Author's Note: The End of the Beginning
To my Dear readers.
We have reached the end of our first great campaign together. We marched alongside Kaelen Stark from the glowing foundries of Winterfell to the bloodstained waters of the Trident. We watched the Demon Wolf shatter a three hundred year old dynasty with steam and heavy steel. We stood in the Great Sept of Baelor as the Iron Settlement was forged and the Warden of Winter claimed his rightful crown to protect the realm from the coming cold.
Writing this first iteration of the story has been an absolutely incredible experience. Your support and enthusiasm fueled the fires of this project from the very first chapter. However, as I plotted the future of the North and the looming threat of the Long Night, a profound realization took hold of my mind.
The story of Kaelen Stark is far too massive to be contained within our current boundaries. His journey is not simply about winning a brief rebellion or building a few steam engines to humble the southern lords. It is a sprawling and deeply emotional saga about a man burdened with the knowledge of gods trying desperately to protect his fragile family from a freezing apocalypse. It is about the unconditional love of a mother, the fierce bond of twin brothers, and the lifetime of sacrifice required to drag a broken world out of the dark ages.
To truly do justice to the White Wolf and the legacy of his pack, I must build his foundation properly from his very first breath. What we have experienced so far was merely the prototype. It is time to ignite the true forge.
I am officially concluding this current storyline to launch the definitive and vastly expanded epic. I invite every single one of you to move over to my brand new novel titled Northern Star.
The Northern Star will be a massive five book saga spanning nearly a century of Northern history. We are starting fresh from the exact moment of his rebirth in the freezing ancient keep. You will intimately experience his childhood alongside his twin brother Brandon. You will feel his deep love for his mother Lyarra and his quiet understanding with his younger brother Ned. We will explore his legendary and bloody years in Essos, his enduring marriage to Alys Karstark, and the true step by step industrialization of the entire North.
The world will be richer and far more detailed. The emotional stakes will be much higher. You will feel his triumphs and you will weep at his losses. The pack will be larger and the coming winter will be darker than ever before.
I want to thank you all for standing by me during this initial run. Now it is time to stoke the fires hotter than we ever thought possible.
Please head over to the new novel. Chapter One is already waiting for you. The cold is coming, but the White Wolf has finally awakened, and his true preparations have just begun.
The pack survives.
With deepest gratitude,
IamtheDictator