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  == Night's Watch and Free Folk  ==
  Coat of arms of the Night's Watch
  The Night's Watch is a sworn brotherhood of men who patrol the Wall. The individual members or "Brothers of the Watch" (called "Crows" by the Wildlings) reject land and titles, practice celibacy, cut ties to their families, assume neutrality in politics, and never desert their assignments, on pain of death. Joining the Watch is still considered an honor because any man can rise through the ranks regardless of illegitimacy or criminal past, but in the first book, the Watch is severely undermanned. The Watch is based at Castle Black, where the Lord Commander of the Watch resides and new recruits are trained.
  Wildlings, also called Free Folk, are people who live beyond the Wall. They live in independent villages and have no central government. Bands of wildlings often cross the Wall for plunder. In ''A Storm of Swords'', the wildlings unite under Mance Rayder, the self-styled 'King-beyond-the-Wall', and invade the Seven Kingdoms to escape the return of The Others. With the help of Jon and Stannis Baratheon, they settle in the North. Many move into the abandoned castles to defend the Wall.