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Game of Thrones: Ashwood

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Amber Hall - The North - 3rd Moon - 280 A.C.

There are many beautiful things and experiences the world has to offer though none could compare to the feeling of freedom that comes with flying through the skies and gazing at those below.

One might assume I must be in some sort of plane or aircraft, but I wasn't in-fact I was no longer on the earth I knew and called home instead I was in Westeros, a fantasy world wrought with dangers lurking at every corner ready to claim the lives of those who weren't brave enough to grasp the reigns of their own fate.

Even stranger than my apparent transmigration is how I seemed to have found myself not in my own body but that of a certain Orryn Ashwood, a reality that I was only able to accept after a lengthy denial followed by what may be the only mental breakdown, I've suffered in my 25 years of life.

I mean how ridiculous is it going to sleep as an average joe living in Canada and waking up as some highborn child in the fictional world of Game of Thrones. While some would be excited at this prospect, the thought that I would never see my old family quickly washed away the anticipation I felt leaving me a sulking mess.

That aside my new identity was one of the few saving graces which I was lucky to have received. Born to Harrion Ashwood and Kyra Lightfoot, I was the only child and heir of house Ashwood a minor lordly house serving directly under House Flint of Flint's Finger. Our seat is Amber Hall located in the southwestern region of the forest sandwiched between the cliffs and plateaus of Flints Finger and the swampy wetlands of The Neck.

The disappointment of not being spawned in a more wealthy and powerful house was definitely present however even the poorest noble houses live lives better than the average peasant or "smallfolk" as they would call it here. Not counting the landed knights there about 1,000 Noble Houses in all of Westeros, compared to the millions of smallfolk not to mention the free folk beyond-the-wall and the slaves in Essos I would count myself as quite lucky. In any medieval world upward mobility was practically impossible to those who weren't born of some noble ilk.

Another saving grace I found myself blessed with was the ability of Skinchanging. My predecessor… if you could call him that seemed to have been infatuated with animal particularly birds and from a young age he often spoke of his dreams and visions where he experiences life from his bird's point of view, but his words were written off as nothing more than the rambling of a child. It seemed even in the north the idea of skinchanging was synonymous with snarks and grumpkins.

He would often sneak into the woods to play with the birds but when he was forbidden to leave the castle, he found his mind wandering sometimes flashes of visions flying above the sky other times dreams of hunting squirrels in the forest. Soon enough he would learn to access this connection with his birds developing his abilities as a skinchanger unknowingly.

It would seem that fate was not on his side as he would soon die in his sleep and in his place, I was born. As sad as it was that his… or rather my former self was quite reclusive, and this would allow me time and space to adjust without coming off as suspicious after all the last thing I want would be my family thinking I was possessed.

The good things end about there though with our location in Ironman's Bay our lands have been the subject of numerous Ironborn raids. Even in recent memory with the most "progressive" Lord Reaper of Pyke, Quellon Greyjoy, we still find our coasts to be raided once in a while whether it's for money, women, or even lumber you can always bet on the Ironborn to be the scum they are.

Our close position to the Iron Islands has left us with lands that where vast enough so it would take a week to travel from one side to the other… but relatively empty even by Northern Standards.

These days one would be more likely to see Ironborn carrying off lumber than women or coin a fact that I would have to deal with in order to improve my lands in any capacity. "From ash to ash" those are the words of house Ashwood and the fate of the ironborn and any other who would wish to do me or my people harm.

What made me most worried was the upcoming Tourney at Harrenhall which would then kick off 'Roberts Rebellion' and set the stage for 'The War of The Five Kings' aka the bloodiest war in recent memory these events and many more to come left me weary of the future but for now I could only prepare and that gave me some hope. One of the first things I did was to write down all the events of the story I could remember as well as other tidbits of information from my previous life to improve our lands before I forget. These were all written of course in English so as to prevent anyone from reading these notes. As for the White Walkers I currently had no ability to impact that fight whatsoever and even thinking of that shitstorm made my headache all together.

Even with all the planning in the world you were bound to die a dog's death without the necessary skills to defend yourself in combat, more importantly as a Northern lord we are expected to lead our men into battles failing to do so would sully my reputation amongst the Northern lords. All this led to the current situation where I was heading down from my room to the training grounds where Benfred our Master at arms was training the younger Men-At-Arms.

I sighed internally as I walked through the ancient, ruinous, and yet still awe-inspiring halls of Amber Hall. The castle was quite large and even with the cloudy memory of my predecessor I found myself wandering around until I spotted a maid whom I decided to approach.

The maid bowed before looking at me, "Greeting, Milord how can I help you". She seemed quite tense since I had a reputation of not speaking much… well on top of the fact that I was her lord. Looking up I smiled wryly and asked," could you bring me to the training yard… I seemed to have lost my way". Her expression showed surprise after all its well-known I used to sneak outside the castle walls but nonetheless she bowed hesitantly," Ye- Yes Milord". We walked for seemed like a minute before reaching the training grounds I bid her goodbye and began to approach Benfred.