves rather than scavenging from what they captured from raids and ambushes. 

Another distinction between my version and the novels is that the gender roles aren’t as egalitarian. Mountain clan women are only expected to be caregivers and there is more emphasis on them supporting their family over their own individual needs. However, mountain clan women still have considerably more rights than their contemporaries in most of the Seven Kingdoms, including the ability to divorce their husbands, have representation in matters under their own name, and own their own property. Mountain clan women generally (with some exceptions here and there) aren’t involved in offensive warfare, though they do take up arms to defend their villages from attacks.

My version of the Vale Mountain Clans was loosely taken from Cacausian mountain tribes such as the Chechens, Circassians, Abkhazians, Ingush, etc..

31.Crannogmen:

The Crannogmen remain elusive and territorial swampmen in the Neck swamp, but have much less affinity for the Starks than the books. Their relationship with the Starks are mainly a tacit alliance that consists of the Crannogmen defending the Neck Swamp borderlands from Southern encroachments in exchange for the Starks supplying weapons and livestock to them.

Beyond those loose, unspoken alliances, the Crannogmen don’t have much to do with the Starks or the rest of the North as a whole. As they aren’t incorporated into the 7 Kingdoms, my Cranngomen lack noble houses de facto unlike the novels. However, Andal outsiders still refer to the most powerful tribe as “House Reed” in reference to the first chieftain that spoke to Iron Throne representatives in centuries. 

My Crannogmen were vaguely designed after the Guanches of the Canary Islands. 

Southern Isles and Sorthorys:

Part 1 (States of the Sorthorysi continent):

32.Yeen:

In my version, Yeen is still substantially inhabited rather than being a mysterious lost city in the novels, and is one of the very few pockets of substantial human civilization on Sothoryos. They mostly reside in the coastal fringes of Sothoryos. The Yeenians are divided into several dozen feuding city states, though they are loosely confederated into 3 or 4 alliances. Their political systems are theocratic monarchies, and each city state is ruled by a priest king/queen. They are a patriarchal people and males are typically favored for inheritance. Though Yeenians don’t have any qualms with female heirs if the situation calls for it. 

Although all Yeenians loosely follow the same religion, each city state functions as its own breakaway sect. Every city state has its own interpretation on how ceremonies are conducted, their own variations on their myths and pantheons, and varying religious taboos. Differences in theology are often used as pretenses by ambitious priest kings and queens to push wars against rival city states.

They have extensive trading contacts with Essosi, Westerosi, and Southern isles kingdoms and city states. The relationships that Yeenian city states have with the neighboring Gorosh empire are generally mixed but contentious. 

It mostly consists of the Gorosh trying to exploit the division of the Yeenian city states to their advantage. Gorosh has designs for expanding into the Yeenian lowlands, and seek to keep them warring with each other. Many Yeenian city states are desperate for any advantages over their enemies, and are willing to make under the table deals with the Gorosh. However, others see through the true intentions of the Gorosh, and try to unify against a common enemy.

Aesthetically, the Yeenians are designed after several Mesoamerican cultures and city states composited together. 

33.Gorosh:

I would make the kingdom of Gorosh a fantasy version of the Andean empires such as Inca, Wari, Moche, and the Nazca rather than an abandoned Old Ghis colony. Gorosh and Yeen are some of the very few human enclaves on Sothoryos. A massive empire, the Gorosh are the undisputed masters of the vast Southern Mountains.

They are ruled by a king, who is worshiped as a deity by the state religion. Although they lack naval capabilities, they trade heavily with the Westerosi kingdoms, Essosi city states and empires, and the Summer Sea island kingdoms on their coastal borders. 

The Gorosh’s relationship with the lowland Yeenians are complex but contentious. Their policies towards them are very much divide and conquer, and often pit rival Yeenian city states against each other. They frequently intervene in inner Yeenian wars. Acquiring control of the copper mines is Gorosh’s main focus point in their Yeenian operations. 

Their relationship with the Zamettar is similar to what they have with the Yeenians. Like with the Yeenian city states, the Gorosh empire works to exploit the frequent infighting between the warring Zamettar tribes, and undermine the Shaman Queen’s rule. With the Zamettar tribes in disarray, the Gorosh hope to seize their rice fields for themselves.

34.Zamettar:

The Zamettar is another Sothoryosi abandoned city in the novels’ lore that I’ve decided to make inhabited. In my version, the Zamattar are distant descendants of YiTian settlers that landed in Sothoryos thousands of years ago. They are a rice cultivating people theoretically united under the rule of a single shaman queen, but in truth are splintered into hundreds of bitterly competing tribes.

Their relationships with the neighboring Gorosh empire is often strained at best. The Gorosh lust after the Zamettars’ lucrative rice fields, and taking control of them is a top priority for their emperors. To achieve such objectives, Gorosh agents are often sent to stir up dissident tribes against the Shaman Queen.

I’ve modeled the Zamettar after the Yayoi of Bronze age Japan and the Gojoseon of Bronze age Korea. 

Part 2 (Peoples and Kingdoms of the Summer Seas islands):

35.Basilisk Isles:

I would also put far more emphasis on the Basilisk Isles than in the actual novels (I think they were only referenced in four or five passing sentences in the books, and are almost totally ignored in supplementary materials). In my "reimagining", the Basilisk Islanders would be a tribal confederation of piratical seafarers. Most of their numbers consist of natives, but they accept outsiders from all across the known world into their ranks from time to time. They often hijack merchant ships passing through the summer seas and raid other islands for slaves. Captives and loot seized in their raids will then be sold to slave markets in the Free Cities and Slaver's Bay.

If a merchant ship doesn't want to be boarded, the captain would have to pay for the chieftain's (or "corsair king" to outsiders) permission to sail his waters. Basilisk Islander Chiefdoms also form overly convoluted and two faced arrangements with the warring Free Cities. Oftentimes, Free City states will commission Basilisk Islander tribes to disrupt the shipping lanes of a rival. These "alliances" tend to be tenuous at best, and break and form on the drop of a hat. When a client Basilisk Islander tribe falls out of line, a Free City will send an punitive expedition to stamp them out.

However, the Basilisk Islanders are far more than just over-glorified pirates and privateers. Basilisk Islanders have been known to engage in peaceful trading with Essosi, Yeenian, and Westerosi kingdoms and city states. They are also agriculturalists, and a primary food source for them is their own crops.

My native Basilisk Islanders are modeled after an amalgamation of Malays and Polynesians.  

36.Marahai:

Despite its relatively small size, the island of Marahai is home to thousands of scattered and diverse tribes. For the sake of simplicity, outsiders tend to refer to them all as “Marahaians” despite many having little to no ties to each other. 

The Marahaian tribes are so divergent from each other that it's almost impossible to give a broad stroke summary of them all. In the most simplistic terms, they tend to be animists or ancestor worshipers, and are often organized into chiefdoms dominated by warlords. How power is anointed varies considerably. Many tribes theoretically opt for “democratic” elections and monarchical inheritance, though a considerable number have a “might makes right” mentality. 

In other words, rulership often has to be acquired through force by the strongest warlords, who acquire their power through various feats of strength. Typically, warlords aren’t given any privileges by their family status, and have to build their power bases from the ground up. As many Marahaians believe that power should go to the strongest, a warlord’s chiefdom usually dies with them, and then are often supplemented by their competitors in the resulting power vacuum. Their strong sense of martial culture and social darwinism has fueled countless centuries of incessant wars. It has also ensured the nonexistence of a solidified “status quo” in Marahai politics. 

My Marahaians were based on Melensian peoples such as Paupans and the Soloman Islanders.

37.Greater Moraq:

In my version, the Greater Moraqi are an island empire that has established its wealth by becoming an intermediary in trade between Western and Far Eastern Essosi states. They often war with the Saathi for control of the Essosi trade routes. Although the Greater Moraqi empire has only recently come into being, their people have deep ancient roots. 

The island of Greater Moraq has many open grasslands, which has enabled them to develop a formidable calvary force that rivals that of the Westerosi knights. Although the Greater Moraqi don’t practice slavery themselves save for a few nobles and merchants, they are prolific slave traders. They often raid Lesser Moraq and Saath to sell slaves to the Ghiscari and Valyarian city states. 

As stated above, Greater Moraq is a newly unified empire composed of several kingdoms. Given how recently they were unified through force, the cohesion of the Greater Moraqi empire is very tenuous. Many of the subject kingdoms only barely tolerate the high  Emperor’s rule at best, and they are ready to rebel at any sign of weakness. 

They were inspired by Sahel kingdoms such as the Mali empire, the Songhai, the Sokoto, and the Kanem–Bornu, crossed with Guinean kingdoms such as the Ashanti, Oyo, Benin, and the Dahmoney.

38.Lesser Moraq:

In my version, the term “Lesser Moraqi” is a loose blanket used by outsiders to describe tribes living on the island of lesser Moraq. They have no kinship with the much hated kingdom of Greater Moraq who raid them for slaves. There are hundreds of tribes that have very little affinity with each other, but can broadly be divided into two categories. Lesser Moraqis consist of the coastal tribes that dwell on the island’s coasts and the forest tribes and cities living in the heart of the island’s jungles.

The coastal tribes are an ocean going people who mainly subsist on fishing and sealing. They are ruled by chiefs, who are selected from their mothers or aunts’ line. Their religion consists of worship of water spirits. Coastal Lesser Moraqi are cannibalistic, though this is only practiced upon war captives for rituals. 

Forest Lesser Moraqi are primarily horticulturalists. Their diet mostly consists of what is taken from their gardens, though they do hunt game. They reside in massive palisades comparable in size to that of Westerosi towns. The forestmen have a more theocratic based political system than their coastal “kin”, and are ruled by shaman chiefs. Shamans chiefs are elected into power by a body of priests. Forest Lesser Moraqi also diverge from coastal Lesser Moraqi in favoring head shrinking over cannibalism and their worship of forest spirits rather than water spirits. 

I’ve designed my version of the Lesser Moraqi after an amalgamation of various Caribbean and Amazon River tribes. 

39.Summer Isles:

I highly despise how the Summer Isles are characterized in the original novels. It feels too much like a “noble savage utopia” for me, especially with their “free love” and “rare, ritualized warfare” customs. In my version, the “ritualized war” practices would be removed and the sexualized rituals would be somewhat downplayed though still present. 

The Summer Isles being divided into several principalities will remain the same as well. They will also retain their naval capabilities from the novels. Each principality is culturally and ethnically distinct from their neighbors, though they can be divided by the islands they reside on. The main islands/cultural groups are Jhala, Omboru, and Walano. Although racked with internal divisions, Jhala and Omboru have recently unified into a tentatively single principality, while Walano still remains fragmented into several hundred tribes ruled by petty princes. Their relationships with each other are entirely circumstantial, and could range from peaceful trading to full fledged violence depending on the situation. 

Princes finance their wars by selling captives to foreign enemies. The same fate awaits captured Basilisk Isle and Valyrian raiders. In addition to their sporadic involvement in the slave trade, the Summer Islanders also barter gems and spices treasured by the outside world.

There are a variety of sources for my version of the Summer Islands. The Jhala designed after are South African Nguni kingdoms (such as the Zulu and Matabele) crossed with the Malagasy, the Omboru are modeled after various Horn of African Ethiopic and Cushitic peoples (such as the Beja, Askumites, Ethiopia under the Solomon Dynasty, and the Somalis), and the Walano are inspired by East African Nilotic herdsmen (such as the Nuer and Maasai) mixed with the Congolese kingdoms (such as the Azande, Luba, Kongo, and the Lunda).

40.Ulthos:

The Ulthosi in my version are a hunter-gatherer people. They subsist on hunting game in their harsh desert and jungle environments. Their political organization is designed around extended family bands with numbers frequently ranging up to the hundreds. Ulthosi bands generally lack formal leadership structures, but elder members are often the ones calling the shots. In times of emergencies, bands will confederate together and elect “headmen” to lead them.

Contact with outsiders is rare but not unheard of. Every so often, Assahi ships stop by their shores for repairs and supplies. Relationships between Assahi sailors and native Ulthosi are quite circumstantial. It can range from peaceful trading to violent clashes. The latter episodes usually entail drunken Assahi sailors sexually assaulting Ulthosi women, and the Ulthosi retaliate by indiscriminately murdering any sailors they could get their hands on. 

My Ulthosi were modeled after Australian and Tasmanian aboriginals. 

41.Naath:

The Naathi are a hunter gatherer people known by outsiders for their short heights. They are split into hundreds of small family bands. Historically, Naathi bands number no more than several dozen, but slave raids from the Basilisk Isles and the Free Cities have pressured them to congregate in larger bands of hundreds or even occasionally thousands. 

Like with the Summer Islands, my version of Naath differs from the novel depictions in terms of their attitudes towards violence. Again, I have a strong disdain for the “noble savage” archetype, as I believe it depicts indigenous peoples more like fantastical forest elves rather than actual human beings. As such, I would entirely discard the complete pacifism aspect of the Naath.

As with most of the other cultures of the known world, the Naathi engage in both defensive and offensive violence. Most of their “wars” are feuds that occur between rival bands or rivalries within a band. In Naathi culture, individuals are obligated to violently avenge even the most minor of slights against them and their families. This has led to many Naathi bands being entrapped in an endless series of tit for tat killings with their foes.  

Their most common external enemies are slave raiders, whom they’ve engaged in many skirmishes with. The slave raids have made the Naathi an extremely xenophobic people. They’ve developed a custom of killing any outsider that steps ashore on their island on the spot in response to the raidings. Even those who wind up there by accident, like shipwrecked sailors.

My Naathi were modeled after the Andamanese of the Andaman islands, with some Congolese “pygmies” crossed in as well.  

42.Vahar:

There aren't many details on Vahar in the novels, but are skimmingly mentioned to be a prolific insular trade city. The Vahar in my version are mostly hunter-gatherer (and some cattle pastoralists) people who make their home on the island of Vahar. They are known to outsiders as the “Vahar Bushmen” for their shrubs that they make camp in. As with many foragers, the Vahar split themselves into hundreds of family based bands. 

Vahar bands are often vaguely democratic, but adult males typically dominate most of the decision making. Though individual leaders aren’t present in the vast majority of bands, a handful opt for appointing chiefs (who are usually the most decorated hunters in the band).

Labor is sexually segregated in forager bands. Females are usually tasked with gathering plants and caring for children, while males hunt game. A number of Vahar have taken up cattling raising from taming shipwrecked cattle. They tend to be more egalitarian than their hunter-gatherer kin, as both men and women contribute to the raising of their animals.

As with the Naathi on the nearby island of Naath, the Vahar have a strong honor based culture. Every grievance must be dealt with through ritualized dueling or through revenge killings. This aspect of their culture has ensured that blood feuds are epidemic to their society. There is a special enmity between the foragers and cattle pastoralists, as foragers tend to hunt their cattle, and the pastoralists subject them to punitive counter-raiding.

My Vahar are designed after the Khoisans of Southern Africa.

[King_Tristifer_IV_Mudd]

I think it’d make more sense if the Iron Islands were on the eastern coasts of Westeros. Perhaps off the coast of the North and Vale, North of Braavos. The fact that they are still raiding to an extent but have to travel all the way around Westeros to get to places to raise just seems like it takes too long to be at all viable.

[astarkchoice]

Few things 

 

Unsullied + dothraki : had some fun debates on these guys but would def reverse the stupid  eunuch thing (if anything make them the biggest  strongest of slaves with heavy duty armour) maybe make a pikelike spear one their 3 spears

Dothraki avoiding armour seems to fly in the fact of common sense,.id make their arkh more of a heavy duty beast too like the lotr urak hai sword. They have been harasing qohor for years so maybe some v steel swords and/or  even arrowheads. Maybe as well a strong culture of loving lances as welll

 

More info on the military of yi ti and the jogos nhai etc

yi-ti seems a place of such massive wealth and trade and can commit armies of innthe regions of 300k would probably feature more in westeros news ifnony out of interest ....its pretty much the only superpower that can match the 7 kingdoms combined youd think there would be a little.more interest in it!

 

Jogos nhai: a nomadic medieval.peoplle that can absorb losses in the millions? 

[Canon Claude]

More houses that openly worship the old gods south of the Neck. I get that the Andals agreed to keep the godswoods in order to appease their subjects, but I don’t see why they’d keep them by the time most people worship the Andal faith instead. There needs to be a slightly higher amount of old god worshippers for it to make sense. Besides Blackwood, I’d also make Houses Royce, Tarly, Hunter, and Crakehall into old god worshippers (the ones most associated with either the forests or the First Men).

 

[Odej]

A simple thing, I would make the story began in 300 AC. The Stark children would be older and their arcs less absurd.

[Angel Eyes]

Adding a bit more variety in dialect and practices in the Faith throughout the Seven Kingdoms.

[King_Tristifer_IV_Mudd]

2 hours ago, Odej said:

A simple thing, I would make the story began in 300 AC. The Stark children would be older and their arcs less absurd.

That’s my pet peeve with the story honestly. Aside from Robb and Jon, the Stark children + Dany’s stories don’t make a damn bit of sense considering how young they are. At the very least GRRM should’ve kept the time skip in the story. Age them all like 5 years.

[Angel Eyes]

The economic value of gold dragons is iffy. 30,000 gold dragons are enough for Stannis to rent Salladhor Saan's fleet for a month and 2/3 of that money is enough for Anguy to burn in two weeks on prostitutes, booze, boots, and a knife. Either Salladhor loaned the ships out for a very cheap price or Anguy went through a lot of prostitutes (to say nothing of his stamina and his liver).

What was that about GRRM's complaints about Aragorn's tax policy again?

[Angel Eyes]

On 12/26/2022 at 8:03 AM, astarkchoice said:

Few things 

 

Unsullied + dothraki : had some fun debates on these guys but would def reverse the stupid  eunuch thing (if anything make them the biggest  strongest of slaves with heavy duty armour) maybe make a pikelike spear one their 3 spears

Dothraki avoiding armour seems to fly in the fact of common sense,.id make their arkh more of a heavy duty beast too like the lotr urak hai sword. They have been harasing qohor for years so maybe some v steel swords and/or  even arrowheads. Maybe as well a strong culture of loving lances as welll

 

More info on the military of yi ti and the jogos nhai etc

yi-ti seems a place of such massive wealth and trade and can commit armies of innthe regions of 300k would probably feature more in westeros news ifnony out of interest ....its pretty much the only superpower that can match the 7 kingdoms combined youd think there would be a little.more interest in it!

 

Jogos nhai: a nomadic medieval.peoplle that can absorb losses in the millions? 

In the case of the arakh we actually see what's wrong with it in the show during Qotho's duel with Jorah when Jorah traps the inside, unsharpened edge against his armor with one hand and cuts open the lower half of his face.

[astarkchoice]

10 hours ago, Angel Eyes said:

In the case of the arakh we actually see what's wrong with it in the show during Qotho's duel with Jorah when Jorah traps the inside, unsharpened edge against his armor with one hand and cuts open the lower half of his face.

Its sorta inconsitant in books

 

book arakh cut into jorah almost fully armoured and only stuck as was lodged  in his  hipbone (oouch) 

Ser barriatan fought the galdiator and it didnt penetrate but he did say the dude didnt seem to know how to fight vs armour at all.

Daario fights armoured westerosi style.sellswords all the time with arkh and seems pretty confident hel kill most he meets....BUT in saying that  he does also have the stileto too which is  an esp good weapon  at killing armoured foes

Belwas we know fought all kinds with an arkh BUT again hes depicted as being frigging huge 

 

Caggo rides in a westerosi style sellswors company thus will fight other arnoured opps with his  BUT again his is v.steel so may be different

[Angel Eyes]

On 1/5/2023 at 6:05 AM, astarkchoice said:

Its sorta inconsitant in books

 

book arakh cut into jorah almost fully armoured and only stuck as was lodged  in his  hipbone (oouch) 

Ser barriatan fought the galdiator and it didnt penetrate but he did say the dude didnt seem to know how to fight vs armour at all.

Daario fights armoured westerosi style.sellswords all the time with arkh and seems pretty confident hel kill most he meets....BUT in saying that  he does also have the stileto too which is  an esp good weapon  at killing armoured foes

Belwas we know fought all kinds with an arkh BUT again hes depicted as being frigging huge 

 

Caggo rides in a westerosi style sellswors company thus will fight other arnoured opps with his  BUT again his is v.steel so may be different

How much do we see Daario actually fight?

[EggBlue]

others have already mentioned some of the most important ones : Gods and Dialects diversity 

 

and a some other things:

 

• stretch the timeline : Westerosi kids are all older than their age ! but when you go back to Targ history and see an array of 12 yr old parents who look completely grown up and at their peak at the age of 15/16 , it becomes really really odd . just make it 400yrs and start with a 16yr old Daenerys and 17-18 yr old Jon .

 

• dial down Dothraki's stupidity . I don't know they seem more primitive than what seems to be their inspiration , aka Mongols . 

 

• the Dornish : I think they are underdeveloped as a culture. there should be more influence of Nymeria and Rhoynar among them . especially after all the wars with the Andal Westeros of Targ era , one would think it's natural that they further go back to their Rhoynar roots to differentiate themselves .   for a nation who have different heritage and different inheritance laws , they are too much like Andals in terms of social culture . I honestly don't get some of their customs , like , the paramour thing . I don't get how it works ... are men in this culture so powerful that they can shut their wives up and keep paramours openly , which kinda questions the gender equality in this culture... or is it something that men and women are equal in , which makes it difficult for tracking down the heirs in the feudal system ... 

 

• slave uprising histories : it's odd that there's such a ridiculous population of slaves in Essos compared to the freedmen , who are also the ones to carry weapons , and yet , there doesn't seem to be any history of conflicts or failed rebellions . I think some harshly suppressed rebellions in people's memory would have made way to this cartoonish evil slave system. then when Dany had come and joined forces with slaves , it would be only natural that uprisings start in the free cities one by one and quickly . 

 

• Westerosi Valyrians : Dragonstone should have more than a village and why does Driftmark apparently has yet to recover from the Dance ?  also , what is up with Celtigars ?! 

 

• the Iron Born : [ Ctrl + Alt + Delete ] 

[Craving Peaches]

6 minutes ago, EggBlue said:

the Iron Born : [ Ctrl + Alt + Delete ] 

So many times I think 'Ironborn.exe has stopped working' but somehow they have managed to function for hundreds of years despite ingrained traditions that promote brain damage.

[astarkchoice]

9 hours ago, Angel Eyes said:

How much do we see Daario actually fight?

We dont but we innthe world of sellswords he wouldnt have thr same 'swagger' if it wasnt backed up by anything

Brienne notices the same with the 'mad mouse' , its a martial society cockiness without talent doesnt happen as they get tested far too often from real battles to daily sparring