Setting


It is the 289th year since Aegon's Landing. Robert Baratheon won the Seven Kingdoms and his crown on the banks of the Trident six years ago. While the armies have disbanded, and the Great Lords returned to their halls, the Riverlands remain a cradle of contention. The wealth of fertile fields and waters running with trade sit at stake.

The Terricks of Terrick's Roost seek to defend to what is theirs against the threat of Ironborn to the western waters, as well as against the ambitions of their old rivals the Naylands of Hag's Mire. The Terricks answer to the Mallisters of Seagard, traditional defenders of the Riverlands, while the Naylands bend knee to the Freys of The Twins, a rich and rising house.

Until very recently, the petty rivalries between houses was the greatest threat to the Cape of Eagles, but at the turn of the year, Balon Greyjoy named himself King of the Iron Isles and launched a massive invasion of the Riverlands. He was turned back, and his forced defeated by King Robert's counter-invasion, but not before doing great damage to the lands and people of the Cape. Now, the Terricks try to rebuild while the Naylands try to keep from losing their grasp on what they've taken, and all around them other houses look for angles through which to better their own positions.

As pretenders play at the games of thrones, the fates of families are decided. This is the story of two such families, and the neighbors and smallfolk whose fortunes hang upon the contest.


Steel & Stone is set in the world of the A Song of Ice and Fire books/HBO's Game of Thrones show. We are set approximately 10 years before the events depicted in the books, and are focused on a specific slice of the Riverlands, namely that area between the Twins and Seagard, as seen on the map above. Our goal is to provide the politics and intrigue of the series, not between the Great Houses spread across the continent, but zoomed in on smaller houses who are none the less the most important in the region they inhabit and rule.

We focus on a relatively small geographical area, so that almost all PC houses and on-grid places are only a few days' ride apart, and the effects of PC politicking and decision-making can be directly felt. While characters may not be deciding the fate of the Seven Kingdoms like at King's Landing, they are deciding the fate of their own homes. Rather than making choices that alter the lives only of distant subjects they never see, PCs here are constantly in close proximity to the people their decisions impact. Living moments from their subjects and only a day's march from their neighbors lends more immediacy to the questions facing the nobles of Steel & Stone, and more personal risk to the task of navigating relations between houses.

For more info about

  • the grid and the locations the game is focused on, please take a look at the FAQ.
  • the wider world of Westeros, click Here

Travel Times

Below is a list of the approximate length of time it takes to travel between various IC places at an average rate of speed. Please keep in mind that not every trip will take precisely the same amount of time. Road conditions, weather, cargo, the people involved, and their desired pace can all cause things to vary slightly.

From To Walking Riding By boat
Terrick's Roost Stonebridge 12 hours 6 hours N/A
Hag's Mire Stonebridge 12 hours 6 hours N/A
Terrick's Roost Hag's Mire 24 hours 12 hours N/A
Terrick's Roost Kingsgrove 5 hours 2.5 hours N/A
Stonebridge Seagard 6 hours 3 hours TBA
Stonebridge Highfield 12 hours 6 hours N/A
Stonebridge The Twins 6 hours 3 hours TBA
Stonebridge Heronhurst 6 hours 3 hours TBA
Stonebridge Broadmoor 12 hours 6 hours N/A
Stonebridge Hollyholt 18 hours 9 hours N/A
Stonebridge Oldstones 3 days 36 hours TBA
Hag's Mire Oldstones 2 days 1 day TBA
Highfield The Twins 6 hours 3 hours N/A
Stonebridge Riverrun 6 days 3 days TBA
Terrick's Roost The Banefort TBA TBA TBA
Stonebridge The Crag TBA TBA TBA

Travel Policy

Please also note that we don't intend to be super-strict about these for the purposes of RP. These times are posted to help clarify RP, not restrict it. If you play a scene in Stonebridge, we're not going to count to make sure it's exactly 6 OOC hours before you play in the Roost. Just try to be reasonable about your handwaving, and make sure there's enough room in your character's schedule to reasonably travel, and keep this in mind when sending letters and messages around.

For instance, if something happens in Stonebridge at noon ICly, the Roost probably isn't going to hear about it until 6pm, and vice versa, and having your character magically pop between them to be the first to deliver the news at 1 o'clock pm ICly would be a problem. On the other hand, playing a scene in Stonebridge that's set some time in the morning and then when it's finished going to the Roost and playing a scene set sometime in the evening and saying that your char traveled in between is fine.

Communication

Letters by courier
The most common means of communication is sending a retainer to carry letters by either horse or ship. Ships are the swiftest, when allowable, although both means have their dangers (storms, bandits, drunk couriers, etc).

Ravens
Communication by raven should be reserved for emergencies, as trained birds are expensive and difficult to replace. A messenger raven is trained from birth to fly between specific points, and is not an all-purpose GPS email device. For example, a bird raised in Four Eagles Tower, and taken in a cage to Seagard Castle would be able, when released, to fly back to Four Eagles' Tower. Upon arrival there, it would be able to fly back to Seagard Castle. Smaller castles tend to keep several ravens trained to fly to their overlords (The Mallisters and Tullys, in the case of the Terricks) and a bird to each of their neighbors, while larger rookeries such as those at Riverrun will keep multiple birds able to fly to all of their vassals as well as the other Great Houses and King's Landing.

Thus, it takes great expense to place messenger ravens at vital points around the region, and messages by raven should never be sent lightly. "Dark wings, dark words" is a saying reflecting the dire events that tend to surround raven borne messages.

Messages by raven also must be encoded so as to fit on the tiny slips of vellum (covered by the Ravenry skill) secured around the bird's leg. Sending letters by raven is simply not feasible, and sending coded messages by raven (the only way to avoid a castle's maester from reading it first) requires the Cipher skill. A sample message by raven might be translated from shorthand as 'Battle at Trident lost. Prince and Kingsguard slain. Baratheon advancing on King's Landing'.