House Stark of the Dreadfort

House Stark of the Dreadfort is the pinnacle cadet branch of House Stark of Winterfell (The Wardens of the North) They have their founding with Jon Stark’s son, Brandon The Black and his wife Emberlei…The last of the Boltons. They are one of the most powerful Houses in the North with the “Dreadfort” as their castle. A castle long been doomed to stay under the might of its own terrifying shadow and the weight of a lingering Bolton ruled past.

Their sigil is the black head of a Direwolf on a red field with their words being “A peaceful people are ready for Winter“.

Traits
The cadet branch retains most of the of the traits one would find in House Stark. Long faces, black hair, and grey eyes. Although some possess eyes as black as the night's sky or as pale as snow. Some are known for melancholy and iciness, these traits being even more apparent in members of this cadet branch. Others have a wildness sometimes called "wolf blood". One important thing that every true member of the House possesses is their love and firm belief in one’s family and natural distrust of outsiders.

Customs
The Starks of the Dreadfort have developed their own customs through the decades, some mixed with their Bolton heritage. The dead Starks are burned and their ash is laid to rest in a small hollow statue. The statue is then hanged on the wall with a torch being attached to it, it being a symbol of how the Starks will always look over one another, even in death.

Mourning is also a monthly event where at the end of each month all the family gathers to pray to the Old Gods and mourn the passing of any family member who did not die of natural causes.

On the 15th year of one life, it’s custom to give the child a torch and make him walk through the old Bolton Crypt. (No longer in use) The aim is to let the ancestors absorb all the evil in a child and bring it inner peace.

Third Century AC
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. Even dead…his legacy remained. The family was forever marked with the stamp of a man who fought and died for Northern independence, yet put the actions of his descendants under the constant watchful eye of the crown.

Brandon The Stoner
Although Brandon the Black had died at a fairly young age, and while also never being in good terms with his wife, he managed to secure an offspring for his title: A son also named Brandon. The young boy became Lord of the Dreadfort at the tender age of 10 and his first few years were notable for the corrupted regency of his mother, Lady Emberlei. Her very first act as Regent was to throw Brandon the Black’s body into the sea, proclaiming he did not deserve to rest in the Bolton Crypt. What happened to his body is unknown…though rumours, more like legends, claim the body was found all the way in Ibben. The Dreadfort was home to many banquets and galas, with the coffers running dry quickly. There were rumours about a planned assassination on the Lord so Lady Emberlei could place her own bastard son on the throne, but they were all quelled once Brandon removed her from court life as soon as he came to power in 352AC.

Brandon the Stoner was a wise and calculating man, although his troubled youth made him as cold as ice to the people around him. His rule coincided with one of the most prosperous times in recent Westerosi history: The Mead Summer. Brandon bought only the most prosperous of seed from Essosi merchants and they grey bountiful harvests that quickly began to fill up the coffers again. He secured a powerful alliance by marrying a woman of House Manderly and therefore increasing the legitimacy of his own cadet branch and slowly paving the way to what it is now.

The most notable of his actions though is also why he earned his nickname. During the last few years of his rule, he spent ample time refurbishing the Dreadfort to his image. The Great Hall was expanded and the bone torches were replaced with statues of the deceased. All the Bolton torture rooms, that were known, were destroyed (Just like anything else that one might consider “Bolton") and something new was built in their place. Practically every stone mason in the North at one point or another helped with the paving of the Dreadfort, slowly but surely making it more pleasant for outsiders to visit. He abruptly died in 372AC of a hernia before the project would be fully completed, but his rule is still remembered to this day as the true establishment of House Stark of The Dreadfort.

The Black and White Wolf
Brandon the Stoner left many children upon his death, but none were nearly as well known as the twins Cregan and Rickard, the Black and White Wolf respectively. (His second and third born) The same in physical appearance, polar opposite in nature. While the Black Wold was full of anger and strong, the White Wolf was charming with his words and Quick. Legendary Warriors and dangerous leaders who fought in any major tourney across all of the realms (Including the Kingswood Tourney, one where the Black Wolf earned his nickname by caving in another Northern highborn’s skull with his shield) and the brief civil war between themselves for who would rule over the Dreadfort, since the nanny did not pay attention which of the two was born first and the previous lord Stark died in a hunting accident. The two gathered as many men as they could muster, although the Black Wolf attained the number’s advantage due his marriage to House Whitehill. They moved and marched day in and day out for weeks on end, when Rickard finally found a suitable battlefield: Sheepshead Hills. Taking advantage of the terrain and his brother’s impulsiveness (The weeks of running around made him rash) he would ultimately prevail in the Battle and be named the new Lord of the Dreadfort in 377AC after slaying his brother in single combat. (That are only legends these days, some speculate that the Black Wolf was spared sent to live out his last days on the Wall)

His rule was one of caring and compassion for the common folk, but a short one. He died only 3 years later in 380AC due to the infection of a previous wound he received from an arrow...to his knee. His death is also noted for the white flames that emitted during the burning of his body, another sign of the “White Wolf”.

A Family Strong
The title passed on to their youngest brother Eddard. Although not a ruler of ‘exemplary’ virtue or skill, his love for his Family was more than evident through the number of marriages proposed and connections with other Houses established. Most notable of which is how he married his daughter to the then Lord of Winterfell, more or less cementing the relationship between the two. Matters of state was left to both of his sons Jon and Edrick, since the lord always preferred attending court life and playing with his grandchildren, rather than rule. He played with other people as well…Only found out when he suddenly died from “troubles with his bladder” in 387AC. A trait his firstborn, and heir, Jon Stark would inherited along with the title.

The Great Famine
Jon Stark’s rule is the most recent of the past and it’s in a known time filled with a wide range of events that have shaped Westerosi history. The Great Famine was upon his domain only a couple of years after his reign started. At first, he offered small relief to the hungry peasants in the form of handing out bread, but soon it was forced upon him to hoard what remains of his winter stores. Jon Stark and his brother Edrick personally led the Dreadfort contingent in any hunt for bandits in their realm. They both were part of the Lord Paramounts' hunt for the killers of Lord Rickard Stark and dealt a heavy blow to their forces in the Barrowlands. He attended the funeral of his kin (His sister was the Lord’s husband) and organized a mourning of his own. One other notable development is Jon Stark’s decision to let the Winter Wolf inspired ‘deserters’ pass through his land on their way to Essos.

Thankfully the Great Famine lasted only a couple of years and not decades as some maesters predicted. The Dreadfort began to slowly regrow its fields of wheat and fill its winter stores. But, peace was never a part of Northern history if anything was true and House Stark of the Dreadfort answered their liege’s call to arms in the War of the Three Thieves.

Fighting in a Foreign War on Foreign Soil for Foreign People
“Why must Northern blood be spilt for Southern ambition…over a simple egg?” Simple words whose truth radiated from all Northmen who served under the Dreadfort. Jon spent days, and even weeks, just organizing his men into a force willing to take part in a war for the King who killed Brandon the Black. Most men were put on the small Northern fleet as they began making their way through the rocky waves to a land half of them haven’t even heard of. Many of the ones who knew how to write wrote about the sea-sickness, the anger and disappointment they felt…And it only grew. Jon Stark’s (Of the Dreadfort) forces never saw action until late in the war and only participated in two major engagements: (Who wants to read about small skirmishes anyway) The Scouring of the Stepstones and the Gallows…But that was more than enough.

The former proved the valour of Jon’s Starks Heir Dorren as he personally led the Dreadfort contingent vanguard in every fight he can get his hands on, always joined by his own father as the two cut their way through swaths of enemies. (Edrick Stark commanded from the rear) Both of their renown grew by the day with each mile gained. Edrick saw fit to burn scores of houses, or “enemy shelters” as he called them, in their wake. They were not there to search for a simple “Egg”, they were there to show the true courage and prowess only seen in the North…Though their pride was their downfall.

It was yet another battle, this time the Gallows. Father and son shared one single arm shake before they yet again charged at the enemy. They were one of the first to break through the castle’s walls, “Yet another victory” Dorren so boldly proclaimed as he cleaned the blood from his face. Then someone blocked the sun and fighting stopped for a split second, enough for them to look up…It was a dragon. It swept down with such haste that it’s said the two didn’t manage to blink as their bodies became charred corpses. Edrick could not even count the loses they sustained, no bodies count be counted among the Northern ashes…Edrick was the sole Dreadfort lord still alive as he got his men of their boats and went to bring them home…No words were spoken during the voyage as the battle-exhausted Northmen only wept at the death of their kin.

Lord Eyron, the second born of Jon Stark (of the Dreadfort) and now heir/lord, kept to his chambers for a whole week with only food being delivered to him every now and then…Finally, he came out and gathered all the men in his court to proclaim he renounces the title and gives it to his younger brother Torrhen instead.