Edrick Stark

## Introduction

The North is a harsh, cold land, and the men who call it home must share these characteristics or perish.  There is no room for equivocation or weakness
in such a place, and those who cannot prove their strength in the largest of the Seven Kingdoms quickly find themselves consumed by the very land that they inhabit.  Edrick Stark, brother of the Late Lord Jon Stark of the Dreadfort, has taken this lesson to heart, and never deviates from its teachings.  He is a taciturn and capable man, an experienced warrior who has little patience for fools and even less for anyone who might stand in the way of his House.  As Captain of the Dreadfort and the designated commander of his family's forces in times of war, such traits have made Edrick a valuable asset to his Lord, Torrhen Stark. Edrick's gaze is ever on the future, fixated on the preservation of his family's power and the restoration of its flagging fortunes.  He is no longer a young man, and, though he has begun to become painfully aware that his chapter in the history of House Stark of the Dreadfort is coming to an end, he will be damned before the Old Gods and the New if he leaves his House in a worse state than he found it in.

## Physical Appearance and Personality

Edrick is a grave, severe man, and his appearance matches
this personality.  His face is craggy and
weatherbeaten, careworn by the hard times that he has seen but still strong despite all that it has witnessed. He is square-jawed and dark-eyed, his black hair rapidly turning to
silver with each passing year.  His jaw
is clean-shaven for the most part, though on campaign he has been known to grow
a short beard and mustache for want of time and equipment to shave.  At fifty-five, Edrick is powerfully built, his arms and
chest well-muscled and his form still fit despite his advancing
age.  This is in part due to his frugality
and temperance- he has no wish to gorge himself in great feasts and takes only
what food and drink he needs to sustain himself.  However, it is mostly due to the brutal
regimen of riding and bladework that he pursues to keep himself, and his sword,
sharp in the event that his house ever requires his skill in battle.

Edrick dresses soberly, generally in a dark, studded doublet or a tunic of soft leather. He has little taste for the more outlandish or flamboyant styles of the Southern Courts. In battle, he wears plate and mail, his armor embossed with his own personal sigil of the Dreadfort rising above a patch of forest. He is almost never seen without his sword by his side, and some whisper that he even sleeps with the blade belted to his waist.

Edrick is a harsh man, with little time for
those who have yet to gain his trust and respect.  He is known for his gruff, curt manner and a
pragmatism so cutting that it can sometimes come across as cruelty or
callousness.  This is of no great concern
to Edrick, who has always sworn to do what is necessary to serve his House
without care for the petty complaints of others.  Where his gruff pragmatism is one facet of
his character, the other is an astonishingly intense loyalty to his family and
his Lord.  He will happily die if his
sacrifice means that his House might prosper, though he would much rather
inflict this fate on his enemies if he has the chance.  As the Captain of the Dreadfort, Edrick views
himself as responsible for keeping his family safe from threats both without
and within, and will not shy from any deed if it can allow him to live up to
this responsibility.

## History

### Youth

Edrick Stark was born in 352 A.C. to Lord Eddard Stark
and Lady Sansa Mormont, and spent his youth close to his older brother,
Jon.  As a second son, he had no
expectation of inheriting the title of Lord of the Dreadfort, and, remarkably,
this fact never seemed to bother the lad.
Edrick cared little for the niceties of politics and rule, preferring
instead to spent his time in pursuit of the subject that most interested him:
the art of warfare.  The child became a
regular sight around the barracks of the House Guards, who adopted him as
something of a mascot in his younger days and seemed to revel in the
near-constant stream of questions that the boy bombarded them with about every aspect of their training, weaponry, and tactics.  When the time came for the boys to be
educated, the Maester found Edrick a lack-luster student at best, but noted
that his attention and intelligence came to the fore the moment that any lesson
strayed towards martial matters.  Edrick
devoured the tales of Aegon the Conqueror and was fascinated by records of the
War of the Five Kings, taking a special interest in the exploits of the Young
Wolf.  With such obvious clues as to
where the lad's aptitude lay, Lord Eddard determined that Edrick would be
thoroughly trained in matters of warfare, all the better to serve his brother
Jon as the Captain of the House Guards and the field commander of the
Dreadfort's military forces in times of war.
It was, of course, hoped that these talents would never be called
upon.  None could know at that time how
vain that hope was.

Edrick was close to
his brother throughout his life, and indeed his great love for Jon went a long
way towards explaining why he never had any ambition to rule for himself.  The two boys trained together, learned
together, and laughed together, and their shared experiences bred a loyalty in
Edrick that would transfer onto Jon's children when the time came.  The two worked well together, with Edrick's
steady, blunt, and truthful counsel providing a valuable viewpoint for his
older brother even before he assumed Lordship of the House.  Their cooperation proved to be extremely valuable to the House as
Lord Eddard proved himself to be an increasingly unreliable and unfocused
ruler.  By the time Eddard's sudden
illness took him from the family, both Jon and Edrick were experienced in
ruling and guiding the people of the Dreadfort and its surrounding
possessions.

#### The Reign of Jon Stark

Lord Eddard's death in 387AC was an unexpected
development, but House Stark of the Dreadfort weathered the Lord's death far
better than many others would have.  Jon
Stark was already an experienced leader of men, and he took his father's title
as efficiently and quickly as could have been expected.  Though he was grieved by the death of Lord
Eddard, Edrick did not hesitate to offer his counsel and support to his brother,
formally assuming the post of Captain of the Guard.
His advice, tactical acumen, and the strength of his sword arm would be
a source of constant and valuable aid to his older brother in the difficult
days to come.  Edrick had grown into a
powerful young man, noted for both his prodigious skill in combat and his
cautious tactical mind.  However, he was
never the most likeable man in court, or indeed anywhere close to it.  His taciturn nature and grim severity won him
few friends outside of his warriors and family, but he cared little for such
things.  His task was to serve his
brother and his House, and he would never allow such niceties as petty court
politics to get in the way of that duty.
None could say what made the young man so cold and uncompromising, and
there were some furtive whispers that the dark legacy of the Dreadfort had
touched Edrick's mind.  Such whispers
would only grow stronger with the first great crisis of Lord Jon's reign: The
Great Famine.

The lands around the Dreadfort were struck as hard as any
other by the depredations of the Great Famine, and it did not take long before
the smallfolk were crying out for aid from their liege Lord.  Jon Stark was sympathetic to their plight,
and began to distribute bread to them in hopes of alleviating the effects of
the calamity.  It was hard not to feel
sympathy for the wretched, starving masses, and almost all of the people of the
Dreadfort saw their Lord’s decision as a wise and just one.   *Almost* all.  Edrick spoke out vehemently against Jon’s decision,
urging him to rethink his generosity and citing the need to preserve the
Dreadfort’s stores, lest they all starve come winter.  Edrick’s dissent was not born from cruelty,
but rather from a cold, calculating arithmetic.  If peasants
must starve so that the House might survive with its strength intact, so be it,
said he.  This was, at first, received poorly.  Many decried Edrick’s words, calling him a
monster and, furtively, a murderer.  Yet,
as time went on and the Dreadfort’s stores diminished at an alarming rate, it
quickly became evident that Edrick’s words had been wise, if callous.  Jon determined that he would hoard his
provisions, lest the Dreadfort face winter without enough supplies to last them
through.

In those dark days, every scrap of food and coin was more
valuable a hundredfold, and it did not take long before the lands around the
Dreadfort began to be plagued by increasingly vicious bandits and thieves.  These criminals lurked in the forests,
growing in number and desperation as more and more of the less morally inclined
peasants joined their ranks.  Jon and
Edrick took it upon themselves to rid the land of these leeches, and it did not
take long before patrols of heavily armed and armored Dreadfort bannermen were
scouring the surrounding countryside.
Edrick led many such patrols personally, scattering and slaying groups of bandits with an impressive efficiency.  Edrick had no mercy when it came to criminals
who made others suffer so that they might live easily, and his patrols rarely
left any survivors, save the leaders of the groups, who were brought back the
Dreadfort for public execution.  Such
measures helped Edrick regain some popularity among the smallfolk, though his
brutal methods prevented him from ever being seen as a hero or paragon by the
commoners. Still, by the swords of the House Guards, Edrick, and Jon, the lands
around the Dreadfort soon became devoid of bandits, who mostly abandoned the
region in search of easier prey.

The Great Famine ended after only a couple of years, and,
for a time, at least, Lord Jon’s realm knew peace.  Edrick threw himself into efforts to replenish
the House’s depleted winter stores, adding the labor of his warriors and dirtying
his own hands alongside the smallfolk in an effort to bring in crops at as fast
a rate as possible.  His hard work and
dedication won him some respect among the peasants, though his cold demeanor
and distant behavior made him a hard man to love.  Privately, Edrick loathed the fact that
circumstances had required him and his men to take part in an activity as
mundane and common as farming, but he swallowed his pride and gave his all so
that the House might recover quickly from the calamity of the famine.  However, having tasted real combat against
the bandit rabble, Edrick quietly dreamed of the chance to prove his mettle
against a foe worthy of his skill.
Though he could not have known it, he would get his wish sooner than he
expected.

However, despite all the dark deeds and foul misfortune that overtook the Dreadfort doing those days, they were also marked by a moment of happiness for Edrick. The second son of Eddard Stark was married to a cousin of House Hornwood, a young woman named Alyssa characterized by her patience and care. The gruff Edrick fell hopelessly in love, and many in the Dreadfort were astonished to witness him walking the battlements arm in arm with his wife, showing off the defenses and introducing her to each member of the House Guards. However, like all good things, it could not last long. Alyssa died from complications after giving birth to a daughter, name Catelyn. Edrick was heartbroken by the tragedy, and it prompted the beginning of an incredibly close relationship with his daughter, who he viewed as the last legacy of the woman he loved. Catelyn grew into a headstrong and bold woman, but her story is told elsewhere.

### The War of the Three Thieves

The fanatically ambitious theft of the a dragon egg by the three pirate kings of
the Stepstones sent ripples through all seven Westerosi Kingdoms.  The realm had long since come to terms with
the fact that the Targaryen Dynasty possessed the awesome power of the dragons,
but the idea that simple pirates could call upon the destructive force of those
magnificent beasts of the sky was enough to give even the most stout-hearted
warrior pause.  When the call came for
warriors to punish the would-be dragonlords, Jon Stark resolved to answer it.  Convincing his subjects that this war in a
distant land was a worthy one took a considerable amount of time, but, throughout
the process, Jon was aided by his implacable younger
brother.  Edrick and the warriors of the
House Guards quickly took on the role of trainers and drill sergeants, hammering
peasant levies into shape with weeks of drill and a merciless regimen of
exercise and practice.  The hammers of
the Dreadfort’s smithy rang day and night as it churned out weaponry and armor
in preparation for the coming campaign, and Edrick was never absent from the planning
table when Jon convened his council of war.
Though many still questioned why Northern men were going to die for a
distant Targaryen king, Jon’s will won out, and the forces of the Dreadfort
joined the Northern expeditionary forces sent to answer their the call of the
Southern Lords.

The weeks of travel over sea were less than pleasing to the
warriors of the Dreadfort, many of whom had never set foot on a ship before.  Edrick found himself frustrated with the
journey for a different reason: impatience. For all he knew, the war was over
already, and his mind was filled with images of the great battles and heroic
deeds that he feared he was missing.  It was
no exaggeration to say that he had spent his whole life training for this
moment, and Edrick was determined not to miss this chance to prove his skill.  As it would turn out,
Edrick’s fears were partially realized: the length of the voyage and the time
that it had taken to assemble the Dreadfort contingent meant that they did not
arrive until late in the war.  However, there
was still plenty of fight left in the beleaguered pirate lords, and it did not
take long for the Dreadfort forces to be thrown into battle during the Scouring
of the Stepstones.

Edrick was granted tactical command of the Dreadfort’s forces,
remaining in the rear to coordinate the movements and strategies of the House’s
troops.  Meanwhile, Jon and his son Dorren
took command of the vanguard, proving their skill in battle with every enemy
that they slew in the bloody maelstrom of combat.  Edrick proved himself in a different way,
displaying a keen tactical mind that earned him the plaudits of those warriors
who fought alongside him.  His confident
leadership of the men and his intelligent tactical decisions
made him a formidable commander.  Many
skirmishes were won before the fighting even started, the forces of the enemy
outmaneuvered and trapped by Edrick’s clever strategies and shattered by the ferocity
of Jon and Torren.  Though he privately
thought less of the Southerners for calling upon the men of the North to fight
their battles for them, Edrick resolved that he would take whatever measures
were required to bring the campaign to a successful conclusion.  He ordered his forces to lay waste to the
Stepstones as they advanced, pursuing a policy of scorched earth that left
desolate fields and burning villages in his wake.  When questioned about this brutal strategy,
Edrick was dismissive.  “We have come to
bring war to these lands.  We will
destroy the enemy, we will destroy his homes, we will destroy his crops, and we
will tear down the memory of him.  Only
when nothing is left will his debt be repaid.”

Yet, for all the success that met the forces of the
Dreadfort, they hadn’t counted on one thing: dragonfire.  During the Siege of the Gallows, the forces
of the Dreadfort distinguished themselves once again, hammering a path through
the walls of the castle that protected the island with their usual ferocity and
heroism.  Edrick, commanding the reserves
beyond the castle walls, watched with a proud smile as his brother, his lord,
raised a rousing cheer atop the shattered walls.  Then, with a flash of shadow across the sky,
everything changed.  Edrick watched in
horror as a dragon plummeted down from the sky, already opening its scaly maw
with a rush of heat.  The first syllable
of a warning shout was emerging from his mouth as the dragon unleashed a
searing gout of sun-hot flame.  In an
instant, Edrick watched his brother, the man that he had served loyally for
decades, disappear in a surging rush of fiery death.  The forces of the Dreadfort died around him
as the vanguard was engulfed in the searing blast.  Edrick was no coward. Had there been a way to
stand, to strike back against the mighty beast that was already soaring away
and coming about for another pass, he would have taken it.  However, he was also a practical man, and as
he watched panic engulf the ranks of the Westerosi force, he realized that to
stay was to die.  His voice clipped with
barely controlled sorrow and rage, Edrick pulled the reserves and what was left
of the vanguard back to the ships.  It
was a long and sorrowful voyage home.

### The Reign of Torrhen Stark

When Edrick returned home with news of his brother’s demise,
it was received with all the shock and horror that could have been
expected.  Eyron Stark fell to pieces at
the news, and, after a week of isolation and mourning, renounced his right to
take up his father’s title.  Edrick was
furious at this development, viewing it as a betrayal of Jon’s legacy by an
unworthy son, and stormed from the hall when Eyron made his fateful proclamation.  However, this did not mean that he disapproved
of Torrhen’s ascension to Lordship of the Dreadfort.  Indeed, he was reminded of his brother’s sudden
succession years ago, and vowed that all of his power and skill would be Torrhen’s
to command.  Despite the ill-fated result
of the campaign in the Stepstones, Edrick’s reputation as a commander was still strong due to the shocking nature of his defeat, and he maintained control
of the House Guards, continuing to serve as the Dreadfort’s field commander and
captain.  He stood at
Torrhen’s side throughout The Scarlet Winter, remaining a grim but reliable
presence at court.

The first moment of great disagreement between Edrick and Torrhen came in the depths of the Scarlet Winter, as fears of starvation began to overwhelm much of the North. The popular movement to seize rumored stores on Skagos quickly gained traction in such an atmosphere, and intrepid individuals from across the land began to flock to the invasion. Edrick, still bitter after his brother's death and willing to risk his own life if it meant the chance to help his House come out of the winter stronger than its neighbors, prepared to join the expedition, offering his talents as a soldier to the massing force. Torrhen had none of it, and forbid his uncle from participating. Edrick was furious beyond works, and remonstrated loudly with his nephew, but the grim lord of the Dreadfort was unmoved. His uncle was enraged, but, above all else, he was loyal. He kept his oath and stayed in his place, eventually realizing the wisdom of the decision as reports came back of what exactly the expedition had discovered in the homes of the Skagosi. Though he was too proud to openly apologize, Edrick recognized the wisdom of his nephew's decision, and was reassured by it.

Edrick Stark knows that his time on the stage is drawing to
a close.  Now fifty-five years old, he has
begun to feel his age more keenly, and recognizes that each day that passes brings
him closer to the fateful hour when the Gods will come to claim him.  Still, he remains steadfast and efficient, a
respected and feared presence in the halls of the Dreadfort.  Though his harsh manner and the dark deeds
that he has done in the past haunt his steps, he is resolved, above all else, to
serve his family.  He has sworn that he
will see the Dreadfort restored to glory and power before his demise, and, his
brother torn from him and his heart hardened by the horrors that he has
witnessed, there is nothing that he will not do to see this aim through.  In Edrick, Torrhen has a dedicated and grave
follower, and the enemies of the Dreadfort have an implacable, brutal foe.

## Recent Events

Edrick, and his House, stand at the edge of the future. There can be no telling what fates await them all, and this section will be reserved for a record of Edrick's deeds, both great and small, in the coming days.

## Family

Daughter

* Catelyn Stark

Siblings

* Jon Stark, Lord of the Dreadfort (Deceased)
* Lady Serena Stark of Winterfell (Deceased)

Nephews

* Dorren Stark (Deceased)
* Torrhen Stark, Lord of the Dreadfort
* Eyron Stark
* Edwyn Stark
* Osric Stark
* Brandon Snow (Bastard-born)

Grand-Nephews

* Eddard Stark (Deceased)
* Cregard Stark
* Theon Stark
* Alysanne Stark
* Arra Stark

## Household Members/ NPCs

* Darron Shavepate, Sergeant-at-Arms
* Rickard Snow, Sergeant-at-Arms

## Quotes

"While Lords from Houses Stark or Targaryen feared their own kin taking all they had, my brother was a different sort. I could have ordered his execution, and he would have volunteered to carry it out himself."

- Jon Stark, Lord of the Dreadfort and Edrick's brother

"A vicious bastard, Lord Edrick is. He left my son two teeth less, all for wanting a bite to eat."

- A Peasant whose son tried to steal from the Dreadfort's Winter Stores

"Among all those men who lost their lives in the breath of dragonfire, old Edrick came out with naught but a slick of ash on his face."

- Edwyn Stark, Edrick's nephew

"Edrick did not shed a tear when he watched his brother burn. Instead, he spent the moment making it mean something."

- Johsy Fontine, veteran of the War of the Three Thieves

"I saw it in his eyes. That old skin still hid a fiery might in the man. But his war was over, even if he still fought it."

- Torrhen Stark, Lord of the Dreadfort and Edrick's nephew