Just as civilization advances in an upward spiral, all stories seem to encounter twists and turns. The unexpected death of Jeor Mormont caused the human defenders on the front lines of this life-and-death struggle to stall for several months without making any major moves. If there was anything to be thankful for, it was that nearly every party involved in the election maintained a baseline of perspective and restraint. The human side’s steps, while not advancing, at least did not retreat due to excessive infighting.

Now, everything was finally back on track. Or more precisely, on Aegor’s track. Thinking positively and with an optimistic spirit, taking the field personally might allow him to play this game far more thoroughly than if he were merely standing behind others.

…

Aegor’s decision to allow Cotter Pyke to return to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea only with his permission was to wait for the Iron Bank’s grain shipment to arrive. The purpose was simple. Out of caution, he intended to turn the last possible variable into a certainty.

Nearly twenty days after receiving the unofficial reminder from the Iron Bank, the long-awaited grain fleet finally arrived at the Night’s Watch harbor without mishap. With the hundreds of men from Crown Town who had been dispatched to Eastwatch in advance, the scene remained remarkably stable, and the entire unloading process went smoothly. In just a few days, grain worth tens of thousands of golden dragons, enough to feed all the residents of the Gift freely for many days, was offloaded and transported to the newly reactivated fortress of Beacon Tower. The garrison there consisted entirely of reformist brothers of the Watch and Mountain Men who fully supported and obeyed Aegor’s command, without a single member from any opposing faction. The grain would be stored there until the weather improved, then sent to Crown Town.

By this point, the top-level power transition in the Gift had finally concluded. No one, openly or secretly, had any means of ruining the grand plan. After sending word to Cotter that he could return to his post, Aegor packed his own baggage and led his retinue to Crown Town, which had been a ruin a year ago but now stood as the only town in the Gift, upgraded into the new headquarters of the Night’s Watch.

In this fortress filled entirely with his own people, the first Lord Commander who was neither a native of the North, nor present at the election when chosen, and who would not reside at the Wall after taking office, would now command the entire Gift from afar, doing everything possible to establish this northernmost border of the Seven Kingdoms as its tenth region, after the Seven Kingdoms proper, the Iron Islands, and the islands of the Narrow Sea.

—

Grand ambition is a fine thing, but reality is harsh. The inability to grow grain domestically seemed to be the greatest obstacle to Aegor’s dream of building an independent power. But the reality the Gift faced was worse. It was not that the Gift simply “did not grow grain.” It “produced nothing at all.”

No activity resembling production had yet begun. So far, all the work of every resident of the Gift and every brother of the Watch had been sustained entirely by the Night’s Watch Industry and the lifeblood transfusions from the northern lords. All so-called “work” had been limited to laying foundations, building infrastructure, and preparing for war.

These things had to be done, of course, but they created no wealth, generated no revenue, and could not sustain a system in the long run.

The Night’s Watch could not and should not engage in production, but the Gift could not survive without it.

The Iron Bank had approved a loan of one hundred thousand golden dragons to the Night’s Watch. The sum seemed vast, but spread among the forty thousand people now living in the Gift, it came to only about two and a half golden dragons per person. With grain prices expected to rise, even in the best case, the loan could do no more than ensure the Gift did not starve. As for developing it into the tenth region of Westeros, able to face the coming invasion of the White Walkers without suffering devastating losses, the funds, tools, weapons, armor, and other necessities for such a grand undertaking could never be met with the few hundred or thousand dragons of monthly profit from the Night’s Watch Industry.

To win the trust of the black-clad brothers who had been forced to open Castle Black’s stores and contribute strategic reserves to enrich the Gift’s market, and to prevent them from developing resentment or even hostility toward the new Commander, Aegor had to lead his people in “opening new sources of income.”

Simply put, the Lord Commander would not only direct the defense of the Wall against the White Walkers, he would also have to act like one of those technical and knowledge-based officials in his original world who went to the countryside to “lead the people to prosperity.”

—

The roads had been built, and the Gift’s land was fertile enough, but with winter already upon them, any thought of planting and farming could be set aside. Aegor turned instead to selling labor and resources.

Labor: the Gift now had an abundance of idle hands. As soon as Aegor took office, he ordered the brothers of the Watch who traveled widely to watch for places or tasks that needed manpower. Yet in this age of backward productivity, where lives were as cheap as paper, it was not only the newcomers to the Gift who were idle. Selling cheap labor was a pleasant dream, but unlikely. Aegor made other plans.

He wrote to the Night’s Watch Industry in King’s Landing, ordering the dragonglass mine on Dragonstone to accelerate excavation and begin shipping raw ore to the Wall. Polishing dragonglass products was not a highly technical task. With so many idle newcomers to the Gift, why hire workers in King’s Landing instead of putting them to work here?

Dragonglass made into weapons could serve in the defense against the White Walkers, and the scraps and offcuts could be fashioned into other goods to sell in the North or even across the Narrow Sea. With a bit of promotion about dragonglass’s power to ward off evil and its effect against mankind’s natural enemies, it could hardly go unnoticed.

It sounded ideal, but dragonglass was not found only on Dragonstone. Aegor already knew of several mines in Essos from hearsay, left largely untouched simply for lack of demand. Even with clever marketing, Dragonstone’s dragonglass might not be competitive.

And in any case, it was not mined in the Gift but in King Stannis’s own domain. The Iron Throne was not collecting taxes now because the Night’s Watch Industry was not yet rich enough to tempt a king’s greed. But to live off this one product forever, even if it were possible, would violate the principle of never putting all one’s eggs in one basket.

Dragonglass could be one source of income, but it could not bear the entire burden, nor serve as a long-term plan. Thinking of other avenues, Aegor quickly turned to mining.

What a backward world lacked was not metal ore, but finished metal. Selling raw ore brought little profit. The idea of developing smelting in the Gift naturally followed.

For many reasons, the Gift had to achieve some measure of self-sufficiency in metal.

If there was surplus to sell, all the better. If not, using their own would still cost less than buying from outside.

Aegor had always been one to plan several steps ahead. He had not neglected his work in Crown Town during the long months of the election. Masters skilled in smelting had already been invited from the South, and other preparations were in place, awaiting only confirmation that the Gift resettlement plan would go forward before beginning in earnest.

“Our surveyors have searched in many places for mineral deposits, but there is little in the plains, and there are no mountain roads. Poor transport and bad weather will make prospecting slow,” reported Town Chief Yam. “But some of the Mountain Men working in Crown Town mentioned that there are open-pit copper and coal mines in the mountains where they live. I spoke with their clan leaders, and they confirmed this, agreeing to let us mine and use them, provided we hire workers from their clans during the smelting process.”

“The request is reasonable. But copper? What is the quality and scale? Is it easy to mine? How far from the Gift?”

“From their descriptions, they have only ever used the natural copper on the surface, sometimes throwing a little ore into the fire while cooking to ‘smelt’ some for ornaments or small tools. The quality and scale can only be known once our masters see it, but mining should be easy. The site is less than a hundred miles southwest of Crown Town.”

“Hmm. Copper is worth more than iron, but for our purposes, I would prefer to find iron. Still, that is not urgent. The principles of smelting copper and iron are similar. Since there is a copper mine, we will use it for practice first. The most important thing is for the Gift’s people to master the process and steps of large-scale smelting,” Aegor decided. “Continue searching for other mineral deposits, especially iron, but begin copper smelting and show me results as soon as possible.”

“Understood,” Yam nodded.

“Come. Take me to see the progress on the other plans I set out.”

(To be continued.)

***

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