Cregard Stark

Cregard Stark is the second son born from the union of Lady Alysanne Stark and the late Lord Jon II Stark. He was named in remembrance of his deceased uncle, who was also a secondborn son. At the meagre age of seven, Cregard was sent as part of his father's infamous Black Draft to the Wall, where he became a brother of the Night's Watch.

Upon swearing his vows at the age of ten and five, he joined the Watch's order of rangers. Though initially compliant with his superiors, he developed a habit of reinterpreting orders and challenging authority. His consistently good results, such as reestablishing ties with the Spearwives of the Keep, have so far earned him Lord Commander Theodan's protection from any repercussions. This relative impunity and demonstrated competence have won Cregard both the adulation of his younger peers and the ire of the First Ranger.

Cregard has an ongoing, secret affair with the mistress of the Spearwives, Myrtle, who freed him after having captured him during a ranging gone awry. The extent of their relationship is unknown to the majority of the Night's Watch save those who have benefited from the arrangement between the two.

Appearance and Character
Cregard's most notable features are the shaved sides of his head, his patchy sideburns, and his bright blue eyes. He also has a strong jaw, a thin moustache, and full lips. Underneath his blacks, he boasts a wiry physique.

Cregard considers himself a Night's Watch "lifer," having grown up with the Watch since he was a child. He is arguably the proudest black brother but also the most imperious, earning him a gaggle of detractors but also a flock of loyal followers, to whom he boasts often about his exploits. He employs his silver tongue to realize his desires, though where his tongue fails, his blade typically succeeds.

Before he became a polarizing figure, he had to fight to prove and protect himself. He grew up relishing the rewards of a good contest, and as a result grew to love his duties as a ranger, seizing always on the opportunity to sharpen his skills with wildling blood. Never one to forfeit a challenge, he is wont to issue them as well, especially to those, such as the First Ranger, whom Cregard feels are falsely viewed as superior than him.

Three Castles in Seven Years
Born in 420 AC to Lady Alysanne and Lord Jon II Stark, Cregard came into the world a loud and boisterous child. A pup from both Winterfell and the Dreadfort, he frequently travelled between the two castles, feeling more welcomed at the latter than the former due to frequent, paternal neglect. He was quick to attach himself to his elder brother by eight months, Theon; the two were as thick as thieves in their infancy, best friends who always looked after one another despite how much trouble they got into with their overbearing mother.

Cregard's roots were violently torn out from under him when his father's Black Draft forced him to join the Night's Watch. Thrust at the age of seven into a new "family" of criminals, men full grown, and bitterly conscripted noblemen, Cregard suffered tremendously as the infant Stark of the Watch. The scapegoat of his father's draft, he was picked on during drills and tormented on the off hours. Adults would strike him with full force, leading to an innumerable amount of broken bones – his blankets were pissed on, his sleeps interrupted by beatings, and his food tampered with and worse. Cregard always stood up for himself, fighting to the best of his ability, but his body and spirit waned under the continuous, coordinated assault of his peers. He longed day and night for his lost brother's protection and the shelter of his old homes.

Master and Commander
Cregard's torment did not go unnoticed by the senior officers of the Night's Watch. Lord Commander Theodan was especially concerned about the treatment of the young Stark, and moved to grant him secure lodgings in the King's Tower for a time. While Cregard still faced challenges during the day, his fiery spirit was able to recover at night, enabling him to persevere against his detractors. As he grew bigger and bolder with each passing year, his detractors grew more careful and cautious. Incessant, uninhibited challenges from men twice his size had honed him into a seasoned fighter. His size and speed became his weapons, and before long he usurped the role of instigator around Castle Black. He forced all but his harshest detractors into submission, which earned him the respect of his younger and newer peers.

Second Ranger
Cregard was ten and five by the time he swore his vows. He was assigned to the rangers along with a number of his friends: those whom he had come to protect from a fate not unlike his own. They fast became his followers and sought his approval over that of the First Ranger, Ser Mathis Merryweather, a holdout among Cregard's otherwise dominated detractors. The rivalry between man and boy instilled in the boy an imperious demeanour as he believed himself the more competent, passionate brother. He wielded his followers to his own ends and frequently subverted Ser Mathis's authority over the order. While this behaviour merited severe punishment, Cregard's consistently good results in combination with the Lord Commander's favour shielded him from the majority of Ser Mathis's reprimands. This relative impunity polarized the rangers' ranks to the point where Cregard's followers began to call him the "Second Ranger," if only to spite the First.

Meeting Myrtle
Having become a real threat to the First Ranger, Cregard and his ilk were assigned the most dangerous of patrols, patrols they were more than happy to take on as vainglorious youths. On one such patrol deep into the Haunted Forest, they carelessly pursued a group of Nightrunners as far as the Antler River, failing to cover any tracks they left behind. Cregard lead his men in a surprise daytime ambush on their slippery foes and felled almost every one in thrilling combat. When the dust settled, he had lost a man but captured two. On his trip back, drunk with victory, he in turn was ambushed by the Spearwives of the Keep, who had tracked his group all the way to the easternmost tip of the Milkwater, a popular resting point for patrolling rangers. He, his men, and his captives were all brought back to the Keep, bounded and humiliated.

Myrtle, the mistress of the Spearwives, blew mead through her nose upon learning from Cregard's followers that he was their leader – ridicule ensued as she belittled his height and boyish appearance. While it was typical of the Spearwives to ransom captured rangers, she almost felt compelled to end the boy's life as a service to mankind. It was only after she had heard him speak his house's name and challenge her to a duel that she grew interested in him. Rather than fight him herself, she pitted him against his Nightrunner captors. When their corpses fell to the floor, she was utterly delighted. She had finally found a fertile mate worthy of continuing her line. Together, they came to an arrangement: in exchange for his freedom, Cregard would represent the Night's Watch in their new dealings, make himself available to mate at least once every three moons, and deliver unto Myrtle more able bodied men to satisfy her kin.

438 AC
Credited with reestablishing relations with the Spearwives of the Keep, Cregard was showered with praise upon his return to Castle Black. He kept the nature of his arrangement a secret by introducing a "secret rite of passage" for his new followers (which appeared on the surface as a ranging to Antler River) and by threatening collective violence against anyone who dared spill the details. Unless Cregard was personally present without food or steel to offer, Myrtle would know a visiting group of black brothers was outside the loop, such was the elaborate nature of the scheme.

Cregard's newfound fame has served to inflame his rivalry with the First Ranger. A week before Cregard's eighteenth nameday, Ser Mathis provoked Cregard to violence by discretely insulting his Stark kin. Were it not for Lord Commander Theodan's intervention, the rangers' order at Castle Black would have been drawn into the fighting. To ease the mounting tension and separate the two men, the Lord Commander tasked Cregard with recruiting new brothers south of the Wall. With the ubiquitous influence of the Stark name and an unparalleled pride in the Watch, there was no greater a candidate, nor a more reluctant one.

9th Moon:

 * In search of new recruits, Cregard ventures south to attend the tournament of Fairmarket

House Stark of Winterfell

 * Jon Stark, Lord of Winterfell, Warden of the North (371 - 434)
 * m. Sarra Mormont (375 - 404)
 * Eon Stark (389 - 419)
 * m. Alys Arryn (b. 390)
 * Berena Stark, Lady of Winterfell, Warden of the North (b. 411)
 * m. Domeric Umber (406)
 * Artos Stark (b. 430)
 * Alaric Stark (b. 430)
 * Eddara Stark (b. 436)
 * Ellard Stark (414 - 427)
 * Rodwell Stark (416 - 418)
 * Jocelyn Stark (b. 417)
 * m. Jareth Manderly (b. 402)
 * House Manderly
 * Dacey Stark (b. 391)
 * m. Damion Blackwood (388 - 426)
 * Lucas Blackwood (411- 426)
 * Sybelle Blackwood (414 - 426)
 * m. Lord Glover
 * House Glover
 * Edderion Stark (b. 403)
 * m. Arya Tallhart (402 - 421)
 * Arsa Stark (b. 418)
 * Mariah Stark (b. 419)
 * Gilliane Stark (b. 421)
 * m. Meera Hornwood (b. 405)
 * Lyra Stark (b. 423)
 * Jojen Stark (b. 425)
 * m. Alysanne Stark, Lady of the Dreadfort (b. 391)
 * Theon Stark (b. 419)
 * Cregard Stark (b. 420)
 * Sybelle Stark (b. 422)
 * Wynafryd Stark (424 - 424)
 * Torrhen Stark (427 - 436)
 * Serena Stark (b. 428)

House Stark of the Dreadfort

 * Dorren Stark (363 - 398)
 * Mallador Snow (b. 388)
 * Eyron Stark, Lord of the Dreadfort (367 - 407)
 * m. Evelyne Mormont (b. 377)
 * Benjen Stark, Lord of the Dreadfort (393 - 419)
 * m. Donella Manderly (393 - 415)
 * Daryn Stark (415 - 418)
 * Torrhen Stark, Lord of the Dreadfort (369 - 407)
 * m. Dawn Reed (b. 370)
 * Eddard Stark (386 - 405)
 * m. Leona Ryswell (b. 389)
 * Lyanna Stark (b. 405)
 * Cregard Stark, Lord of the Dreadfort (388 - 407)
 * Alysanne Stark, Lady of the Dreadfort (b. 391)
 * m. Benjen Stark, Lord of the Dreadfort (393 - 419) (Duplicate)
 * Beron Stark (416 - 417)
 * m. Jon Stark, Lord of Winterfell, Warden of the North (371 - 434)
 * Theon Stark (b. 419)
 * Cregard Stark (b. 420)
 * Sybelle Stark (b. 422)
 * Wynafryd Stark (424 - 424)
 * Torrhen Stark (427 - 436)
 * Serena Stark (b. 428)
 * Rickon Stark (b. 392)
 * Arrana Stark (b. 396)
 * m. Hoarfrost Umber (b. 400)
 * Edwyn Stark (370 - 417)
 * Osric Stark (370 - 422)
 * Brandon Snow (b. 378)

Followers

 * Stannis Connington, ranger and former heir to Griffin's Roost. Being eight years Cregard's senior, he counts among the young wolf's oldest supporters and longtime friends