Harrion Karstark

Raya Karstark

Sybelle Karstark

**Harrion Karstark** is the current Lord of Karhold and head of House Karstark. Since the reformation of the Seven Kingdoms, he has also served on Viserys I Targaryen's Small Council as an advisor, and now under the reign of Baelor I Targaryen, as the Master of Whisperers.

## Appearance and Personality

Northmen are oft prejudiced as dense, humorless, brutes by their southern peers, and a few of the stereotypes have a solid ground in reality. Harrion Karstark, however, defies them all.

Unlike many of his Northern brethren, he wasn't born with the statures of a giant, and whilst his features - black hair, eyes dark as coal, and a sharp, gaunt visage - are a testament of his First Men heritage, the effortless elegance with which he carries himself could be the envy of any southern lord. He is not posh, he doesn't ever act suave, and his attire isn't particularly flavored with colours either.

The colour black dominating his wardrobe, the Lord of Karhold dons silk shirts and plainly woven tunics and coats of likewise rich material, with the extent of his extravagance being a feathered hat or a pair of quartz shades he wears on a hot day to fend against the southern sun. The only adornments on his person are the silver sun-shaped brooch pinned above his heart that signifies his house, and for the purposes of self-defence, a castle-forged steel dagger he conceals under his coat outside the Red Keep.

Harrion's charm is in his enigmatic presence, and he appears exactly how he wishes to be seen; a man hard to read yet easy to underestimate, and whom only a fool would dare to cross.

## History

### Black Sun of the Family

Harrion was born in 96 AC to Lord Karlon Karstark and his wife, Lady Arrana Stark. Though the third child in their marriage, as the only son, he was the Heir to Karhold, owning a status that demanded diligence and responsibility early in his childhood. Had he not lacked the former, he would have been every Maester's favourite student.

Sharp of mind and quick-witted, Harrion had little difficulty memorizing and reciting text and conversations word-to-word, but his daily studies with Maester Hunnimore bored him so much that he either performed with tear-inducing lousiness or outright skipped his lessons despite the risk of parental discipline. To say that he was a disappointing student all across the board would have been a falsehood. What young Harrion enjoyed, he pursued with enthusiasm; he was good with the sword in the training yard, he read the books that interested him, and he also had a penchant for picking up gossip around the castle.

His lack of discipline was the protest of a willful, uncompromising, child, who'd rather do nothing than not do everything on his own terms. His father, who spent most of his time in Winterfell as a councilor of King Theodan, was never around to beat this behaviour out of him, and his mother, understandably, paid more attention to raising his sisters and ruling Karhold in her husband's absence. By the time he reached adolescence, Harrion was more or less his own man - intelligent and sly, but as the rest of the North, ill-prepared for the trials ahead.

### Good Years? No.

The plights of the smallfolk did not concern him much during the long drought, and when the Wildlings descended from beyond the Wall with yet another king, Lord Karlon thought it prudent to leave his only son and heir back in the safety of their home. While lacking compassion, Harrion was at least excited about the prospect of partaking in a campaign, but his interest in the minutiae of warfare faded with his chance to see it first-hand. A shift in his perspective was ensured later in the conflict, when his father was shot in the eye trying to chase down an errant party of Wildlings that had harried a couple of settlements in the Karstark lands.

Harrion was a few moons short of his sixteenth name day then, and he didn't weep for the old man, nor did he offer his condolences to his mother or showed any signs of grief. The fool had left him in charge too late for a regency and too early for competence, but right on time to face the disaster that put the last nail in the coffin of the Kingdom of Winter.

Karhold had already seen Essosi sails barely two decades ago, and when pirates from the Free Cities and beyond set their eyes on the North at the onset of winter, the task of defending the lands and smallfolk of House Karstark fell upon Harrion, and he took to it willingly. He was determined to throw the eastern raiders back into the sea, and his constitution was fueled not by an idealistic sentiment for the poor and country, but by a strong sense of duty he knew he had to possess.

The raids lasted nearly the entire length of winter, and Harrion fought in several skirmishes during that time. As one of the high lords of the North, his banners counted among Stark's most loyal, he also became a common presence in King Theodan's war councils, and eventually played a part in devising the strategy that would, at last, see to the expulsion of the Essosi.

After letting loose of false rumours that White Harbor was being abandoned by the smallfolk and the Northern forces, the pirates were quick to bite and promptly organized another attack on the port city. What they did not expect in their greed was a fleet to welcome them, and another to bar their escape. Whilst Lord Manderly engaged the raiders on the front, a dozen ships bearing the sunburst sigil of House Karstark upon their sails ambushed them from behind. The squadron was commanded by Harrion's uncle and castellan, Willam Karstark, whilst the young lord himself shed the blood of pirates in the thick of the skirmish.

The victory was decisive but ultimately bittersweet; following the expulsion of the pirates (this time for good), the North was left weakened from a long decade of disasters and hot-and-cold warfare. Harrion never opposed the King's decision, for all considered, it was the most pragmatic choice he could make for their country. Dragons or not, when six kingdoms had been united as one, the seventh couldn't stand alone, and Karstark's loyalty was to Stark, not the crown Theodan would set aside.

### Upstart in the South

Following the Wedding of Dragon and Wolf in Winterfell, Theodan Stark bent the knee to King Viserys, and Aegon the Conqueror's kingdom was once again whole. Disappointing as it may have been to many proud lords of the North, the deal between Stark and Targaryen wasn't without silver linings, and the Lord of Karhold was among the first to enjoy the benefits. Having proved himself a capable strategist in the war and a loyal servant of House Stark during the negotiations, Harrion was chosen as the North's representative in King's Landing, who, as part of the terms of union, would also occupy a seat on the King's Small Council.

King's Landing was uncharted territory for the young Karstark; he was without friends and without allies, and he was well aware that the slightest misstep could cost him his life. He had to seek favors and run errands to cultivate reliable connections, even if they were below his status and pride. Lacking in the latter, however, he had no issue adapting. Despite the odor and rundown slams, the capital was a refreshing new environment for Harrion, and a break-away from the grim dullness of the North. Here, he could utilize his talents to their fullest extent.

Filling an advisory role, his position was nothing more than a formality in the beginning. His opinions would only ever be asked if the North was concerned, but otherwise, he knew that offering no more than a nod on most matters was in his best interest; everything else was to be handled under the table. He was approached by a few offering him favors in exchange for favors, but the one whom he decided to place his bets with was the Mistress of Whisperers, Unella. The Dornishwoman was a charismatic and elusive presence, whose resourcefulness and notorious efficiency warranted both respect and caution on the Northman's part.

Harrion was to feed her intel on the goings-on of the North with special attention paid to dissenters and rebellious voices, and in return, she would help him gain friends in circles high and low. Co-ordinating it from King's Landing, the Lord of Karhold devised his first network of informants in the North, pulling from his connections and sources at various places. Delivering critical messages over long distances posed no difficulty for him, either; utilizing coded language, then paying of traveling bards, hedge knights, and sailors proved effective. As his connections expanded over the years, he took root in the south, too.

Then in his mid-twenties, he couldn't ignore the prospect of marriage, either. For the Lord of Karhold, there were plenty of potential matches in the North, but living among southrons, it was a natural decision for Harrion to solidify his country's, but most importantly, his own, ties with the locals. He met the eighteen-year-old Laena Velaryon at a feast held in the Red Keep, and after sharing a dance, the two of them were eager to indulge one another in more satisfying ways. She was a pretty lass, but to the Northman, her most attractive feature was her name. Following the night they spent together, Harrion sought audience with the Lord of the Tides, asking him to let him marry his daughter.

Though his Northern birth meant little by itself to southerners, his growing influence at the royal court made Harrion a decent match for Lord Vaemond's daughter, and so an agreement was reached. In 123 AC, Harrion married Laena in the capital's sept, and he could officially call the future Master of Ships his goodfather - counting him among his closest allies. The Lord of Karhold paved his path to success.

### Brightest Sun in the King's Court

The second half of the decade once again called for the test of one's mettle, but this time in a war of a different kind. Following the bloodshed in the wake of the Faith Militant's resurgence and the notorious mass held by the Righteous One in the Starry Sept in 128 AC, Harrion made the uncovering the High Septon's agenda his priority. It seemed that despite the peaceful years, conflict was brewing in the shadows, and the crown needed its intelligence more than ever.

Within the same year - disaster in the wake of disaster - Theodan Stark was felled in a failed rebellion spearheaded by House Glover against the rule of the Starks. When the arms had been called, Harrion gave his uncle permission to send every able man House Karstark could muster, but stuck amidst his duties in King's Landing, he couldn't leave for the North until after the tragedy happened. He attended the funeral of the Last King of Winter and paid his respects, and stayed in the North into the early moons of the next year, helping the new Lord of Winterfell, Osric Stark, settle the disputes that arose between the disgruntled Northmen.

Hoping that the North had been left in good hands, Harrion returned to King's Landing at the height of 129 AC and promptly resumed his duties. It seemed the South was as much in unrest as the North, as a conflict with the worshippers of the Red God in Dorne resulted in the murder of the local High Justiciar at the hands of Andrey Toland, and the swift incarceration of the latter. A trial was to be held, but as the Old Gods and the New saw fit to prevent things from ever proceeding slowly, King Viserys breathed his last.

Like any shift in power, the King's death and the ascension of his son resulted in a temporary shut down of governance, but also in a welcome promotion for Harrion. Wishing for peace in Dorne, King Baelor arranged for Unella's dispatching to her homeland, and the former Mistress of Whisperers recommended that Lord Karstark take her place.

By then, Harrion had his eyes and ears planted across the Realm, and he possessed the guile and resources to live up to the task. Without a second thought, he accepted, and as preparations began for the coronation, he took his new seat on the Small Council, looking forward to serving the new King as his Master of Whisperers.

## Family

* {Karlon Karstark}, Lord of Karhold b. 70 AC d. 111 AC
* m. Arrana Karstark (née Stark), Dowager Lady of Karhold b. 72 AC
	+ Wylla Forrester (née Karstark) b. 91 AC
	+ m. Jason Forrester, Heir to Ironrath b. 91 AC
		- House Forrester
	+ Margaret Karstark b. 93 AC
	+ **Harrion Karstark, Lord of Karhold** b. 96 AC
	+ m. Laena Karstark (née Velaryon), Lady of Karhold b. 104 AC
		- Maege Karstark b. 124 AC
		- Theodan Karstark, Heir to Karhold b. 125 AC
		- Raya Karstark b. 128 AC
	+ Sybelle Karstark b. 99 AC

*The extended family tree can be found here.*

## Household

### Karhold

* **Castellan:** Willam Karstark
* **Steward:** Gunthor of Wintertown
* **Captain of the Guard:** Torrhen Karstark
* **Master-at-Arms:** Rickon Snow
* Maester Hunnimore

### King's Landing

* **Captain of the Guard:** Olin Mastbreaker

## Meta

* **Attribute:** Sly
* **Combat:** 62 | 15% | 4 HP