House Stark

**House Stark** of Winterfell is one of the Great Houses of Westeros and the principal noble house of the North; many lesser houses are sworn to them. The current Lord of the house is Eddard Stark. In days of old they ruled as Kings of Winter, but since the Wars of Conquest by House Targaryen they have been Wardens of the North. Their seat, Winterfell, is an ancient castle renowned for its strength.

Their sigil is a grey direwolf racing across a field of white, and their words are *Winter is Coming*, one of only a few house mottoes to be a warning rather than a boast. Members of the family tend to be lean of build and long of face, with dark brown hair and grey eyes.

## History

### **The Heir to Winterfell**

Born in the aftermath of Robert’s Uprising, Robb Stark was the first and only child of Lord Eddard ‘Ned’ Stark and Lady Catelyn Tully, whose marriage was born of wartime necessity and the cementing of alliances between rebels. Unfortunately, Robert’s Uprising had become his greatest regret, and Ned Stark survived long enough to see his allies perish and the rest of his days spent at the Wall. Lady Lyanna Stark returned to the North after her brother’s sentencing, leaving her illegitimate daughter in the care of King Rhaegar I, the child’s father and victor of her brother’s war. In a manner of gratitude, Rhaegar assigned Lyanna with the task of ensuring infant Robb Stark was raised loyal to the throne.

Benjen Stark was named regent of Robb Stark and Warden of the North until his nephew came of age. Winterfell became home to those embittered by the throne; Lady Catelyn's father had been beheaded at the behest of the King, Lyanna’s lover had put her aside, and by the time the bones of Lord Rickard Stark and Lord Brandon Stark returned to the North, discontent toward the throne was at an all time high. As the North had suffered devastating losses in population and produce through the war, revenge was not yet an option.

Lyanna took a vow of chastity upon returning to Winterfell, and remained unmarried for the rest of her life. Though Catelyn’s husband still lived, her brother Edmure required her presence in Riverrun as both a figure of court and a potential bride to secure his place in the Riverlands; Catelyn refused all of her brother’s insistences, and remained to raise her son in Winterfell.

Robb Stark was raised in part by four members of his father’s court; his uncle, Benjen, trained him with the sword and shield; his mother Catelyn ensured his teachings in Southron politics and courtesies, while Maester Luwin provided the education with numbers, letters, laws and histories that all young lords should know. His aunt Lyanna had the greatest hand in his upbringing, and ensured Robb knew how important the loyalty of his men would be to a future Lord of the North. There had initially been some tension between Lyanna and Catelyn, though their shared love for both Ned and Robb and shared disdain of the king fostered friendship between the two good-sisters.

On his fifteenth nameday Robb Stark was named Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. He had cultivated friendships with the rest of the North and those who had also lost greatly in Robert’s Uprising, especially with House Umber, who had lost two of its members in the dungeons of The Twins, and House Karstark, whose lord had lost most of his sons and nephews in the wars. Robb became close friends with Smalljon Umber, the heir to Last Hearth, and on his sixteenth year was married to Alys Karstark, Lord Rickard’s youngest. By Alys, Robb had six children, and for a time the position of House Stark was secure once again.

By the time winter arrived in 300AC, the North was not yet at its strength needed to survive the rising winds, and as such they suffered further losses in a fifteen year winter, the longest in remembered history. By the time autumn came around in 316AC, Robb’s eldest was a man grown, though his youngest, Eddard, perished in the winter sickness in the cradle. To further strengthen the North’s relationships with their sworn houses, each of Robb Stark’s children were betrothed to as many of the lordly houses that could spare a daughter or heir. Brandon, the eldest, was married to Alysanne Umber, daughter of Robb’s closest friend Smalljon Umber, in 318AC; Lynara was married to Rodrik Mormont in 318 as well, and became lady of the house; Cregan, the second son, was married to Wyllara Manderly, and the third son Torrhen was married to Elenya Ryswell. The youngest daughter Barbrey was due to marry Domeric Bolton in 326AC, but shamed her family by eloping with Artos Blackwood the year before.

### **The Pack Wars**

Though a smart and brave boy he had been, Robb’s heir Brandon Stark was born with a deformed leg, twisted like a tree root, and as such he walked little, never rode, and always kept his monstrosity from the gaze of any who might see. He was married to Alysanne Umber, and though the couple tried for many years to produce another heir, their children never lived long enough to take in their first breath. After birthing their third stillborn babe, Alysanne drank four doses of sweetsleep so she might never have to see her husband’s shame. Brandon was remarried as soon as possible, and to repair his sister’s slight toward house Bolton, he took Emberlei Bolton as his new bride in 324AC. Their attempts to bear children were a little more successful, giving birth to a boy, named Eddard for Brandon’s lost brother.

To support his brother where his legs could not take him, Cregan Stark was Brandon’s shield and sword, even in a literal sense after he was gifted House Stark’s ancestral greatsword, Ice. After their father passed in 350AC he took on a more official role, travelling the countryside to collect taxes, attend to the Stark holdings, and meet with troubled lords and smallfolk alike. Though Brandon was publicly known as a kind and just lord, he had barely survived the winter, and unlike his brothers Cregan and Torrhen, was not a warrior; in the eyes of the Northmen, a lord who could not provide with his own two hands was not a true lord at all. Cregan refused to hear such treasonous words, even from his good-family in White Harbour, even going as far as to duel Lord Manderly in the streets of New Castle to defend Brandon’s honour.

Torrhen Stark was married to Elenya Ryswell in 325AC, the heir of the Ryswell lordship titles and lands as the only child of Lord Ryswell, whose family had mostly perished in Robert’s Uprising. Their marriage had never been especially peaceful, but for their shared, intense worship of the Old Gods. Though Robb Stark was raised to appreciate the Old Gods and the New, he was notably a strong follower of the Faith of the Seven, and most of his children equally so. Torrhen’s fervent love for the Old Gods had become a point to tease in his childhood, though very much admired by the smallfolk, and it was this fanatical following that inflamed the Pack Wars of the North.

Torrhen had returned to Winterfell in 350AC for the funeral of their father, the first time the five Stark children had been reunited since their childhoods. Though the events that began the disagreement between the brothers is not clear, it is speculated that Cregan’s wife Wyllara was raped by Torrhen Stark. An abomination in the eyes of the North, Wyllara approached Brandon with the news instead of her husband, knowing exactly how her husband would react to such news; thinking Brandon would be more level-headed proved to be her undoing, as Brandon refused to believe any such lies. Wyllara, ashamed of her predicament, finally told Cregan, whose reaction was tenfold that of his elder brother. While at the mourning ceremony for their father Cregan’s anger showed itself in an outburst, a fight broke out in the Godswood, with Cregan threatening to kill Torrhen if he ever laid eyes upon him again, Cregan left almost immediately after to be with his wife’s family in White Harbour.

Though nobody can be sure of who ordered the attack, one thing can be certain. Torrhen Stark was stabbed to death in the streets of Wintertown, his final words accusing his brother, Cregan, of the vile act. With this evidence, coupled with the outburst at their father’s funeral, Lord Brandon called his brother to account for this supposed act of Kinslaying. When Cregan refused to return to Winterfell and be accused of such crimes, Lord Brandon had no choice but to declare his brother a kinslayer, and order him to face justice.

Cregan refused to accept his brother’s judgement, and the brotherhood between the North’s head family was drawn into battle lines, as many Lords of the North refused to believe that Cregan would do something so accursed. Lord Manderly joined his good-brother and raised his banners against Lord Brandon, declaring him a weak ruler and a fool. With nearly each of the large houses of the North married into the Starks, the stakes grew even more dire; the fanatical, mourning family of Elenya Ryswell gladly declared for Brandon the Wise Wolf, along with that of House Bolton, Umber, and Karstark. Though the Wild Wolf was temperamental with a reputation for hot-headedness and impulsivity, Cregan had gained a loyal following in the North over his years, and earned the support of houses Manderly, Dustin, Reed, Glover, Forrester, Hornwood, Flint, and Tallhart. House Mormont removed themselves from the disagreement, as Lady Lynara refused to draw blood from any of her kin.

The war lasted over three excruciating years of the summer; the first of the battles began on the Kings Road between Cerwyn and White Harbour, where though neither side had gathered their full strength, the mania of the war and desires for victory drove both sides into a frenzy of battle. Of course, Lord Brandon never participated in these skirmishes himself, sidelined to orchestrate the battle as he saw fit; without Cregan at his side to give advice, none of the fighting went quite as expected. Brandon’s son and heir Eddard was amongst the fray himself, and through the arduous years of fighting earned himself a reputation of honour.

The second battle began in the Barrows, where the losses were not as great, but the clear winner Brandon emerged victorious by taking Lord Cregan’s firstborn Rickon Stark hostage. When the war seemed all but over, the rebel himself considering giving up his claim for the sake of his boy, an infiltration lead by Lord Reed and Lord Peat into the keep of Cerwyn rescued Cregan’s son and turned the war in their favour. Many skirmishes took place along the Kings Road and in White Harbour itself, until the pinnacle battle late into the war in the Wolfswood.

Houses Glover and Forrester, the masters of the Wolfswood, had begun the war declared for Lord Cregan; they and their heirs had admired Cregan’s willingness to fight and his camaraderie on the field so much that siding with the Wise Wolf, who they scarcely knew or cared for, seemed unthinkable. It was the bastard brother of Lord Bolton who turned the masters of the Wolfswood against their declared liege, having taken their children, infants and adults alike, hostage to the sword. Glover and Forrester had but no choice to betray Cregan by turning their bows against him at the last minute. The Wolfswood became a slaughterhouse, more deaths than any of the previous major battles, until finally the war came to a stop by the death of Eddard Stark, Lord Brandon’s son and only heir.

Broken-hearted by his boy’s death and the end of his line, Brandon withdrew his claim and fell into a deep depression. Cregan had finally won, but at such a heavy price, neither son of Robb Stark saw the war had been worth anything they had done to one another. What was Winterfell and the North without family to share it with? Brandon left the North of his own volition, full of shame and sadness over the things he lost. Though there is no official account of his end, it is said that the former Lord of the North threw himself from a galley in the Narrow Sea, and met his demise at the hands of the Drowned God.

### **The Aftermath**

By the war’s end in 353AC, winter had finally come, a harsh and long ending that saw many of the North enter famine, starved by what grain and supplies were consumed for Cregan Stark’s painful war. The death of the true heir to Winterfell was an insult to the families of houses Bolton, Dustin and Ryswell. The Boltons demanded recompense, in particular the bastard son of Cregan and Lyra Bolton be placed ahead of Rickon as heir to the North. Born a product of rape, Eddard Snow was Cregan's lesser known progeny, raised and protected by his mother's house; placing a bastard ahead of his own son was unthinkable. 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 Wolfswood 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 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 Snow-now-Stark, facilitating his rise to Lordship over the North. Rickon Stark and his family left the North in 351AC, and to ensure the safety of his children, raised them in the seclusion of Runestone of the Vale, the house of his lady wife.

## Recent Members

### Lord Brandon Stark, the Wise Wolf

The heir of Robb Stark, Brandon was born with a deformed leg, unable to walk or ride without assistance. He ruled with his brother Cregan as his right hand until their younger brother, Torrhen, was accused of raping Cregan's wife, Wyllara Manderly. Brandon refused to believe her claims, while Cregan swore to kill Torrhen if he ever saw him again. When Torrhen was killed in the Winter Town, Cregan's name as his last words, Brandon declared his brother a kinslayer and banished from the North. The following wars were known as the Pack Wars which divided the North; ultimately, Brandon lost to his brother, and died in 353AC.

### Lord Cregan Stark, the Wild Wolf

The younger brother of Lord Brandon Stark, Cregan was known as temperamental and impulsive. He won the Pack Wars at a heavy price, and it is now his line who rules Winterfell and the North. He died in 358AC, supposedly of guilt.

### Lord Rickon Stark

The son and heir of Cregan Stark, Rickon was to succeed his father as Lord Paramount of the North before resigning his claim to his bastard brother, Eddard Snow. Rickon was married to Lady Jeyne Royce, and by her had five children; during the Pack Wars, he and his family escaped to safety in Runestone, where they spent the rest of their days.

### Lord Eddard Stark

The current Lord Paramount of the North, Eddard is the legitimized bastard of Cregan Stark and Lady Lyra Bolton.

## 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)
		- Eddard 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
		- Their 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, d. 370AC), and his wife, Jeyne Royce (b. 324AC, d. 356AC)
			* Sansa Stark (b. 350AC)
			* Richard Stark (b. 351AC)
			* Rodrik Stark (b. 353AC)
			* Berena Stark (b. 355AC)
			* Theo Stark (b. 356AC)
		- Brandon Stark (b. 323AC)
		- Eddard Stark (b. 350AC), Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North
	+ Torrhen Stark (b. 307AC, d. 350AC), Lord of the Rills, and his wife, Elenya Ryswell, Lady of the Rills
		- Sarra Ryswell (b. 324AC)
		- Brynden Ryswell (b. 326AC)
	+ Barbrey Stark (b. 307AC), Lady of Raventree Hall, and her husband, Artos Blackwood, Lord of Raventree Hall
		- Their children
	+ Eddard Stark (b. 314AC, d. 315AC), died in the cradle