Night's Watch

The Night's Watch holds the Wall at the northern edge of Westeros and has done so, by its own reckoning, for eight thousand years. A man who takes the black gives up his name, his lands and any claim he was born to, swears to take no wife and father no children, and serves until he dies. The order is divided into rangers, who go beyond the Wall, builders, who keep it standing, and stewards, who feed and clothe the rest, each under an officer chosen by the Lord Commander, who is elected for life by the brothers themselves. Nineteen castles once lined the Wall. Three are still manned: Castle Black, the Shadow Tower and Eastwatch by the Sea. The lands south of the Wall known as the Gift were given to the Watch by House Stark to feed it.