Eddard Stark

**Eddard Stark** is the legitimised bastard son of Lord Cregan Stark and Lady Kyra Bolton, and the current Head of House Stark. Following Lord Cregan's success in the Pack Wars, the families of Bolton, Ryswell, and Dustin insisted Eddard, then a child, be installed as his true heir. Cregan's other sons Rickon and Brandon agreed to the terms. In 358AC Eddard succeeded his father as Lord of Winterfell and Lord Paramount of the North.

## Appearance

Eddard Stark is a well built man, muscular and stands at the impressive height of 6'3. His hair, inherited from his mother, is of a raven black perhaps tinged with a hint of the red of his Tully heritage. It is worn almost messily near to his shoulders, with a short cropped beard lining his hardened, lean and hungry features. His eyes, similarly inherited from his mother are a icy gray. He frequently wears a surcoat emblazoned with the coat of arms of House Stark, a snarling wolf upon a field of white.

## History

Born as Eddard Snow, the future Lord Paramount of the North would be conceived of bastardy and rape on the part of an enraged Cregan Stark and the captured Lyra Bolton, who had been imprisoned by forces loyal to Cregan Stark in the early skirmishes of the War of the Pack in 350 AL. It was said that Cregan, already in an emotionally volatile state due to the circumstances of the bloody war waged between his kinmen and his own people, was driven into a fury by an barb shot at him by the chained Kyra Bolton. The ‘Wolfs Blood’’ as Cregan himself called it, took ahold of the alleged Kinslayer and he forced himself on the Bolton girl. She would soon give birth to a boy, named Eddard. The mother and her bastard would be liberated by in a minor battle taking place in 352 AL after forces loyal to Cregan hastily evacuated camp in the face of a sudden mounted charge by Ryswell cavalry, leaving behind the two in the chaos of the hasty withdrawal.

After his son’s death, Brandon Stark would concede his claim to the North handing ‘victory’ to the forces of Cregan Stark. Brandon’s son was half a Bolton and as such, the flayed man and their close allies of Ryswell and Dustin were enraged at the news of his death. The Boltons demanded recompense, in particular the bastard son of Cregan and Kyra be placed ahead of Rickon as heir to the North. Cregan was driven into a rage at this, allegedly slicing a table clean in half with Ice before declaring that he would “Do what my ancestors ought to have done long ago” and put the Dreadfort to the torch. The reality of the situation is that, despite being handed victory by Brandon’s abdication the slaughter at the wolf wood’s had greatly decimated Cregan’s loyalists to the point that even the Boltons, Dustins and Ryswells by themselves could feasibly put up a fight against them, especially if they withdrew into their holdfasts and fortresses. Rickon Stark saw no wisdom into continuing the madness, and the North itself was famished, weakened with many fields and young men who should have been working in them consumed in the fighting. Even among Cregan’s most fervent followers, war exhaustion reached an apex.

Seeing this, Rickon himself would voluntarily concede his claim to the bastard with Cregan reluctantly agreeing to the Bolton’s terms after hearing of the news of his trueborn son’s decision. Cregan himself would completely wash his hands of the boy, refusing to even see the boy, infact never even laying eyes upon the ancestral fortress of Winterfell until after his father’s death. Despite being tutored extensively, he would violently reject his Bolton heritage and bastardy to please a father who he would hardly lay eyes upon in his entire life. Even into adulthood, Eddard would carry a empty feeling within him, a hidden desire for paternal affection hidden underneath a cold exterior.

Cregan finally died in 358 AC and the Crown, eager to put the Northmen back to paying taxes rather than murdering one another, signed the legitimization decree of Eddard, facilitating his rise to Lordship over the North.

Eddard was a bright boy, strongly built with frame that seemed to had been specifically forged to wield Ice (Greatswords x2,) the ancestral sword of his house. Though he would display an eagerness to overcompensate for the stain of bastardy, and despite the usual rhetoric of Northmen, a certain admiration for Southron culture courtesy largely of his Tully roots though unlike his forebearer Robb Stark, he would return to the worship of the Old Gods. Personality-wise, the ‘wolf’s blood’ would appear to be strong in Eddard, proving himself to be hot-headed, impulsive and ruthlessly temperamental, despite his Bolton’s tutors best attempts to quench his flaming blood.

At the young age of fifteen, he strode out with his forces to meet the invading Ironborn forces in 365 A.C.At this point, his regents and advisors still functionally commanded the majority of the Northern army, with Eddard only commanding a portion of his Winterfell levies and household guard. Strong-headed and dismissive of advice, Eddard smashed his levies again and again into the Ironborn shield walls, resulting in the near annihilation of the force under his command. It was only until the bodies of the loyal men who he had ordered to their deaths out of arrogance and impulse were splayed at his feet did Eddard realize the error of his ways.

At the Battle of Fevers he would distinguish himself greatly, with his Household Guard smashing through a thinly held Ironborn flank and contributing heavily to the overwhelming Northern victory. In the aftermath of the battle, when Lord Goodbrother was discovered to have been taken captive, Eddard immediately ordered him to the block, wishing to personally execute the reaver. He was only dissuaded by the insistent advice of his regents and instead of his neck, the Goodbrother’s wrist met the cold sting of Ice. Eddard had taken the Ironborn’s sword hand, so that he would never be able to rise it against the North again.

Eddard had learned greatly from his mistakes in the campaign and gained valuable experience in the management of soldiers and logistics. Eddard himself was once quoted by Winterfell’s maester, as stating in off hand conversation, “I left Winterfell a green boy and returned a man stained red with Ironborn blood.” His vassals had made note of the marked difference in Eddard’s personality, the conscious restraint of his rage and a certain forced patience.

Eddard, in the war of Cape Kraken, would have learned to suppress his ‘wolf’s blood.’ Instead, he forced upon himself calm, resisted the urge to draw steel at insult and put a leash upon his aggression. Mentally, Eddard would apply the nickname he despised, ‘The Flayed Wolf,’ to the darker portion of personality, the one that demanded blood and glory, forming a mental wall against it. But the question would tear at him: How long can a wolf resist it’s nature?

Soon afterwards, Eddard would use the confidence and experience gained in the war of Cape Kraken to further assert himself in the matters of governance. By the time he reached seventeen, Eddard had fully freed himself from his regents, finally ruling the North fully in his own right.

Eddard serves as a competent administrator, though not particularly gifted except for the matter of harvests, which he constantly sends various servants and maesters to oversee. This is due to his memories of his youth which are constantly plagued by hints of the wide-spread starvation the North endured during the aftermath of the War of the Pack. Even when isolated in the Dreadfort and later in Winterfell, he still often caught glimpses of servants and cooks, rail thin. He concerns himself greatly with a ultimate solution to the matter of Winter for the North, convincing himself that he truly cares for his people. Eddard has a small, but notable fondness for Southron culture aswell, largely stemming from his Tully heritage and the trip South he took when he first swore allegiance to King Maekar when he was naught but nine years of age, soon after he inherited the Lordship of the North. He has ordered, and often wears a full set of high quality plate armor imported from King's Landing blacksmiths, and even attempted to hold a joust or two in the North, with the aid of the Whitehills and Manderlys, under the pretense of improving the horsemanship of the Northerners (Lance x1.)

With the death of King Maekar, Lord Eddard Stark now prepares himself to ride down South to attend the coronation of King Aemon and the revelry that will surely follow.

## Family Tree

* Robb Stark (b. 283AC, d. 350AC), Lord of Winterfell, Warden of the North, and his wife, Lady Alys Karstark (b. 285AC, d. 355AC)
	+ Brandon Stark (b. 302AC, d. 353AC), Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, and his wife, Emberlei Bolton (b. 312AC)
		- Osric Stark, Heir to Winterfell (b. 329AC, d. 353AC)
	+ Lynara Stark (b. 304AC), Lady of Bear Island, and her husband, Rodrik Mormont, Lord of Bear Island
		- (Lynara's and Rodrik's Children )
	+ Cregan Stark (b. 306AC, d. 358AC), Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, and his wife, Wyllara Manderly (c. 310AC)
		- Rickon Stark (b. 321AC) and his wife, Jeyne Royce (b. 320AC)
			* Sansa Stark (b. 350AC)
			* Richard Stark (b. 351AC)
			* Rodrik Stark (b. 353AC)
			* Berena Stark (b. 355AC)
			* Theo Stark (b. 356AC)
		- Brandon Stark (b. 322AC)
		- **Eddard Stark** (b. 350AC)
	+ Howland Stark (b. 323AC) and Lady Sarra Dustin ( b. 326AC, d. 370AC)
		- (Their children, including:) Lady Donella Royce, nee Stark (b. 341 AC.)
		- (Howland's and Sarra's Children)
	+ Serena Stark (b. 330AC)
	+ Torrhen Stark (b. 307AC, d. 350AC), Lord of the Rills, and his wife, Elenya Ryswell, Lady of the Rills
		- Their children, Sarra Ryswell (b. 324AC) and Brynden Ryswell (b. 326AC)
	+ Barbrey Stark (b. 307AC), Lady of Raventree Hall, and her husband, Artos Blackwood, Lord of Raventree Hall
		- (Barbrey's and Artos' Children)
	+ Osric Stark (b. 314AC, d. 315AC), died in the cradle
* Lady Lythene Bolton (b. 356AC) Lord Eddard's half sister by Kyra Bolton.