Gilliane Snow

Gilliane (Gilly) Snow currently serves on King Stark's council as the Winter's Shepherd. A religious leader of the Old Gods, and caretaker of Winterfell's godswood. Her father, Torrhen Snow, served as the previous Winter's Shepherd. Gilly displays an uncanny kinship with animals, and is plagued with visions of events from all over the realm.

## Appearance and Character

Gilly's tangle of chestnut locks crown large, doe eyes that exhibit an eerie green hue, under which a delicate nose and soft lips complete her youthful face. Possessing a slight, diminutive frame, she prefers furs and leathers, and will only don a gown under extreme duress.

While she remains content with providing spiritual guidance, and caring for Winterfell’s godswood and her menagerie of animals, Gilly continues to be plagued by nightmarish visions.  She can speak for ages, on the virtues of the Old Gods to anyone willing to listen, but few are willing to comply.

## History

### Early Life

In 75 AC, Gilliane was found wrapped in furs, in a grove of weirwood trees near Karhold, by Torrhen Snow, bastard son of Lord Rodrik Karstark.  The tale of her discovery, as Torrhen tells anyone who would listen, is a glorious one. He was out hunting alone, when a majestic white hart called out his name, led him to the grove of weirwoods, where a giant promptly knocked him on the noggin.  When he woke, he found a heavenly infant girl nestled at the foot of the largest tree. The more cynical would argue Torrhen got piss drunk whilst hunting, stumbled through the woods, passed out in the grove, and a poor smallfolk woman abandoned her child near his snoring body.

What *is* known is that Torrhen returned to Karhold a changed man.  Returning home with an infant he named Gilliane, he immediately gave up drinking and whoring, and incessantly preached the glorious virtues of the Old Gods to all he came across.  It wasn’t long until Torrhen decided he would undertake a pilgrimage to all the godswoods of the North, to honor his newfound faith. Karhold was likely glad to see him go. So, Gilly traveled the North cradled against her father’s chest as he rode from village, to keep, to stronghold.

### Animal Magnetism

Initially the denizens of the North were skeptical of this strange devout man, for the Old Gods had no need of preachers or priests.  Sure the Stark had the Winter’s Shepherd sit his council, but no other household required such a holy man. However, as Gilly transitioned from toddler to child, mysterious occurrences developed along their journey.  Animals of all varieties would congregate, and accompany them, in a manner far beyond mere taming and domestication. Bears would scare off bandits, wolves would share their spoils, and birds would break out into song.  Word of these miraculous events would spread, and soon Torrhen and Gilly were welcomed into every settlement they came across. Gilly herself would endure splitting headaches, and extraordinary animal dreams, but she and her father remained safe, with full bellies, and she was content.

### Winterfell

Finally in 85 AC, their holy trek brought the pair to Winterfell, where Torrhen’s reputation preceded him.  Indeed the current Winter’s Shepherd was the first to greet him, eager to bear witness to one so favored by the Gods.  He was impressed to find little Gilly riding atop an amiable wolf as the pair came upon the castle gates. Gilly on the other hand, was not impressed.  Instead, she grew anxious and soon terrified, for images came unbidden, of the holy man’s cold, dead, bloodied form, crushed under fallen stone.

To her horror, her premonition came true a few days later, during a stormy night, when stones crumbled from an old balcony dislodged directly above the Winter’s Shepherd, ending the poor man’s life prematurely.  Suddenly needing a new spiritual guide to fill the position, King Alaric elected to appoint Torrhen as his new shepherd.

As Gilly spent more and more time apart from her father, it slowly became clear to her that the strange incidents that occurred throughout their journey, only happened around her.  This revelation, combined with her oddly vivid dreams, scared her, and she kept silent about it for some time. Her father served as a capable enough Shepherd, and she was content attempting to fit in with the other members of the Winterfell household.

### Wolfswood Tragedy

Late in 92 AC, Skaggosi fanatics of the Old Gods began to assemble in the Wolfswood, terrorizing its inhabitants.  As word spread of their twisted form of worship, the Lord Glover plead for help, but times were unusually hard in the North, and his missives went unanswered.  Finally when the news of the atrocities reached Torrhen, he set out to the Wolfswood to right wrongs of the blasphemous fanatics, and calm the villagers. Gilly suffered numerous visions of the grisly fate that her father would meet, and begged him to stay home, but he would not hear it.

Ultimately Gilly’s dreams would come true, as her father was soon captured and killed by the fanatics.  His body was mutilated in grotesque offerings to the Old Gods, and scattered throughout the villages of the region.  But his death would not be in vain, for this desecration of the Winter’s Shepherd would finally spur Theodan Stark to action.  Together, with a force made up of a mixture of houses, most noticeably the Manderlys, Glovers, and Karstarks, and even the Lord Bolton himself, they would eventually track down and eliminate the fanatics.

### New Winter's Shepherd

Following the horrifying loss of her father, Gilly’s visions would intensify in number and degree, and she could no longer keep them to herself.  She dreamed of roses and lions fighting dragons and stags, and a blood red sea of kraken vessels. She dreamed of the union of merman and sheep, and a charred Barrowton.  As each successive vision proved true, word spread throughout Winterfell and beyond, and eventually King Alaric would name her to her father’s position of Winter’s Shepherd, despite the grumblings of having a woman sit his council.

## Family

Rodrik Karstark b. 36, d.70

* Torrhen Snow b. 55
	+ **Gilliane Snow** b. 75

m. Ayla Marsh b. 36

* Cregard Karstark b. 51, d. 90
* Asha Tallhart, nee Karstark b. 53
* Bethany Bolton, nee Karstark b. 54
* Jeyne Dustin, nee Karstark b. 56
* Harlon Karstark b. 58
* Kyle Karstark b. 59