House Stark

> "*The winters are hard, but the Starks will endure. We always have.*"
> ― Lord Eddard Stark
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**House Stark of Winterfell** is one of the Great Houses of Westeros and the principal lords of the North. Founded from the line of Bran the Builder in the Age of Heroes, House Stark has remained indomitable throughout the centuries. Originally known as the Kings of Winter, they would kneel to Aegon the Conqueror during his Conquest and were then known as Wardens of the North. Their seat is Winterfell, and their sigil a racing grey direwolf on white.

The current line of House Stark is descended from Rickon Stark, youngest son of Lord Eddard Stark, and his wife Wylla Manderly. Lord Jon Stark is the present Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.

## Culture

> "*I should have thought that heat ill suits you Starks. Here in the south, they say you are all made of ice, and melt when you ride below the Neck.*"
> ― Littlefinger
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House Stark is of the blood of the First Men, which is evident in their common features and customs. Many Starks are described as being long-faced with brown hair and grey eyes, with personalities to match the harsh environment they lord over. Some are known for iciness, others for melancholy, and some for a 'wolf's wildness'.

As followers of the old gods, the Starks find kinship in godswoods and weirwood trees over septs and septons. Ever since the tenure of Lady Catelyn Stark, however, a sept was constructed in Winterfell to honour her own godd, the Faith of the Seven, and it's not an unusual sight to see a particularly devout Stark visit. However, this is the exception; most Starks find more comfort in the Winterfell godswood.

The Starks entomb their dead in the crypts below Winterfell. Normally, only the Lords of Winterfell would get statues to commemorate their passing, but some figures within the house like Lyanna Stark have been honoured similarly. Traditionally, House Stark has also been friends of the Night's Watch, with many Starks having served in the now-fallen order.

## History

### Before Aegon's Conquest (BC)

> "*The first Lords of Winterfell had been men hard as the land they ruled. In the centuries before the Dragonlords came over the sea, they had sworn allegiance to no man, styling themselves the Kings in the North.*"
> ― Eddard Stark
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Prior to the conquest of Aegon Targaryen, the Starks had been the Kings of Winter for eight-thousand years. They fought with the Red Kings of House Bolton and the Barrow Kings from the northern barrowlands. Throughout the wars and strife House Stark remained the undisputed Kings of the North however, and would only see themselves lowered with the dragons of House Targaryen.

### Aegon's Conquest (AC)

> "*Aegon the Conqueror brought fire and blood to Westeros, but afterward he gave them peace, prosperity, and justice.*"
> ― Daenerys Targaryen
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King Torrhen Stark was King of Winter during the conquest of Aegon Targaryen. He mustered an army of thirty-thousand Northmen to face the dragon in battle, only to kneel after considering the burning of Harrenhal and the massacre at the Field of Fire. Henceforth, Torrhen Stark was known as the King Who Knelt, and the Starks wielded the mantle of Wardens of the North.

### War of the Five Kings (298 - 300 AC)

#### The Young Wolf

> "*When there was a Stark in Winterfell, a maiden girl could walk down the kingsroad in her name-day gown and still go unmolested, and travelers could find fire, bread, and salt at many an inn and holdfast. But the nights are colder now, and doors are closed ... It was different when there was a Stark in Winterfell. But the old wolf's dead and young one's gone south to play the game of thrones, and all that's left us is the ghosts.*"
> ― An unknown Liddle
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After the execution of Lord Eddard Stark at the hands of King Joffrey I Baratheon, the North rose up in rebellion to avenge their fallen lord and rescue his children from the capital. His son, Robb Stark, garnered much notoriety for his prowess in battle, and eventually was named King in the North by his men, the first Stark to hold that title in three centuries.

   The Young Wolf continued to win battles throughout his campaign, though his reign began to unravel when his mother Catelyn Stark let Jaime Lannister, his hostage, free under the promise of getting her other children. That, and an unwise marriage to Jeyne Westerling led to the ultimate collapse of his rule, with House Frey murdering him and his mother at the event known as the Red Wedding.

With the death of the Young Wolf, House Stark seemed all but collapsed. Sansa had wed Tyrion Lannister, Arya Stark was missing, alongside Bran and Rickon Stark who were thought dead. As House Bolton assumed the Stark's titles and wardenship, the wolves' pack seemed to scatter.

However, Littlefinger would soon relieve Sansa of her Lannister husband and Lannister gaolers, spiriting her away to the Vale and disguising her as his natural daughter Alayne Stone. She would remain in secret for some time before marrying Baelish after his plans to make her a future Lady of the Vale fell through. Meanwhile, Lord Wyman of House Manderly had located Rickon Stark alive and well, hiding on the island of Skagos thanks to an Ironborn who knew where the allegedly-dead boy had fled. Wyman and Littlefinger brought the forces of the North and the Vale together, to reclaim Sansa's ancestral home.

#### Reclaiming Winterfell

> "*Bear Island knows no king but the King in the North, whose name is STARK.*"
> ― Lyanna Mormont
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Many houses would rally to the Stark cause with House Manderly and Littlefinger. The combined force of these two regions was enough to smash the Bolton force holding Winterfell. With victory assured, Wyman revealed Rickon Stark retrieved from Skagos by a smuggler, alive and well. Sansa was made his regent.

### The Long Night (AC)

> *Main Article: Long Night*
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### Wolves of the North (AC)

Following the Long Night, the modern history of House Stark begins with the rule of Lord Rickon Stark, younger brother of Sansa Stark and son of the late Lord Eddard. Him and his fearsome companion, the direwolf Shaggydog, became staples of the North during his tenure as Warden and Lord.

At the start of his reign Rickon was but a child, even younger than the Boy King Tommen Baratheon in the south. His sister the Lady Sansa, then merely the wife of Lord Petyr Baelish, acted as his regent and caretaker. To reward House Manderly for their leal service of House Stark in it’s time of need, Sansa arranged for Lord Wyman’s granddaughter, the young Wylla Manderly, to be betrothed to Rickon Stark, to be wed when he came of age -- Despite the age difference of twelve years. Her grandfather had little issue in breaking the betrothal between Wylla and Little Walder Frey, and the Lady Wylla felt much the same.

So Rickon would wait many years to be wed to his mermaid bride, in that time learning at the knee of Sansa how to rule the North as their father did. Sansa herself been taught such things from her husband, and passed on a more honorable version of those lessons to her younger brother. The North would know peace for many years under Sansa’s regency, until the time of the Great Council.

### Great Council (303 AC)

> *Main Article: Great Council of 303 AC*
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With Rickon only seven years old, Sansa brought him to the Great Council with her to support her husband, who was making a bid for the crown. When Petyr Baelish was indeed voted in, Sansa would be forced to accept the mantle of Queen on the Iron Throne, and would no longer be readily available as Rickon’s guardian. She, with her authority as Queen, would install those most loyal to House Stark to oversee her brother’s formative years in Winterfell; Wyman Manderly, Barbrey Dustin, and Robett Glover, who would jointly-control the North in Rickon’s name until he came of age to take the Wardenship for himself. At the same time, Wylla Manderly would be warded to Winterfell and would travel with her grandfather to meet her intended. Whilst she was nineteen and Rickon not even ten, the two would get along well enough, and would become close over the years as their marriage date grew closer.

### Rule of House Baelish (Present Day)

#### Lord Rickon Stark (314 - 356 AC)

In 314 AC, Rickon Stark would finally be of age, old enough to wed his now thirty-year-old bride and assume rule of Winterfell. The houses of Manderly, Dustin and Glover would be highly praised and rewarded by Rickon for their care of the North and himself in his stead, and dismissed from service with honour as they would at last return to their homes. Wylla and Rickon would only have one son during their marriage. He would be named Cregan, born in 315, at the hour of the wolf.

This would only be the first sign that Cregan was no ordinary child. He seemed especially close with his father’s direwolf Shaggydog even at a young age, spending more time with the animal than with the other children in Winterfell. He walked the Godswood often, and would sometimes only take his lessons if he took them under the shade of the weirwood tree. Such behaviour was seen as odd to some, though Rickon only saw his son as devout to the Old Gods. When Cregan was ten, he was sent to be a ward to his aunt and uncle, the Queen Sansa and King Petyr.

There, Cregan grew destitute. He did not like the south, with its sweetness and warmth, and his cousins did not entice him much either. Most of all, he missed Shaggydog, and his father, and his walks in the Godswood and the weirwood tree. He would return to Winterfell in six year’s time, so that he might spend the last few moons of his adolescence with his father in preparation to continue the family name -- But until then he would be stuck in a King’s Landing still scarred from war. The time would pass quickly, despite feeling like millennia to young Cregan. And with his years in the Capital spent, Cregan would make his slow return to Winterfell with the Queen and her children in tow, as an ageing Sansa wished to show them her ancestral home.

Along the way, however, Cregan would experience an unexplainable event in the Riverlands. By the time the young heir to winter returned home, he had in tow a wolf, a strange pet for a man, but a welcome sight to a Stark. He had named the creature Trident in honor of both where they had met and his mother’s house, and claimed he had come to him from the largest wolfpack Westeros had ever seen. Rickon was impressed with his son upon his return, not only to see how he had become a man, but to see how he had kept in touch with his Stark heritage in the south.

The relationship between Trident and Cregan is mostly unknown. The two were as close as close could be, though many would whisper that while Cregan slept, Trident seemed to have a mind of his own, exploring the castle and Godswood and hunting. He would bring his kills to the butcher, as if he knew somehow it was the right thing to do, and would scare off raiders and poachers when he slipped past the gates of Winterfell. Even with speculation, the true nature of their companionship went with Cregan to his eventual grave.

Cregan would marry the Lady Lyanna Ryswell in 335 AC, just beginning into the rule of King Eddard I Baelish. Rickon was still Lord of Winterfell, though sickness had carried off his wife Wylla just days after King Petyr himself had passed. Lyanna would prove a fair match to Cregan instantly. She took to Trident and even Shaggydog, and would not be a docile wife, preferring the spirits of the outdoors to the matronly ways. Cregan found this amusing, the two soon proved to be a match of love, though children would not bless them for some time. Throughout their marriage they would have four children; Rickard, their eldest, born in 344 AC; Lucas, the second-eldest, in 348; Serana, their first daughter, in 350; and Gilliane, their last, in 352.

Lord Rickon Stark, who had served honourably and dutifully as Warden of the North in a way that reminded many of his father, would live to hold his last grandchild. He would die in his sleep at the age of sixty, and Shaggydog would not wake either, the two having passed into the arms of the Old Gods together, as one, as they had been in life. They would be buried together, side by side, Cregan ensuring that the direwolf received his own statue beside his father in the crypts so that all would know of his importance to the old Lord.

Hours after his father’s funeral, Lord Cregan was named Warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell. His son, Rickard, was poised to succeed him.

#### Lord Cregan Stark (356 - 370 AC)

Cregan was already known to most of the North at the time of his ascension, which proved a boon. The men and women of the North respected his father, and therefore respected him in turn. King Eddard was not so easily swayed, however, even with Cregan’s fostering in the Red Keep as a child, and the Lord of Winterfell would often swear himself out of the southron politics and the nightmares of his cousin in the hopes of keeping his own realm secure. In fact, Cregan would scarce leave the North upon becoming Warden, unless summoned by his King directly.

Time in Winterfell would pass slowly. Trident, Cregan’s stalwart companion, would eventually pass from old age. Heartbroken, Cregan buried the wolf himself underneath the weirwood tree in the Godswood, insisting that the creature was of the wild and did not deserve to wait in the crypts for Cregan’s own return, preferring that he run free. Whilst Trident’s line is said to continue in the Wolfswood with the packs he would sometimes run with, Cregan would not take another animal companion for the rest of his days, spending time with his children instead, though many would note how the death of his friend affected him deeply.

The heir to the North, Rickard Stark, would be promised to Leona of House Forrester when both were young. This pairing was in accordance with a deal Cregan arranged to use the Forrester’s Ironwood. The rare material would be put to use bolstering the Northern fleet, in the wake of Prince Vorian Martell’s thieveries. Cregan did not trust his cousin to rule much longer, and he was not even surprised to hear of his death in 358 AC. He would travel to King’s Landing to personally reaffirm pledges of loyalty to King Petyr II Baelish as a show of faith in the new King.

Whilst Rickard was a wonderfully attentive student of both books and the battlefield, his younger brother Lucas Stark was not so. An avid climber, he would spend most of his time evading the lessons with his brother and instead exploring Wintertown on his own. He would even miss his own brother’s wedding to Leona Forrester during one of these escapades, much to his father’s anger.

With the union of Rickard and Leona in 363 AC, Cregan would permit his son to take a more active role in the governance of the North, sending him and his wife as envoys in his stead to tour their realm and meet with smallfolk to discuss their grievances. Unfortunately, Rickard had grown to become particularly uncharismatic due to his stoic, scholarly nature. More oft than not, it was the young teenaged Lucas, stealing away with the couple on such trips, who managed to win over Lords and Ladies and earn the favor of the peasantry. These exercises would only stop when Leona fell pregnant with Rickard’s first child.

The pregnancy proved violent for Leona, even more so upon entering labour when a storm the likes the North had not seen in years ravaged Winterfell and the surrounding areas. But by the time the sun rose, Leona had given the Starks not one, but two heirs; Jon Stark and Argella Stark. The future Lady of Winterfell had recovered enough to survive, thankfully, as did her children, and she would go on to have three more throughout her marriage.

Lucas’ popularity among the North was not forgotten on him. With Leona now tending to her son and daughter, the second-born petitioned their father to permit him and Rickard to once again begin their tours of the North and perhaps even some of the south, starting at White Harbor. Hesitant, Lord Cregan permitted it, and the brothers set off to garner goodwill. They would be gone for two years, engaging in diplomacy with allies and the occasional skirmish with ne’er-do-wells.

Surprising no-one, the younger wolf proved far more troublesome than the older one. By the end of the two-year adventure, Lucas had fathered a bastard son off a merchant’s daughter in White Harbor on their return to Winterfell. He would also tangle with the mountain clans, bringing home with him a maid named Alys, of House Liddle; he claimed her an extraordinary woman, though many in Winterfell were merely perplexed at the stranger’s reason for being there -- To the Starks, it was rather obvious. Rickard, embarrassed at his brother’s actions, would later plot to send Alys away as she was proving a poor fit to Winterfell -- Lucas would respond by taking her as his wife in 366 AC, making her a Stark, and ensuring she would have a place in his ancestral home. In the same year, Leona Stark gave Rickard his second son, a stout boy named Robb. The birth did little to remedy the tense situation among the Starks.

Cregan was at first angered by Lucas’ wanton actions, but his wife would soothe his fury and he would eventually welcome Alys as a member of his family, insisting the rest of the household do the same as he’d begun to find common ground in her wildish ways. When word reached Lucas of his newborn bastard son in White Harbour as his mother was ill, many of the Starks were expecting relations between the newly-weds to turn sour. Rickard was even said to be hoping for it, commenting that perhaps it was time for the wild to return home.

Surprisingly, it was Alys who insisted that Lucas send for the boy, named Alyn, so that he might be with his father when his mother passed. The boy’s merchant family did not wish to care for a Stark’s offspring. So, Alyn Snow soon joined the growing Stark family, taking to his father and step-mother swiftly. The Lady Leona was said to be impressed by the kindness of the mountain girl, and the two became friends, much to Rickard’s dismay. It seemed, for now, Alys Stark was here to stay.

Tragedy struck the North just prior to King Petyr II’s invasion of the Iron Islands. In the same year that Rickard and Leona had their third son Beron, the matriarch of House Stark and Cregan’s beloved wife Lyanna would die from what the maester called a failure of her heart. Cregan would entomb her in the crypts below Winterfell as befitted a true Stark, leaving enough room in her stone vault for his body as well.

His wife would not wait long, as Cregan Stark was among the casualties of the short war known as the Subjugation of the Iron Islands. He had bent the knee to King Petyr II, and would die with him. And with the Ironborn having killed his father, Lord Rickard Stark assumed the mantle of Lord of Winterfell and head of House Stark.

#### Lord Rickard Stark (370 - 383 AC)

Rickard became Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North in 370 AC, the same year his brother Lucas welcomed his first legitimate child, his daughter Erena Stark, and following the folly of King Petyr II. Winterfell felt quiet despite there being so many children, the absence of Cregan’s larger-than-life presence leaving a hole in the House and home. Jon, Rickard’s heir, received plenty of attention at the start of his father’s rule -- This would dwindle, as the years came and went, and the North demanded more of his father’s focus than the going-ons of his son and heir. Truly, he didn’t do it out of malice; Rickard simply wasn’t one for children, even his own. They confounded him, when topics like siegecraft and warfare proved far more straightforward -- And much less fickle.

So it would fall to the Lady Leona to tend to her children, as Rickard delved deeper into neglect. He thrust his attention towards maintaining the North, ensuring its safety, and living up to the revered Cregan Stark. It was a tall order, but one Rickard saw fit to focus his attention on. Lord Rickard was successful in his attempts, and despite being a far more quiet man that preferred to be tucked away in his study, the North was safe in his hands.

But the realm itself could not always be so intact. Brynden Baelish, the Hand of the King, was deemed a traitor by King Edmund I Baelish. The North was isolated from the affair, ignoring the troubles that would only breed pain. Though King Edmund sought a new Hand - it was offered to Lord Rickard Stark and after much deliberation he accepted. It strengthened their connection and importance to the realm, or so Rickard thought. He amassed his army and ventured into the Riverlands, crossing the Neck and taking the fight to the rebels.

They arrived at The Twins, the seat of House Frey, and were shocked to find them in support of Brynden Baelish; it seemed there was no choice other than to engage in conflict, besieging the two castles. It was going to take time, no doubt, but it took too long - the returning Faith Militant and the Valeman, lead by Lord Arryn, lifted the siege and sent the Northmen into a retreat. The Faith Militant acted on their threats to execute any Northerners that remained stalwart into their belief of the Old Gods, bringing widespread shock to the realm.

It was one of the darkest days any Northmen had faced in a long, long time. They were fresh from defeat, forced to lick their words in the safety their distance from the enemy provided before inevitably re-engaging. Loyalists had achieved victory on other fronts and eventually surrounded the Rebel King inside Harrenhal. He began to starve, he began to squirm, and eventually there was no other choice than to face the royal host in the field.

Bloody. It was described so simply by Jon whenever he was asked. Rickard kept his silence, encased in his tomb, put there by the arrow that pierced his heart. It was a heavy blow to the North, and more importantly House Stark itself. King Edmund suffered the loss of another Hand, but he rewarded the North for its loyalty shown and presented the offer to the new Warden of the North, the young and newly-named Lord Jon Stark of Winterfell.

#### Lord Jon Stark (383 - 390 AC)

Jon had taken the mantle of Lord Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North whilst cradling the corpse of his predecessor as the colour began to drain from Rickard Stark, and his final breath had been drawn. The Riverlands had been unkind to the North and presented a situation most dire, but House Stark was to survive as it always did.

King Edmund I Baelish had extended the same position to the White Wolf as it had been to Rickard. Jon accepted it with grace, and the Warden of the North was once again the Hand of the King. Lord Stark was met with plenty of doubt considering his age, but Edmund was the King and as such his choice. Jon had not immediately left for King's Landing though, no, instead returning to his duties to House Stark - Lord Rickard was bured in the crypts, encased in his tomb and bid farewell. Jon extended such things to the rest of House Stark, taking to the King's Road alongside members of the Household Guard and the forever faithful Ice.

It was a daunting experience for the Lord Stark as each step taken became more and more unfamiliar, be it the landscape, the temperature, or the people; King’s Landing was not the North, it bred a different man. He heard the rumours of its nature, comparable to a snake’s den with men of ill-repute lurking in the shadows; a knife in one hand and a lie in the other. But they were never once a temptation to the honourable Jon Stark who clutched onto his northern ideals tightly, fearful of letting them go.

The Hand of the King had taken to their duties quickly, and effectively. It was a difficult task repairing Seven Kingdoms in disarray, be it from the Dornish-Triarchy War or the aftermath of Brynden’s Rebellion, but through the counsel of others, Jon thrived. It became a far simpler task after an era of peace had been ushered in, leaving such a small list of worries until King Edmund I Baelish had grown deathly ill with no clear heir to inherit the Iron Throne.