Chapter 22: A New King in the South, A New Immortal in the North
The long, golden summer of Jaehaerys the Conciliator's reign finally yielded to autumn with his peaceful death in the one hundred and third year After the Conquest. Westeros mourned the Old King and his Good Queen Alysanne, who had preceded him by a few years, their passing marking the end of an unprecedented era of peace and progress. The Great Council of 101 AC had already chosen Jaehaerys's successor: his grandson, Viserys I Targaryen, a man known more for his amiable nature than for strength of will. For the immortal Starks of the North, this transition in the South was another carefully observed turn in the great cycle of mortal power, another factor to be weighed in their centuries-long vigil.
Closer to home, another, more private transition was also at hand. Lord Edric I Stark, Warden of the North, who had publicly ruled for over six decades, his true age now exceeding a century and a half, was preparing for his own "final winter." His Elixir-sustained vitality was carefully masked by increasingly convincing glamours of advanced age, his public appearances rarer, his reliance on his son and heir, Torrhen, more pronounced. The North, accustomed to the remarkable longevity of its Stark lords, nonetheless prepared to mourn another revered leader.
Edric's "passing," when it came, was as meticulously staged as his father Beron's before him. Attributed to a sudden chill contracted during a late autumn hunt, he "died" peacefully in his bed at Winterfell, surrounded by his "grieving" family. The North lamented the loss of another wise Stark, but there was no instability. Lord Torrhen Stark, a man who appeared to be in his vigorous prime (though his true age now surpassed a century), seamlessly assumed the Wardenship. His coronation, before the Winterfell Heart Tree, was a solemn affirmation of Stark continuity, his oaths echoing those of his father and grandfather, a lineage stretching back into myth, its true, unbroken nature a secret known only to the ageless few.
Edric, now free from public duties, joined his father Beron and great-grandfather Jon in the hidden sanctums of the Frostfangs and Wyvern's Eyrie. His keen intellect, honed by decades of overt rule and covert counsel, was a welcome addition to the strategic core of their immortal council. Three generations of "deceased" Stark lords now guided the North from the shadows, their combined experience and wisdom a formidable asset.
The next crucial step was the full investiture of Rickard Stark, Brandon's eldest son, now a man of thirty, his true age approaching fifty. Rickard had spent his adult life in rigorous training, his magical aptitude proving to be as strong and disciplined as his father's, his loyalty to the Stark cause absolute. He had excelled in elemental magic, particularly cryomancy – the manipulation of ice and cold – a skill Jon found particularly promising given their ultimate enemy.
In the echoing grandeur of Wyvern's Eyrie's central cavern, before the assembled might of Jon, Beron, Edric, his own father Brandon, and his great-grandfather Torrhen, Rickard Stark accepted the True Elixir of Life. As the liquid light coursed through him, he felt the shedding of mortal constraints, the anchoring of his spirit to the timeless power of the Grand Philosopher's Stone. He became the sixth immortal Stark, a new link in the chain, his youthful appearance now a permanent fixture, his life dedicated to the eternal vigil.
For his dragon, Rickard formed an unexpected but powerful bond with Adamas, the colossal bronze wyrm. Adamas, long the stoic heart of the Starksteel forges, was a creature of immense strength and resilience, his scales like living metal, his fire a focused, almost solid beam of incandescent heat. He had resisted bonding with any rider for decades, seemingly content in his role as the Eyrie's master smith. But in Rickard, with his disciplined elemental magic and unyielding will, Adamas found a spirit that resonated with his own earthen power. Their first flight together was less about aerial grace and more a display of indomitable force, the bronze dragon and its new Stark rider a symbol of the North's unshakeable strength. With Rickard's ascension, the hidden council now boasted six immortal dragonriders, each bonded to a magnificent, unique beast.
Lyarra Stark, Rickard's younger sister, continued her own distinct path, her life deeply intertwined with the natural and spiritual energies of the North. Working alongside the ancient Arya, her great-aunt Lyanna, and her great-great-aunt Serena, she had become a formidable Greenspeaker and nature warden. Their combined efforts had transformed the North's ley line network into a vibrant, sentient shield. They could now not only sense disturbances but also actively channel the network's power to heal blighted land, to guide weather patterns with greater precision (ensuring milder winters and more bountiful harvests in key agricultural regions), and even to create localized sanctuaries where the ancient magic of the First Men and the Children of the Forest flourished, pushing back against the lingering gloom of the post-Doom world. Lyarra's particular gift was an uncanny ability to commune with the weirwoods on a level that even Arya found profound, deciphering their oldest, deepest memories, gleaning forgotten lore about the Long Night and the pacts that had once held the Others at bay.
The reign of Viserys I Targaryen in King's Landing began with an air of cautious optimism, a welcome change from Maegor's terror. Viserys was amiable, generous, and fond of feasts and tourneys. However, his court was soon rife with intrigue, primarily centered around his ambitious brother, Prince Daemon Targaryen, and the question of succession, with his daughter Rhaenyra eventually being named his heir, a decision that sowed the seeds of future conflict.
Lord Torrhen Stark, as the new Warden of the North, maintained a posture of respectful but distant loyalty to the Iron Throne. He traveled to King's Landing once, early in Viserys's reign, to swear his fealty and assess the new king and his court. He found Viserys well-meaning but easily influenced, his council dominated by figures like Otto Hightower, whose ambitions clearly extended beyond mere service to the crown. Torrhen's reports back to Jon and the hidden council were clear: the Targaryen dynasty, while powerful, was inherently unstable due to its internal rivalries and reliance on the volatile personalities of its dragonriding members. The Starks would continue their policy of quiet autonomy, strengthening their own position while avoiding entanglement in southern politics.
The Starksteel forges, now under the combined oversight of Torrhen and his son Brandon, reached new heights of production and artistry. They began to experiment with creating full, articulated suits of dragon armor for their own mounts – an incredibly complex and resource-intensive undertaking. The first successful suit, crafted for Beron's Veridian, was a marvel of interlocking black Starksteel plates, lighter than it appeared, granting the dragon significantly enhanced protection without unduly hampering its agility. The project would take decades, if not centuries, to outfit their entire flock, but it was another layer of their hidden defense. Specialized lances for dragon-to-dragon combat, tipped with Starksteel and enchanted to pierce dragonhide, were also developed and stockpiled.
Jon Stark's grand project of magically "charging" the Wall continued with painstaking slowness and immense concentration. He had confirmed that the Wall was indeed a colossal magical capacitor, its enchantments designed to draw upon and store terrestrial and even cosmic energies, then radiate them outwards as a specific dampening field against the Others' magic. His efforts, using the Grand Philosopher's Stone to channel focused power through the North's ley line network and amplified by precisely timed dragon roars from Wyvern's Eyrie (a feat of coordination that involved all six immortal riders), were aimed at replenishing and significantly boosting this ancient energy reserve.
The process was not without peril. On several occasions, the immense power involved caused localized magical backlashes – strange auroras in the sky above the Wall, tremors in the deep earth, and a palpable sense of unease that even reached the Night's Watch, who attributed it to the "grumkins and snarks" beyond. Jon once felt a distinct, hostile intelligence from the Lands of Always Winter briefly focus upon his efforts, a chilling, alien awareness that sent a spike of pure cold through his being, forcing him to temporarily shield the operation. He knew he was playing with cosmic forces, poking at a slumbering, ancient evil. But the potential reward – a Wall so magically potent it could hold back the Long Night indefinitely – was worth the immense risk.
Arya Stark, her physical form seemingly untouched by the passage of nearly two centuries, her spirit as wild and ancient as the weirwoods themselves, achieved a breakthrough in her communion with the remnants of the Children of the Forest. Through a deep trance within the Winterfell Godswood, her consciousness guided by Noctua's star-sight and Terrax's earthen connection, she made contact with a collective of lingering Children's spirits still tied to the oldest weirwood roots across Westeros. They were few, their power faded, but their knowledge was immense. They shared with her fragmented prophecies, songs of power, and, crucially, insights into the Others' origins and weaknesses – they were not merely invaders, but a necessary cosmic balance, their power waxing and waning with great astronomical cycles, their ultimate defeat requiring not just fire, but a restoration of ancient pacts and a reawakening of the earth's own deepest magic. This knowledge profoundly shifted the Starks' long-term strategies, adding layers of complexity to Jon's preparations.
Essos, in the decades following the main fury of the Century of Blood, had settled into a new, albeit still volatile, equilibrium. The Triarchy, the alliance of Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh, had become a major power in the Disputed Lands and the Stepstones, their fleets often clashing with Prince Daemon Targaryen's ambitions. Finnan's network continued to funnel information and occasionally rare artifacts or texts to the North. Jon was particularly interested in reports of strange magical occurrences in the ruins of Old Valyria, whispers of fire mages attempting to reclaim lost sorceries, and of hardy, mutated creatures now roaming the Smoking Sea. He authorized several deep reconnaissance missions by magically shielded, expendable agents, seeking any surviving lore on Valyria's geothermal engineering or their most potent fire magics, anything that could be adapted for the North's defense or the Wall's empowerment.
The immortal council of six Starks now operated like a well-oiled, ancient machine. Jon was the visionary, the ultimate arbiter, his mind encompassing millennia. Beron and Edric were the elder statesmen, their combined centuries of overt rule providing unparalleled wisdom in governance and diplomacy. Torrhen was the current public face, the Warden of the North, managing the kingdom's mundane affairs while secretly coordinating with the council. Brandon was the active commander, leading the Winter Wolves, overseeing dragon training, and preparing his own children for their future roles. Rickard, the newest immortal, brought fresh energy and a keen mind for elemental magic, his bond with the mighty Adamas adding another dimension to their draconic power.
They reflected often on their unique existence, the immense power they wielded, the crushing weight of their secrets. They were gods in all but name within their hidden domain, yet they lived lives of profound service and sacrifice, their immortality not a prize, but a burden shouldered for the sake of a world that would never know its true protectors. The cycle of "death" and succession for their public personas was a constant reminder of the facade they maintained. Torrhen was already subtly preparing the North for his eventual "passing," decades hence, when his son Brandon would publicly take the mantle, while Torrhen himself would join his father Edric, grandfather Beron, and great-great-grandfather Jon in the deeper shadows.
As the reign of Viserys I progressed, the rivalries within his own house – between his brother Daemon, his daughter Rhaenyra, and the faction around his second wife, Alicent Hightower – began to fester, clear harbingers of the storm that would eventually be known as the Dance of the Dragons. The Starks watched, their preparations for the Long Night continuing unabated, their own house united by immortal bonds and a shared, sacred purpose, a silent, granite counterpoint to the fiery, self-destructive passions of the Targaryen dragonlords. The North remembered, the North endured, and the North prepared, its true kings and queens hidden from the world, their vigil eternal.