House Stark

House Stark of Winterfell is one of the Great Houses of Westeros and the principal noble house of the north. In days of old they ruled as Kings of Winter, but since Aegon's Conquest they have been Wardens of the North and ruled as Lords of Winterfell. 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.

The current head of house is Lord Stark.

From the Ashes
House Stark was nearly extinguished during the War of the Five Kings, with all of Eddard Stark's legitimate children dead, missing, or held as prisoner of House Baratheon. His bastard son, Jon Snow, had taken the black and joined the Night's Watch. King Tommen Baratheon bestowed the title of Warden of the North upon Roose Bolton, Lord of the Dreadfort. House Stark seemed doomed to join House Gardener and House Durrandon as extinct Great Houses when Stannis Baratheon provided the most unlikely conduit for the Starks' resurgence.

The combined forces of Stannis Baratheon and a Vale army sent by Harold Arryn at the behest of his bride Sansa Stark slew Roose Bolton and recaptured Winterfell. King Stannis had offered to legitimize Lord Commander Jon Snow and name him Lord of Winterfell, but Jon declined, citing his vows to the Night’s Watch.

Not long thereafter, Lord Commander Snow received a letter from Ramsay Bolton claiming defeat of the Baratheon forces and detailed accounts of Ramsay’s excesses of cruelty. Jon resolved to march south with a force of volunteers to join the fight to reclaim his family’s home, violating the neutrality of the Night's Watch from the political affairs of Westeros. This, combined with Jon’s controversial decision to allow Wildlings to pass South of the wall, lead to a conspiracy of Black Brothers attacking the Lord Commander and stabbing him repeatedly.

Some say the Lord Commander was killed by his attackers and brought back from death by Stannis Baratheon’s Red Woman. Others state that he was merely gravely wounded and she healed him with her strange and foreign sorcery. Regardless of the truth of the matter, Jon Snow presided over the execution of his attackers and declared his Watch over and his oaths fulfilled. The brothers of the Night’s Watch considered his term as Lord Commander ended and never charged him with desertion.

Battle of the Bastards
Jon Snow and a contingent of Wildling volunteers met up with the Baratheon and Vale forces shortly after the Battle of Winterfell. Several of Robb Stark’s bannermen swore oaths that the King in the North legitimized his half-brother and named him his heir before his death at the Red Wedding. Ramsay Bolton’s history of brutish, cruel behavior caused several houses that had sworn to Roose Bolton to defect to the Stark camp. The Northmen hailed Jon Stark as Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. Jon assumed command of the Northern and Vale forces and pursued Ramsay toward the Dreadfort while Stannis took his forces and marched back toward the Wall and the greater war waiting for him.

Ser Davos Seaworth had undertaken a secret mission to retrieve Rickon Stark from Skagos, but Roose Bolton’s spies caught wind of Seaworth’s movements. The Leech Lord dispatched several of the Bastard’s Boys to intercept them and hold them at the Dreadfort for insurance.

When Jon Stark’s army caught up with Ramsay at the Weeping Water, the new Lord Bolton proudly displayed the flayed skins of Rickon Stark and Davos Seaworth on wooden frames outside his camp in the hopes of provoking the Northern forces into a rash attack. This stratagem was not nearly enough to overcome the crushing numerical advantage of the Stark army, and the Bastard of Bolton attempted to flee back to the safety of the Dreadfort. Knights of the Vale cut off his retreat, and Ser Lucas Corbray and Ser Andar Royce brought him before Jon Stark. Ramsay Bolton met his end on his knees at Longclaw’s edge, and the remaining defenders of the Dreadfort surrendered not long after.

Ramsay’s last act of cruelty doomed his House as Jon Stark presided over the executions of the remaining Bolton males and any loyal commanders and knights. The question of Walda Bolton’s child remained a contentious issue until a raven from Winterfell announced the birth of a daughter who had been named Emberlei. Jon Stark decreed that House Bolton was no more, and that Lady Emberlei would remain at Winterfell as a ward of House Stark. Castellans from Winterfell oversaw the former Bolton holdings for the following two decades.

The War of the Second Conquest
Jon Stark returned to Winterfell with Rickon’s bones, where he was reunited with his half-sister Sansa. Despite some of his bannermen urging him to take up the mantle of King in the North, Jon followed the Lady of the Vale’s counsel and declined to call his banners. Not wanting to subject the North to further bloodshed and the ravages of dragonfire, the new Lord of Winterfell sent a raven to King’s Landing to pledge fealty to the Targaryens. Aegon and Daenerys confirmed his legitimization and recognized Jon Stark as the rightful Warden of the North, though rumblings for Northern independence would continue for years to come in castles and holdfasts throughout the North.

Jon Stark wed Wylla Manderly soon after taking up his seat as Lord of Winterfell, and she bore him an heir whom he named Eddard in the following year. They named their second son Brandon when he was born two years later. The two young wolves were a study in contrasts. While Eddard was stoic, laconic, and thoughtful, his younger brother was boisterous, hot-tempered and charismatic. The Lord and Lady Stark did their best to bring balance to their two eldest children by reining in Brandon's excesses and encouraging Eddard to step up and develop his skills as a leader.

Wolves and Krakens
The Winter of Wolves struck first and struck hardest in the North. The unending snowfalls and lethal cold became trying even for the hardy Northmen, who availed themselves of increasingly desperate measures to survive as the winter wore on. Some turned to poaching, others to banditry, and still others sought milder conditions further south or across the Narrow Sea. Jon Stark attempted to import food through White Harbour to relieve the suffering of the people but it merely drew the Thorns of Winter eastward to raid the food caravans.

The same winter saw the Ironborn descend under the command of Hrothgar Ironshod, beginning the Third War of the Kraken. Ironshod set up a kingdom upon Sea Dragon Point and terrorized the western shore of the North for five years. The deep snows made it nearly impossible to move troops, greatly hampering the Northern efforts to expel the invaders. When spring finally broke, Jon Stark sent a force under the command of his sons Eddard and Brandon to expel the invaders. Ironshod's kingdom could not withstand the full might of the North and came to a bloody end.

The Black Wolf
In the year 322 AC, Brandon Stark wed Emberlei Bolton at Winterfell. Jon Stark named his secondborn the new Lord of the Dreadfort. Lord Brandon Stark became the focal point of the opposition to the Targaryen presence in the North in a series of events that became known as The Intercession in the North. His defiance only increased following his father's death. He led a raid against the Winter Palace that caused significant damage to the unfinished structure in the year 343 and was blamed for an unsuccessful attempt on Prince Aenar's life. His blatant contempt for his brother's authority forced Lord Eddard to raise his banners and march on the Dreadfort. Lord Brandon surrendered when Prince Aenar appeared astride Viserion above the battlefield rather than see his men bathed in flames. Lord Brandon was condemned to death, and Prince Aenar returned to the capital after the execution due to King Rhaegar's declining health. The Winter Palace was abandoned and its remains allowed to crumble in the harsh Northern climate.

Past Members

 * Eddard Stark (263AC - 299AC) Lord of Winterfell, Warden of the North, and Hand of the King under Robert I Baratheon
 * Catelyn Stark (née Tully) (264 AC - 299AC) Lady of Winterfell, wife of Lord Eddard
 * Robb Stark (283AC - 299AC) Called the Young Wolf, Lord Eddard's heir and briefly King in the North before his murder at the Twins
 * Sansa Stark (286AC - -) Wed to Tyrion Lannister in 299 AC. The marriage was annulled on the grounds that it was against her will and never consummated. Married Harold Arryn in 301 AC and became Lady of the Vale.
 * Arya Stark (289AC - -) Disappeared from King's Landing in 299 AC after Ned Stark's execution. Roose Bolton claimed to have recovered her and married Ramsay to an impostor to forge a claim on the Lordship of Winterfell.
 * Brandon Stark (290 AC - -) Disappeared from Winterfell in 299 AC after the Ironborn captured the castle. Fate unknown.
 * Rickon Stark (295 AC - 301 AC) Taken from Winterfell to Skagos in 299 AC after the Iroborn captured the castle. Captured by House Bolton and murdered by Ramsay Bolton.
 * Jon Stark (283 AC - 341AC) Eddard Stark's bastard son by an unknown woman, born Jon Snow. Legitimized by Robb Stark in 299 AC, confirmed by Aegon VI and Daenerys in 302 AC. Lord of Winterfell 301AC - 341AC.
 * Wylla Stark (née Manderly) (284AC - 348AC) Lady of Winterfell 301AC - 341AC
 * Eddard Stark (302AC - -)
 * Wife of Eddard Stark
 * Children of Eddard Stark
 * Brandon Stark (304 AC -343AC) Called Brandon the Black. Founder of House Stark of the Dreadfort. Lord of the Dreadfort 322 AC - 343 AC.
 * Emberlei Stark (née Bolton) (301AC - -) Ward of Winterfell until 322 AC. Lady of the Dreadfort 322AC - 343AC
 * Children of Brandon Stark
 * Lyanna Stark (307AC - -)
 * Berena Stark (309AC - -)
 * Torrhen Stark (312AC - -)