House Stark

(King of Winter)

The Starks have ruled over the North for many years. From their seat of Winterfell, they reign over their kingdom as the Kings of Winter. Their domain is as big as all the other six kingdoms of the realm combined, but theirs is a harsh land, harsh and cold. Yet the robust folk of the North continue to lead their lives despite all such challenges.

## History

### Ancient Times

Claiming descent from the legendary hero Bran the Builder himself, the House of Stark is an ancient and proud family which came into existence during the bloody Age of Heroes, sometime eight thousand years ago. Back then, the North was a broken and divided continent, with many petty kings and smaller kingdoms, always warring with each other. The Starks took it upon themselves to unite the North under their rule. The ancient Starks gradually defeated rival kings, such as the Barrow Kings to their south and the Red Kings to their east. For several millennia, the Starks were not the uncontested Kings in the North. Their primary antagonists, the Red Kings from House Bolton of the Dreadfort, swore fealty some thousand years ago, ending their flaying ways. Meanwhile, King Jon Stark drove pirates from the White Knife, and the Wolf's Den was built at its mouth. This stronghold was often granted to sons and grandsons of the King in the North; one such branch, the Greystarks, was extinguished after allying with the Boltons against the Starks. King Jon's son, Rickard, defeated the Marsh King and married his daughter, bringing the Neck into Winterfell's realm under the lordship of House Reed.

### Andal Invasion

When Andals attempted to conquer the north, King Theon Stark made common cause with House Bolton and defeated Argos Sevenstar in the Battle of the Weeping Water, after which he raised a fleet and sailed to Andalos. There he took revenge by sacking and putting hundreds to death. He later conquered the Three Sisters, and battled against the ironborn, driving them away from Cape Kraken and Bear Island and slaying Ravos Hoare. Both places were later taken back by King Loron Greyjoy, and King Rodrik Stark took Bear Island back after Loron's death. It is said that he did so by winning a wrestling match, though some scholars doubt the truth of this tale. Later on, Rodrik's sons and grandsons managed to take back Cape Kraken.

### The Conquest For The Three Sisters

House Stark attempted to conquer the Three Sisters, which began a conflict between the Starks and House Arryn from the Vale. In response to the Rape of the Three Sisters (The Rape of the Three Sisters was an invasion of the Three Sisters by the north), the Sistermen asked for help from Mathos II Arryn, King of Mountain and Vale. This conflict, the War Across the Water, lasted for a thousand years, during which time the Starks thrice landed on the Fingers. During King Edric Stark's hundred-year long reign, the Wolf's Den, already torched by House Arryn, was captured by slavers from the Stepstones. Edric's great-grandson, King Brandon "Ice Eyes", took back the Wolf's Den. After a thousand years of war, the Arryns were victorious over the Starks, and the Valemen have ruled over the Three Sisters ever since.

### After the Doom

The North commonly separates the ancient kings from the more recent ones with Brandon IX Stark, the King in the North who defended the Neck from House Hoare's invasion of the mainland and paid for it with his life. Having reigned peacefully for a generation of Northmen, he was remembered warmly as both a mediator of disputes and a bold warrior. However, he failed to sire a male heir, and later decreed that the elder of his two daughters, Lynara, would ascend to the throne when he died. The North had scarce seen a regnant queen in hundreds of years and so the decision was widely rebuked. King Brandon was resolute in his decision, much to his subjects' dismay, and when he was slain at Moat Cailin and the war was won, Winterfell soon prepared to crown his daughter as Queen in the North.

Lynara Stark's reign turned out to be one of the most terrible periods in recent northern history. A few years into her tenure the Dustins of Barrowton rose their banners in rebellion, having taught the queen's heir, Edwyn Stark in courtly ways, they decided to overthrow his mother and crown him as king. The rebels gained a decent amount of support but after a few years of futile warfare on both sides, they were cornered in Barrowton. The siege carried on for a good while, but the war was already lost. Once they finally surrendered, Edwyn Stark and all of his supporters were brought to Winterfell, where Queen Lynara judged them guilty of treason and beheaded them as traitors were wont to. Her own son he allowed to defend himself in a trial by combat, but as her champion she chose a pack of starving wolves who soon tore the would-be king to pieces. Lynara Stark then earned the mocking nickname 'the Bitch Queen', a cruel kinslayer of the highest order whom one half of the North vilified and the other half feared.

The queen's reign was filled with other minor shenanigans that further deteriorated her reputation, but all of it culminated in her war for the Three Sisters. She placed her son and heir, Torrhen Stark at the head of an army in White Harbor and soon the North was at war again. The war effort was stifled from the start, and after many hopeless clashes in the Bite, Lynara Stark had to agree to bitter peace terms. When her son returned to White Harbor, the gathered lords conspired to march their combined army to Winterfell and put an end to the Bitch Queen's reign of terror. Torrhen soon agreed to lead his subjects, and after some clever night-time maneuvers in Winterfell, the gates were opened to the host and Lynara Stark was deposed. She was exiled to Bear Island, but on the way her escort was intercepted by men of the Wolfswood who later hanged her for the murder of their lord many years prior.

Torrhen the Third ascended to the throne. Many considered him a weak king, having been coerced to pursue his mother's kingdom by his supporters and heavily relying on their counsel even after seizing power. Torrhen the Tenuous, he was called in the final years of his reign, until he finally passed away and his son, Brandon X Stark inherited his crown.

Modelling his rule on that of the previous Brandon, the new king pursued internal peace between the northmen, commerce and fair judgment to the point where many lords urged him to declare war on the Vale once more. He refused all such demands, however, and although the North entered an era of moderate peace and prosperity, it was also seen as a period of slow decline. The days of King Brandon the Ninth were far gone and it seemed that they would never return, but this new Brandon at least kept his people well fed, sheltered and satisfied.