House Stark (The Seven Kingdoms)

The Stark is an ancient house descended from Bran the Builder, a legendary figure from the Age of Heroes said to have raised their ancestral home at Winterfell thousands of years in the past, as well as the Wall. They are descendants of the First Men and still follow some of their ancient traditions and the old gods of the forest. The Starks were Kings of Winter in the North for thousands of years from the Age of Heroes, possibly beginning with Bran the Builder. Ever since Bran constructed the Wall, the Starks have been friends of the Night's Watch, and have manned the Wall for thousands of years. The Night's King, the attainted 13th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, is said to have been a Stark, among his many possible origins. The Starks also helped repel several major wildling invasions, such as when they and their Umberbannermen defeated the Kings-Beyond-the-Wall like the brothers Gendel and Gorne, as well as Bael the Bard, who both sired and fought a Stark.

The ancient Starks gradually defeated rival kings, such as the Barrow Kings to their south and the Red Kings to their east. For several millennia, the Starks were not the uncontested Kings in the North, but their primary antagonists, the Boltons of the Dreadfort, swore fealty some 1,000 years ago, ending their flesh-flaying ways. Meanwhile, King Jon Stark drove pirates from the White Knife, and the Wolf's Den was built at its mouth. This stronghold was often granted to sons and grandsons of the King in the North; one such branch, the Greystarks, was extinguished after allying with the Boltons against the Starks. The Wolf's Den was eventually granted to the Manderlys, a house exiled from the Reach and taken in by the Starks. The Manderlys developed the city of White Harbor around the castle. King Jon's son, Rickard, defeated the Marsh King and married his daughter, bringing the Neck into Winterfell's realm under the lordship of House Reed. The Karstarks were founded when Karlon Stark, brother to the reigning king, helped crush a rebel lord and was granted a keep for his service. Finally, the Mormonts were granted Bear Island when King Rodrik Stark won it from the ironborn in a wrestling match. The Starks fought the Arryns of the Vale after the Rape of the Three Sisters, eventually ceding control of the islands.

King Torrhen Stark "The Just"
Torrhen was the only legal son of Edwyn Stark, whom also had a bastard named Brandon '' Snow".

At this time, Torrhen has already ruled the North for 8 years, sired 5 children and brought peace to the North. Known as a just and fair ruler by his vassals.After months of negotiating with the Queen-Regent of the Vale about the Three Sisters, Torrhen accepts Ronnel Arryn as his ward to stop the hostilities over the Sisters. Despite that he never gave up his claims and was close of invading the Sisters to claim it for the North, but never done so yet. The following years were mostly peaceful, but hard on Torrhen as he was struggling to raise enough gold to pay for the education of his many grandchildren, but he did succeed in the end at the cost of his vassals praise. They rose in a massive rebellion against him. However with the Manderlies, Boltons and Dustins remaining loyal, he was able to crush the rebellious lords. Most of them were however released and sent back to their homes.

When Iron King Harwyn Hoare passed away, leaving his 2 year old daughter as heir, chaos erupted in the Ironborn Kingdom, with the rivermen standing behind the young Queen, the Ironborn on the Iron Isles elected their own new King, Ygon Hoare and with that chaos, some riverlords saw their chances for independence. The first to strike was Triston Darklyn, also known as the Shadow King, followed by the Freys, resulting in the Crossing and its surrounding lands to swear fealty to the North, Torrhen aided them with the entire strength of the North, numbering 40.000 men at that time.

The other kings didnt sit still either and launched their own invasions, The Vale attacked and occupied Saltpans, Pinkmaiden falls to the Lannisters and Rollingford is taken by the Storm King.

During one of his many negotiations with Ronnel Arryn, King of the Vale of Arryn, Torrhen succesfully convinced the young King to surrender two of the three island of the Sisters to the North, ending the struggle for the Sisters.

Torrhen also suffered a huge depression when his wife, Jonnela, passed away. After one of his many nights of drinking, Torrhen drank too much and died because of that, leaving his son Brandon to rule the North now.

King Brandon Stark "The Old Wolf"
Brandon inherited everything his father owned after his death, including Torrhen's personal armour, but Brandon preferred light armour and stored the armour away.. "For later use" During his reign a religious struggle between the Seven and the Drowned God unleashed itself in the Trident, resulting in the Lannister launching an invasion of the Trident in an attempt to "convert the heathens", as they claim.... However the Hoares got aid from those they did not expect it from... The Darklyns and the Martells rode forth and saved the Trident from getting torn apart by the Lannisters, ending the struggle with the death of King Lyman Lannister by Shadow King Damon Darklyn in battle.

During this, the Freys expanded their lands by claiming certain towns controlled by the Mallisters of Seagard that had risen in rebellion against the Ironborn, their new lord, a Hoare, has been unable to regain control over the towns. After the death of Lord Commander Brandon "Snow" of the Night's Watch, Torrhen Stark, Brandon's eldest son (but not eldest child) was elected as its new Lord Commander, becoming the 983th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.

Brandon kept taking advantage of the fact that the Ironborn rule over the Trident was severly weakened and attacked the Hoares to secure Blackwood Vale and the surrounding lands. They surrendered when Brandon sent the terms of their surrender, or he would as he claimed, "kill every single ironborn he would get his hands on" if they refused

After his wife's passing, he married the Lady Dustin, they had three daughters of which the eldest would inherit the title of Lady of the Barrowlands.

Near the end of his reign Brandon lost the ability to see anything, leaving the rule of the North to his daughter until he died peacefully at the age of 72 in Winterfell.

Queen Lyessa Stark "The Blessed"
Lyessa Stark, Brandon's eldest child, became the Queen of the North after her father's death, she was at that time fourty years old and had several children already.

She was also not a normal child, at a young age she discovered that she was a skinchanger, the ability to control certain animals whom would always stay at her side, not only that, but she also had green dreams and that granted her some insights of the future (some say she saw her own death and refused to run away when the time was there)

As it seems to be custom, she attacked the Hoares again for more land however this time the Hoares found someone to help them, no other than the King of the Reach himself. Her brother heard the news and assembled the entire strength of the Night's Watch and marched south to help his sister, breaking his oath to not interfere in the southern wars. During the war several towns that the Freys had claimed were overrun, Lyessa ordered the Freys to return every single soldier to the Twins and defend it at all cost, however a few days after the command she heard that the King of the Reach was killed during a skirmish with the Night's Watch at the Trident, destroying the Hoare's hope of winning the war as the reachmen return home to mourn their king. The Hoares surrendered a week later to the terms. While the Wall was undermanned, an old threat returned once again that had not been seen since the Long Winter... The Others returned and killed every wildling they came across, several Kings-Beyond-The-Wall fell to the Others until one managed to stop their advance. Being responsible for the deserted Wall, Lyessa launched an expedition to destroy the others, or atleast, keep them away for numberous of generations. She was however unsuccesful in this as her army was two times outnumbered and slaughtered till the last man, but not before several white walkers were killed (and several northern lords killed). She prepared a second expedition but it was never sent away because of a new threat.

Having conquered all the Free Cities of Essos (including Braavos) the Pirate-Emperor of his so called New Valyria launched an invasion of the North, hoping to gain a foothold in Westeros and invade the indepent kings one by one.

Despite the numbers being against her, she fought together with the Darklyns and won several notable victories, such as the Siege of Deepwood, the Battle of the Rills and the Battle of Moat Cailin, however the last would also result in the death of Lyessa. The Pirate Emperor charged forward and met her in combat, Lyessa knew she was no match for the Pirate, but fought for the independence of the North and fell in battle. Her granddaughter continued the war with the Pirate.

Queen Jeyne Stark "The She Wolf"
Jeyne Stark was Lyessa's granddaughter, the eldest child of Alysanne Stark whom passed away several years before.

She inherited the North during a terrible time, the winter is harsh with the Others slowly coming south and the Pirate Emperor coming from across the sea. Some claim it was pure luck or simply her grandmother's dedication to the war that the Braavosi and Lorathi merchants rose up in rebellion against the Pirate Emperor, forcing him to abandon his plans of conquest. Saving the North from a terrible war.

However, the North still had to face another threat that was left alone for too long... The Others.

Jeyne marched with whatever strength was left of the northern amy and met up with the Night's Watch (at that time a new Lord Commander was recently elected) and marched beyond the wall, half her army would die before the battle was fought, but when they reached the Others and their army of undead, the northerners and the Night's Watch completly destroyed it. Saving the rest of Westeros from the Others and stopping the terrible winter that had weakened the North severly. Several years later she was done with the Hoares and called for a final solution of their kingdom, calling every single vassal to Winterfell (including those south of the Neck) and proposed to them the idea of invading the Trident and smashing the Hoares to piece, it was largely agreed on by her vassals to plan the invasion. The preparations were done several months later and war was declared... However the King of the Reach, alarmed by the growing attacks by the Northeners, decided to aid the Hoares with his Dornish ally. After several weeks of manouvering the northern army was stationed above the Red Fork while the Reachmen and the Hoare's small force made of questionable loyalties was stationed near Riverrun, House Tully's ancestral seat. (House Tully had sworn their loyalty to the Starks instead of the Hoares and were promised Riverrun back) Instead of waiting for the Reachmen to act first, Jeyne ordered the attack on the Reachmen army stationed outside Riverrun, not allowing them to receive more reinforcements by the day. Despite the fact that the small army stationed was reinforced by another 50.000 men (outnumbering the northern army by 10.000 men, despite the reinforcements of Lord Patrek II Frey) the northern army smashed them to pieces, some 10.000 men at most survived the battle of the 60.000 that they fought. The northern army lost around 10.000 men, but most of the men would be lost during the disasterous assault on Riverrun. The battle would be recorded as the Massacre at Riverrun, because of the amount of reachmen and riverlanders that lost their lives against the northern army which barely substained any casualties.

Keeping their promise with the Darklyns, all castles south of the Red Fork (apart from Riverrun and its surrounding villages) were released of any oath of fealty, the Ironborn Kingdom of the Trident had at last stopped existing. Jeyne also kept her promise to House Tully and returned them to their ancestral seat after having lost it 50 years earlier in a failed rebellion.

Despite this defeat, the King of the Reach managed to form a massive Kingdom by forcing the Durrandons, Lannisters, Greyjoys, Darklyns and Martells to swear fealty to him. Jeyne has no plans to bend the knee easily.

However, she had nothing to fear from the Gardener as he lacked any interest in the North (Calling it barren and inhabited and not worth fighting over), however he did diplomaticly force the Queen of the Vale of Arryn to surrender her crown and join the so called Kingdom of the South.

Jeyne Stark took her own life at the age of fifty-four after her husband's death.

Queen Bellena Stark "The Tickler"
Bellena, Jeyne's eldest daughter, inherited the Kingdom of the North after her mother took her own life.

At the time of inheritance, Bellana was thirty-six years old and had already 6 children of which one was a bastard-born son, Roger Snow. Her first act was to legitimze her bastard son and send him to the Wall (though some claim it was his own idea to take the black).

While the North was mourning the loss of Jeyne Stark, whom had ruled the North for thirty-seven years, the Southern lords were planning to invade the North while it was weak. However Elyas Gardener, the King of the South, has been named the brilliant for a good reason and stated that he would not attack the North while its in the state of mourning, this gave him a lot of sympathy from northern lords, especially from Lyanna Stark, the eldest daughter of Bellana Stark and heir to the North.

During her reign the Night's Watch has been struck a deadly blow, the horn of Winter was found and blown by one of the Wildling chiefs, resulting in a complete collapse of the Wall. While the Night's Watch has been severly weakened by this event, the North is preparing itself for the worst to come... A possible invasion from beyond the ruins of the Wall, however Bellena herself never had to fear that scenario.

After seven years, at the age of fourty-four, Bellena Stark died of a illness that had plagued her for weeks, She was buried in the Crypts of Winterfell alongside with the Crown of Winter, the ancient crown of House Stark since its founding as Kings of Winter.

Lady Lyanna Stark
Lyanna, Bellena's eldest daughter and child, inherited the Kingdom of the North after Bellena's death.

At the time of the inheritance, Lyanna was twenty-eight years old and had one daughter and one son, both were very young though. It was Lyanna's decision that the Crown of Winter was to be buried with her mother, she proclaimed that she had no need for a crown, no one understood at that time why she proclaimed that.

She had gained a lot of respect for King Elyas Gardener and she also knew at the same time that the North's independence cannot be guaranteed to be tollerated for much longer. At her mother's funeral she announced her plans (at first she lowered the taxes of all lords) to at last bend the knee to the South to spare the lives of thousands of men if war broke out with the South, despite protests by Lord Frey and the Starks of Blackwood, she continued her plans and ravens were sent south.

Lyanna travelled south towards Higharden with every northern lord and their household guards, however they also brough a special prisoner with them. Outside Highgarden the household guards remain while the lords of the North enter Highgarden and travel to the throne room. Despite being there on friendly terms, many lords held their swords close. After entering the throne room, Lyanna announced that she would bend the knee, not only infront of the Gardener, but infront of all lords of the North too... Only she had one surprise for the Gardener before she did that. The prisoner was brought forward and on Lyanna's orders, Lord Patrek Frey chopped off its arms, shattering into a million pieces. After that she explains how the Starks have held a white walkers prisoner for 50 years to find a way to defeat them once and for all and offers Ice to King Elyas Gardener to kill the last White Walker south of the Wall, which he accepts after a moment of silence, shattering it into a million pieces and officially accepting the oath of fealty from House Stark and the other northern lords.

While Lyanna adapted the policy of isolation and not meddling with the politics of the lords of Westeros, the North marched south when the overambitious lord of Harrenhal attempted to take the Iron Isles after having murdered its previous lords and with the new Queen of Westeros ignoring these murders, (King Elyas passed away shortly before) the Hoare was a prisoner of his own castle and was unable to leave, but neither was anyone able to assault the castle. Months later he finally accepted peace and gave up his claim on the Iron Isles, beginning the alliance of House Stark and House Greyjoy.

At the age of fifty-two, Lyanna died a natural death in Winterfell, she was buried in the crypts of Winterfell.

Lady Sansa Stark "the Honorable"
Sansa, Lyanna's eldest daughter, inherited the Lord Paramouncy and the Wardenship of the North after her mother's death.

At the time of the inheritance she was thirty-eight years old and had 4 children, Lyra Stark (Eldest child and would die of the plague in 8150), Jynessa Stark, Arya Stark, Lyanna Stark and later she would receive a son (secretly King Unwin Gardener's bastard son) Torrhen Stark.

Her rule was troubled and there were many issues in the North, but trough strength of arms and determination she managed to keep control of the North and its vassals. She also served King Unwin Gardener as master of coin.

House Manderly was the first to question her rule and rose up in rebellion, however no other northern lord saw reason to revolt and the lord was defeated, stripped of his lands and exiled to the Wall. A notable commander in that war was granted White Harbour and the surrounding lands, however this angered the Starks of Blackwood, because his son was in line of inheritance and feeling secure he attacked the new lord of White Harbour. What happened next was a massive civil war in the North, resulting in House Darklyn, House Greyjoy, House Arryn and the Braavosi Magister entering the war too. The overly ambitious Lord Harrion Stark of Blackwood refused to stand down after several demands from Lady Sansa. Despite being kin(though in name), Sansa could not let her rule be challenged by her bannerman and declared him a traitor to the North and ordered his arrest, resulting in him rising up in revolt against Lady Sansa, joined by the Braavosi (mercenaries) and the Arryns. Lady Sansa was aided by the Shadow Queen of the Dusklands and the Greyjoys of the Iron Isles. While the Freys have questionable loyalty, they followed Lady Sansa when she liberated the Twins from a siege by the Starks of Blackwood and took active part of the Battle of Riverrun, where Lady Sansa and Lord Harrion met in battle. 50.000 Northmen from Lady Sansa and 15.000 Riverlanders from House Frey against the 60.000 Northmen, Riverlanders and mercenaries from Lord Harrion. The battle was a complete slaughter with Lord Harrion being defeated and his men hunted down till the last man.

Despite this victory, the Bravoosi mercenaries were burning down White Harbour and the towns around it, however they left shortly after when the promised payment was not given by Lord Harrion and he was forced to surrender and was exiled from the North and his lands revoked.

His exile was to make an example towards the rest of the North and to show that even traiterous Starks will be severly punished for treason, like the Greystarks had paid the price thousands of years before.

Three notable commanders were given the lands of Riverrun, Blackwood and Southstone, all lands near the border with the Vale was given to House Frey for their loyalty, however Lady Sansa quickly reversed that decisions and installed House Frey as the Marshall of the Southern Marches, the first line of defence of the North from the south.

The rest of her reign was peaceful until her death at the age of fifty-three.

Lord Jonos Stark "The Dragontamer ''
Jonos, Lady Sansa's grandson, inherited the Lord Paramouncy and the Wardenship of the North after her death.

At a young age, Jonos converted to faith of the seven and became the first Stark (of its main line) to be knighted. The dragon egg that was bought by his grandmother greatly intrigued him and he planned a voyage as soon as he became Lord of Winterfell. He had a custom warship constructed in White Harbour and named her "The Iron Maiden".

After planning the voyage (and having arranged a captain), he set sail towards Braavos to collect lost lore about the old Valyrians to achieve the knownledge the hatch the dragon egg. However there wasn't much left to find and what was there was locked behind bars by the Sealord of Braavos. After a few stops(and the good amount of whorehouse visits), he ended up in Volantis and collected a good amount of information and ordered the captain to sail back to White Harbour....but it would take a year until he would return because his captain was a complete imbecile and used his maps wrongly(the weather also played a part, but less so), resulting in the ship coming near Ibben. The crew was done with the captain and threw him overboard near Ibben and they set sail to White Harbour at once.(Some claim that Jonos had tons of bastards on his voyage, yet he denied to have fathered any bastard while on his voyage) On his return, he did something no one could possibly have dreamed of doing. He managed to succesfully hatch the dragon egg and see the return of a dragon into the known world. Two years later he would even manage to tame the beast after it had grown large enough to be able to be used in battle.

While he was away, Westeros went into complete chaos, the King turned into a mad king and banished the hand of the king (and later had his heir killed) for false claims forged by the King.

Joined by fellow lords of the realm willing to depose the King (Sealord Yorko Fregar and Shadow Queen Danelle Darklyn and possibly the new Lord of the Stormlands, Balon Durrandon), he sent a raven to Highgarden to demand the abdication of the King and to organise a grand council to decide whom shall rule Westeros instead. The King of course refused and everyone called his banners. War has once again reached Westeros again.

Lord Jonos was fast to strike, and he hit hard. Together with Marshall Patrek he attacked into the bloody gate, seen by many of his commanders as the worst idea because of its reputation, and prevailed thanks to his dragon. The Lord of the Vale, Gariss Arryn, and many of his commanders were consumed by the fire of Jonos' dragon. Despite this victory, disaster struck the rebellion as Lord Jonos was found dead, presumed assassinated, shortly after in his camp. With his death the entire rebellion collapses.

He was only thirty-nine at the time of his death.

Lord Brandon Stark "The Good"
Brandon, Lord Jonos' eldest son, inherited the Lord Paramouncy of the North and Wardenship of the North after his suspicious death.

During his childhood he became good friends with Patrek Frey(the 7th), the heir to the Southern Marches at that time. It was unable to seperate the two from eachother and both of them would end up being knighted by Jonos Stark.

After a few years his friend Patrek was found dead, under suspicious circumstances. Due to the reaction of the brunes, Brandon saw them as responsible for his friend's murder and was close of marching towards Harrenhal and tearing it down, stone by stone, however other issues required his attention... Which led to his death.

Several of his vassals rose up in a revolt against his rule, seeing this as a challenge to his legitimacy to rule the North, he rode to war ahead of an army to put it down, However disaster struck Brandon as he was outmatched by one the enemy commanders and was slain on the field of battle.

Brandon was only thirty-four when he died in battle.

Lady Alysane Stark
Alysane, Brandon's eldest child and daughter, inherited the Lord Paramouncy of the North and the Wardenship of the North after his death in battle.

Alysane is the perfect example of how the old Queens of the North were, unmatched in combat and a brilliant strategist, not only that, because she is one of the few people that has both green dreams and is a skinchanger. She is always getting followed by her direwolf and crow.

She was however, not faithful towards her husband, giving birth to a bastard daughter at the age of nine-teen. Whom later on would be legitimized to be the heir of Winterfell. At the age of twenty-five, she took a new lover.. Whom was no one other than the Marshall of the Southern Marches, Patrek Frey. They had a bastard daughter Lyanna. Like her father, the vassals of the North were very rebellious and she rode to war several times to put them down.

Alysane did something no one expected to happen a second time, she tamed the same dragon that Jonos had hatched and used in battle, however she barely used the dragon, fearing the dragon's power.

The Queen of Westeros, perhaps alarmed by the strength of the North, decreed that the Freys are to be released from House Stark's vassalage and instead be granted a new lord paramouncy.(an empty title for the Trident has stopped existing since the old Queens of the North invaded it and divided it)

At first she refused, but saw that a rebellion would mean the end of House Stark and House Frey, however the Starks are not forgetting those that wrong them easily, Winter will come and when it comes the wolves will howl and feast on the flesh of the dead. Before sending Perwyn back to the Twins, she asked of him one final thing, an oath of fealty to House Stark, infront of the Old Gods and the New, which he accepted and swore on his House... As much as a Frey can be trusted on his words....

The rest of her reign was peaceful in the North and she passed away at the age of fifty-six.

Lady Donella Stark
Donella, Alysane's eldest child and daughter, inherited the Lord Paramouncy of the North and the Wardenship of the North after her death.

At the time of the inheritance, Donella was thirty-six years old and has 5 living children. Her eldest two sons, Torrhen and Jorah, joined the Night's Watch. Her younger two sons are being trained by Donella's halfsister. Her daughter and heir Dacey was raised by Donella herself and recently reached the age of adulthood. Unlike her mother and grandfather, she had no issues with the Northern Houses sworn to House Stark. However she needed that support because the King-Beyond-the-Wall launched an invasion on the Night's Watch, however The Night Watch had not sit idly and enlisted the help of giants to rebuild the Wall, a project that had been going on for years now, making it harder for the Wildlings to overrun the watch. Donella quickly sent ravens and massed an army to march towards Castle Black with haste.... And they were just on time, because when they arrived the King-Beyond-the-Wall had started his attack. However both the Northmen and the men of the Watch were shocked when the wildling army was attacked by the Wights and the Others and got completly slaughtered. Despite that they stayed strong and held their ground, the Others did not attack and disappeared shortly after into the woods. Knowing their existance, she quickly returned back to Winterfell to prepare the North for the worst.

She knew that the realm needed to unite to defeat this common foe, even with the knownledge that realm is nothing more than lords fighting over every single town and village they can get their hands on and with an ignorant King and his incompetent hand ruling over it. Despite that all she made haste to Highgarden to inform the King, however he and his hand dismissed the warnings and called it a fraud....

However the realm had still lords who remember House Stark's words..

House Durrandon, Frey, Brune, Starks of Pyke, House Hightower and House Liddle all joined House Stark's fight for the dawn. The losses were massive, of the thousands of soldiers that marched beyond the wall, only a few returned from it and those that returned were scarred for life with the knownledge that the Others are not a childstory.. but that they are real and they will come back another time to destroy every living being on this good earth unless they are stopped in force again.

With the realm saved from the Others, several lords were rewarded for their participation of it... Except the House that warned them all of the coming danger. Northmen have always had a sense of honour, but it has its limit... And House Gardener has overstepped that line. When the time is right they will pay for everything they have done wrong a million times over, blood will flow like the Trident did during the Massacre at Riverrun.

After that, the North adopted a full policy of isolation, refusing to attend crownations, feasts or whatever else the King invited them to.

Donella passed away at the age of fifty-five, never forgiving House Reyne or House Gardener for their deeds.

Lady Dacey Stark
Dacey, Lady Donella's eldest daughter,inherited the Lord Paramouncy of the North and the Wardenship of the North after her death.

At the time of the inheritance, Dacey was thirty-one years old and had five children, her bastard daughter Barbara "Snow", her heir Arya Stark, her second daughter Kyra Stark, her eldest son Galbert Stark and her youngest son Eddard Stark.

Like her mother, Dacey continued the North's policy and refused to travel south, neither did she pay any taxes to the King and more or less ruled as a Queen of the North. However she did not expect a noble House from the south to travel North.

House Darklyn had fallen low on the King's favour and their lands were divided between the Freys and the Durrandons.Their lord, Damon Darklyn named his reason for exile: "I'd rather go into exile in the North than see my kingdom picked clean by vultures." They were welcomed with open arms in Winterfell, for the Darklyns and Starks and have been friends for ages. White Harbour and its surrounding lands were granted to House Darklyn to serve as their new stronghold.