Jon II Stark

Jon Stark is the current Warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell, the ancestral home of House Stark, titles he has held since the year 393 of Aegon's Conquest.

History
Jon of House Stark was born to the Heir to Winterfell, Rickard, and Lady Serena during the third moon of the year 371AC. As a youth, Jon was quiet and observant, only speaking when spoken to by his elders. Over time, however, the maester and his lesson-givers would note long periods of silence often coincided with defiant behavior and immovable stubbornness. If he wished his reading and recitations to vary, there was little to do other than to oblige him.

In 374AC, Lady Serena gave birth to Robb, Jon's brother, a prized son of Winterfell.

As a boy, the young heir enjoyed his time, even spending days at a time, in the Wolfswood, or riding with his guardians through the Sheepshead Hills and up and down the banks of the Western Branch. This behavior was most notable after the passing of his great-grandsire, Lord Eddard, in 379AC.

When of an age, Jon took to the steel, oak, and iron of a northern warrior. He showed enough skill to impress, and eventually he was able to best most of his sparring guards. In addition to his physical skill, the heir showed a considerable ability to provide insight regarding the matters of battle-waging. Still lacking the age permitting him to fight alongside his father's men, Jon developed a particular affinity for learning the old accounts of his ancestors King Theon Stark and Edrick Snowbeard, as well as the tomes from Robert’s Rebellion, detailing the victories of Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark.

In 388AC, the Heir to Winterfell was wed to Lady Sarra of Bear Island. It was a match campaigned for privately by the heir after the two had met during the previous year’s Harvest Feast at Winterfell.

In 390AC, Lady Sarra gave birth to Jon’s heir. They named their son Eon Stark.

Dealing with unrest during The Great Famine in 393AC, which saw Lord Rickard ride south with his men to rid the Kingsroad of bandits, the Warden of the North suffered an arrow in the dead of night and passed.

A weakened Lady Sarra gave birth to her second child, Lyarra, during the eleventh moon of 394AC.

The outbreak of war called upon the North in late 396AC. Warriors and fighting men from across the land joined Lord Jon at White Harbour where they embarked upon a journey that would bring them south of The Narrow Sea by early 398.

During a landing upon Sunstone, Robb Stark, the second son to the late Lord Rickard and beloved brother to Jon, was killed by a sellsword’s heavy axe. Jon would carry his brother’s bones to each encampment and into every battle, where the northern lord began to exhibit a particular aptness for ruthless killing. For five more years, Jon and the men of the North battled in hell upon the islands, and countless fighters would die for their liege, King Aenar I Targaryen.

Victory was declared at last upon The Gallows in 402AC, and the surviving Northern host returned to White Harbour near-broken and weary.

The elderly Lord Ronnel Lake, having learned all of his sons had perished upon the Stepstones, urges the North to rise against Winterfell. Having quickly been alerted and not to be dissuaded, Lord Jon marched the fatigued host directly from White Harbour to Long Lake where Lord Ronnel had amassed a meager force. At the sight of the newly-returned soldiers, many of Lord Lake’s green fighting men retreated. Those that did not retreat were quickly put to the sword, including the remainder of Lord Ronnel’s line.

Heavy snows soon began to fall, causing many men, all who had survived the indiscriminate nature of dragonfire at sea, and the hell of battle upon the Stepstones, to make their final treks home just as the Scarlet Winter descended upon the land. The first of the thundering snows caused many to never make it home.

The winter, shackled with the painful loss caused by those that never came home from war, made life at Winterfell an ordeal awash in anguish. In the midst of this, when the fifth moon of the year 403AC was at its most full, Lady Sarra gave birth to her third child, a precious son named Edderion.

Within a year, illness beset the Lady of Winterfell. Her bedridden struggle with fever and hysteria lasted for several moons. In the tenth of 404AC, she passed. It was during this time that the northernmost lords returned from their clash with Skagos. The invasion Lord Jon thought foolish, but given the horror of winter in the far north, he simply said "These are desperate times."

Winter would end at last the next year, but House Stark still mourned its mother, its favourite son, and the lands and smallfolk would be long to recover.

Recent Events
Acknowledging he may never see the North fully-healed in his lifetime, the announcement of the Tournament of the Red Comet, set to be held at Harrenhal upon the God's Eye during the 6th moon of 407AC, causes Jon to invite the northern lords to join him upon the Kingsroad on the way to Harrenhal.

Household/NPC's

 * Maester Didion
 * Mark Condon, Castellan
 * William Ryswell, Master-at-Arms
 * Desmond, Captain-of-the-Guard