Alys Stark

## Personality

### Personality Description

Cold and distant are probably the first two words that come to mind when Alys is mentioned. She is headstrong, stubborn and extremely fatalistic, believing that might and preservation of the Stark family and The North as a region, is all that truly matters in her eyes.

While calculating, she isn’t a politician, prefering to take direct and sometimes brute force approaches towards issues. This tends to lead to her being quick to anger at points, her own insecurities boiling over into aggression and near malice, having known to explode into both near and outright violent moments.

However to those who know her closest she is seen as the shy, awkward but grieving child. Having witnessed the winter that devastated the region and killed her love and their child, it shook her to her core, having changed a once bubbly and happy girl into a woman who stares off into the distance in remorse and silent suffering.

She has taken to heavy worship of the Old Gods, finding a sense of peace beneath the red leaves of a weirwood.

### Goals and Motivation

Her goals and motivations surface level are to secure the safety and prosperity of the North, and of the Starks. Deeply she cares for the people and for her family, despite her ferocity, outbursts and otherwise grim demeanor.

But deep down her main motive is almost a primal sense of survival, she wishes to stamp away the weakness she sees within herself. She had already lost most of what she had held dear ever so briefly, she won’t lose her home nor her independence or the independence of House Stark.

### Reputation

Ever since her return from Bear Island, she has garnered a reputation and infamy that shows the ugliness within her own ideals.

Beyond the fact she is a woman who openly admits to having fought to the death, she carries a sense of ill will and cruelty. The people will not remember how she fought for them, only the brutality of the way she went about it.

She is at best seen as a misunderstood, harsh but fair woman, at worst she is seen as almost barbaric.

## Backstory

The story of Alys Stark is one steeped in sorrow. She was born as the Eldest Daughter of the Starks, while loved by her parents at the end of the day, she would act as a political asset.

Alys would be betrothed to a Mormont boy, one who if she was asked to recall his name, she would pretend to have forgotten the name of.

While Alys was a rebellious child, caring more to fight with stable boys, her parents figured this could perhaps quell her.

However on Bear Island, women were taught to fight and defend themselves, much like many other boys. Alys took the opportunity to train with fervor and zeal, garnering the attention of the boy she would be betrothed to.

The pair would in their time together fall in love, and Alys would find herself less in the yard and spending more time with the ladies of House Mormont. During this time however, Alys would fall pregnant with her betrothed’s child. She kept it all but a secret seeing as they two were to be married in a couple of months. But before the pair’s proper wedding ceremony, and the arrival of winter, Alys’ husband fell violently ill, quickly succumbing to the pox.

Alys was luckily unscathed by the outbreak, isolating herself with just a handful of servants as sickness spread.  In due time however, she would give birth to her first and only child Erik, named after her late husband to be. But winter took him from her as well.

It was in these moments and the years to come that saw the change in Alys. During the winter she would dare go on what some called a suicide mission to return to her ancestral home. It took her the better part of 3 years, but she endured the cold and finally utilized her martial training against bandits and reavers preying upon the weak. Returning to Winterfell to weather out the rest of winter. Returning to Winterfell she was ready to be cast aside as a disgrace amongst her family, but she remained. The Winter Wolf had proven useful in her own way. She would be given command of simple arming men from time to time, sent out to hunt down brigands and quash small rebellions before they spread amongst the north.

Her path and her name now were now a mere footnote, written in blood.

Over time she would use her skills to try and aid her family in surviving through the winter.

And while the Targaryans may have been the Starks' saviors during the 15 years of winter, she saw a need for them to become self reliant….