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. Following the Pact of Ice and Fire, the Starks threw their lot in with the Blacks and supported the succeeding Velaryon kings.

Appearance and Traits
The Starks have a reputation for long faces, brown hair, and grey eyes. Some are known for melancholy and iciness, while others have a wildness sometimes called "wolf blood".

The Starks are known for being honorable and dutiful people. They are dogged in their pursuit of justice and righteousness. The Starks are also said to be prone to magical ability.

Origins and Myths
The Starks of Winterfell are an ancient House claiming descent from King Brandon Stark, called Bran the Builder. Bran the Builder is said to have raised Winterfell, the seat of the Starks, and the Wall, and other legends connect him with Storm's End and the Hightower though the validity of these legends are subject to scrutiny. For eight thousand years the Starks ruled as Kings of Winter, uniting everything south of the Wall and north of the Neck under their banner in that time.

Aegon's Conquest
When Aegon Targaryen and his sister-wives landed on the continent with their dragons, the Starks rallied thirty thousand men under King Torrhen Stark and marched south. As they traveled, the retinue heard tell of horrendous beasts that had burned the combined Lannister and Gardener host on what they were calling the Field of Fire and the burning of Harrenhal. These tales began to grate heavily on the Northmen as they travelled. When the Northmen finally reached the Conqueror and his host, King Torrhen Stark bent the knee to Aegon Targaryen to spare the North the scourge of dragonfire. To this day, he is remembered as the King-Who-Knelt.

The Dance of Dragons
In 129 AC, Lord Cregan Stark agreed to support Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen against her brother. Lord Stark led an army south to reinforce the Blacks that were fighting the war. The Northmen would reinforce the Riverlands force under the Lads and together they would storm King's Landing, which fell with relative ease. Upon Cregan's assumption of control over the capital, so began the Hour of the Wolf, where Lord Stark doled out justice as he saw fit. The Stark arrested and executed many, including Lord Larys Strong and his accomplices (among them Corlys Velaryon).

The remaining Greens surrendered slowly and the Northerners remained in the south for as long as they needed to see the war was won. When victory was complete, Cregan Stark left the south a hero and brought his men back to their homes.

Recent History
The years following the Dance were ones of relative peace for the North and House Stark. Despite the plague and famine that followed the war, House Stark fared better than the southron realms. That is until the events of the War of the Crossing in 190 AC. In short, after a series of tariffs and insults by House Frey and later joined by House Manderly, House Stark led the majority of the North in a war to end the predatory trade practices of Houses Frey and Manderly. For months, the Starks led a siege of White Harbor that saw many casualties as a result of combat, starvation, and disease. In the final effort to take the city, Lord Stark, himself, was captured in the fighting and forced to accept Lord Manderly's terms of peace. The loss of what should have been an easily defeated rebellion was a serious blow to the prestige of House Stark from which they have struggled to recover.

During Lord Darklyn's year-long rebellion, the Starks stayed true to the King and supported him against the rebels. While the Starks were engaged elsewhere, a wildling raider climbed over the Wall and seduced Arnoff Umber. Together, they named themselved King and Queen of Queenscrown with the Gift as their demense. Though their rule was short lived, the betrayal of Arnoff Umber had done damage to the war effort to the south. The Battle of Queenscrown put an end to the folly.