| abstract
| - "Southerner" is most commonly understood to mean "Andals from south of the Neck", as opposed to being from the North: the region of Westeros north of the Neck which has been ruled by House Stark for thousands of years. While all of Westeros south of the Neck was conquered in the Andal Invasion six thousand years ago, the First Men of the North resisted the advance of the Andals beyond the Neck. Thus the culture and traditions of the First Men remain strong in the North. Particularly, the North is the only one of the Seven Kingdoms where the original religion of the First Men, the Old Gods of the Forest, is still the dominant religion of the Northerners. In contrast, the Andals and their culture dominate southern Westeros, including their religion, the Faith of the Seven. The concept of Knighthood originated with the Andals and is deeply intertwined with the Faith of the Seven, thus, soldiers from the Stark-held North rarely become knights, because they follow the Old Gods (though on rare occasion, even a devout worshiper of the Old Gods may be knighted by a southern king as a reward for valorous service). When the Andals invaded southern Westeros, they imposed not only their religion but their language on the peoples they conquered. The "Common Tongue" of the Andals became virtually the only language spoken on the entire continent: even the independent First Men in the North gradually adopted using the language of their Andal neighbors to the south, and in time stopped speaking the Old Tongue of the First Men. In later centuries only some of the more remote wildlings who live beyond the Wall still speak the Old Tongue. Thus, "southerners", "southern lords", and "southern culture" all generally refer to the Andal-dominated culture of Westeros south of the Neck, typified by knights pledged to the concept of chivalry, and who have a refined, aristocratic court culture. Eddard Stark himself mocks the pageantry of knights in court life, saying that "they strut around like roosters down here" when he arrives in King's Landing in "Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things". The Rhoynar migrated to Dorne a thousand years ago and intermingled with the Andal/First Men mix there, forming the unique "Dornish" culture. However they are generally also included in the term "southerner", as they converted to the Faith of the Seven, and thus have noble courts and knights.
- The Southerner was a long-distance train service between Christchrch-Dunedin-Incvercargill. Christchurch Depart: 8:15am Ashburton 9:26am Timaru 10:25am Oamaru 11:30am Palmerston 12:29pm Dunedin 2:01pm Mosgiel 2:19pm Milton 2:51pm Balclutha 3:15pm Gore 4:24pm Mataura 4:36pm Edendale 4:49pm Invercargill Arrive: 5:20pm Invercargill - Christchurch Invercargill Depart: 8:20am Edendale 8:56am Mataura 9:08am Gore 9:22am Balclutha 10:28am Milton 10:51am Mosgiel 11:23am Dunedin 11:48am Palmerston 1:12pm Oamaru 2:10pm Timaru 3:11pm Ashburton 4:09pm Christchurch Arrive: 5:15pm
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)