Scarlet Winter

The Scarlet Winter was one of the harshest on record, with snows descending even as far as Oldtown and Stonehelm in the south. It is so named for the hardship and suffering that it brought, the sting of cold leading many into desperation. Many maesters have compared it to the Winter of Wolves some fifty years before, though the old who have lived through both mark this as the worse of the two.

It is marked most notably by three major crises.

The Sea of Glass
The Citadel had only just sent forth the white ravens to signal the shortening of days, when from the North came bitter winds that chilled the hearts of all. Winter struck with determination, colder than any in living memory, and for the first time in what might have been centuries even the seas felt the Stranger’s touch.

The Trident
Red Fork, Blue Fork, and Green -- none were safe from the cold touch of winter. The Trident froze up its length for the first time in living memory, making fishing impossible and travel all the harder. Many went hungry, or in their desperation turned to banditry. In addition to this, many castles and towns began to host frost fairs, hiring mummers and inviting the rare merchants to gatherings where smallfolk from miles around might attend.

The Mander
The placid moving Mander was one of the most heavily affected rivers, and for the first time since its formation the Reach was as one land, unbroken. The river froze solid enough that horses and carts could traverse its surface, wagons and carts pulled by oxen mere feet away from ice-bound barges. The Tyrells made the best of the situation, aiding the small folk and doing what they could - some of the first winter festivals were held outside its walls, no less beautiful for the rows of decaying flowers.

Blackwater Rush
Frozen near up to the fork where the God’s Eye tributary met the Rush proper, the ancient southern bulwark of King’s Landing ceased to be a barrier, and instead became a highway. Near its headwaters in the mountains by Stoney Sept, the Blackwater Rush burst its banks, carving new paths through the hills. Though the end of winter saw the river return to the ancient route it has always taken, these unearthed gouges in the high mountains of the Riverlands have revealed strange things, long thought lost.

The Iron Islands
It is said that during the darkest days of the Scarlet Winter, a man could travel from Great Wyk to Old Wyk afoot. The isles, grasped tightly in the cold fingers of the season, near merged into one great, new island -- though at no point were all the islands so connected. Always surviving on the very brink of hunger, the Iron Islands suffered grievously from the hard, harsh winter, doing what had to be done to stave off starvation and the frost. There were good times as well, however, even here; games and events, feats of valour, feasts and competitions and weddings. But winter persisted, and the Greenlands did not much merit the name. For much of the Scarlet Winter, the Iron Islands stood alone.

White Harbour
No stranger to winter, the Northmen of White Harbour accepted the oncoming winter with their usual stoic pragmatism. Though White Harbour was the first to freeze shut, the Manderlys made good use of the extra land -- holding tourneys and melees, feasts and festivals, that brought men from across the North and Vale. Races were held up and down the frozen waters of the White Knife, though tragedy struck as the thaws at last came, the swell of meltwater causing the Knife to burst her banks.

Lannisport
The lion’s bay froze near a third up its length, jagged ice floes drifting between the narrowing coastlines before freezing solid near the city itself. Though the sight was a rather pretty one, inspiring artists to create renditions of the Rock rising proud against the pale vista of the city and its waters, trade all but halted, ships unable to reach the ports. The Lannisters hired men to break up the ice, tramping out in great teams strung along ropes, but after the first tragedy struck, no man dared risk life and limb to fight the cold grip of winter.

Gulltown
Storms from the Narrow Sea often swept into the Bay of Crabs during the Scarlet Winter, bring with them chilled eddies and swirling gusts of snow. Gulltown, sheltered somewhat from these frigid winds by the protruding bar of land that guarded its eastern flank, still saw trade drop drastically as the storms which raged in the Narrow Sea warned off all but the boldest of merchants.

King’s Landing
Maesters were forced to dig through the oldest of records in order to find when last the Blackwater froze. As winter approached, the Gullet narrowed sharply, Driftmark and Sharp Point nearly joined by solid ice. The capital itself was soon isolated by the freezing waters, ships trapped in the harbour until the frost subsided. As ice built up, thick enough that full grown men could walk where the seas once lay, it became a common attraction and source of levity for the people of the city.

Planky Town
The only true port in Westeros left untouched by the cold, Plankytown boomed during the Scarlet Winter, briefly becoming one of the key ports of call on the continent. From Planky Town wares traveled up the Greenblood and its tributaries, bringing wealth to the lords of the lands that bordered it and journeying onward towards the Red Mountains. By the time the caravans reached the marches of Dorne and the Reach, their prices soared higher than most could afford. The Baratheons were displeased, most especially with the Martells, accusing them of encouraging the price gouging. Some men turned to banditry, preying upon the merchants, and for a time the Red Mountains earned their name.

Oldtown
Though Oldtown itself did not remain frozen for the whole of the winter, it did freeze over for months at a time during the worst years of the season. Promises of Hightower wealth brought merchants, desperate or bold, regardless; the frozen harbours of Lannisport offering little hope for other markets upon the western coast.

The Warmaker's Peace
Main Article: The Warmaker's Peace

In the year 400AC, a large number of Essosi refugees from the Disputed Lands and Tyrosh fled across the Narrow Sea. Pressures from the resurging might of Myr and large khalasars pushing further west than they had gone in decades, coupled with religious persecution in Tyrosh and poor harvests all around, drove many to follow the Red Priests who had made their way to the Seven Kingdoms decades before.

These folks arrived in their thousands, most notably in the nearest port - Planky Town - and in the capital city of the Seven Kingdoms; King's Landing. Though many were smallfolk, farmers and artisans, they brought with them warriors and nobles as well, entire families and towns displaced and uprooted. Initially this crisis was one of coin and grain, but as the Scarlet Winter arrived in earnest, the extra burden became too much for many. In King's Landing, the foreigners were treated with suspicion and persecution, abused and exploited. in 406AC, the suffering they faced in Westeros proved too much to bear, and though some traveled east once more to seek their fortunes in Essos, others followed the banners of Galan Warmaker.

The Night With No Moon
Early in 405AC, as the last of winter's grip began to ease upon the realm, a strange sight was seen above Westeros. On the night of the full moon, whilst the sound of thawing ice and swelled rivers echoed through the darkness, the moon above shone scarlet red, as if it had been pierced with a sword.

No maesters, lords, kings or commoners can agree on exactly what this portent could have meant. Some point to the end of winter, and mark it as sign that the hardships were not over; others thought that it was an ill omen for future years. Followers of the Red God marked it as a sign of their Lord's favour, while many of those of the starry disciplines saw it as the mark of the Seven's displeasure.

Whatever the true meaning of the red moon, no sooner had it come before it was once more gone, leaving many to breathe a sign of relief. But the death of Crown Prince Aemon later that year would in the eyes of many prove the worst, and future signs in the skies would be looked at with worry and woe...