winterstapestry

Rules | Bio | Verses: ASOIAF , AKOSK , HOTD , AUS

The Northmen take the idea of community very seriously as survival is a group effort. The death of one can lead to the death of all in the worst cases.

We can see the evolution of these concepts when comparing the Mountain Clans to the other houses of the North. Of all the peoples of the North the Mountain clans of the Northern Mountains are perhaps the least affected by the march of time. Though called lords, the leaders of these clans are more realistically chieftains. They have no castles, only longhouses and fasts, though some do rival small castles in size. They hold guest right more sacred even than other Northmen and are well known for being the most competitive about being seen as the most gracious. They’re also known for their feuds which the Starks have had to settle countless times through out the years. They do not call their lords “lord” or even “chief/chieftain” or anything similar, instead calling them things like “the Wull”. This applies even outside of the clans as they call the current lord Stark “the Stark”.

Northerners have great skills in basically any craft that can be done inside. Again, thanks to their summer snows and horrific winters which effectively trap them inside for years on end they’ve got to find something to do with their time. Storytelling and music is generally saved for the night or particularly slow days, the rest of the time is taken up with normal life activities and various handcrafts. Generally textile/fibre related, carpentry, whittling, art and a small amount of pottery and metalwork but on a noticeably smaller scale outside of any needed repairs. A good chunk of these crafts are then later sold in the spring and are eagerly sought after, making them one of the more lucrative exports outside of limber and sheep/wool. While they’re happy for the extra money they’re mainly just selling them to get rid of all this extra stuff.

Crafts the North produces when they’re all stuck inside for like, 5 years straight:

Using textiles or leather

Print/pattern making on cloth/paper, Banner-making, Cross-stitch, Crochet, Cord-making, Darning, Embossing leather, Embroidery, Felting, Knitting, Lace-making, Macrame, Millinery (hat making), Needlepoint, Patchwork, Quilting, Ribbon embroidery, Rug making, Saddle making, Sewing generally, Shoe making, Spinning, Tapestry, Weaving

Using wood, metal, clay, bone, horn, glass, or stone

Bead work, Bone carving, Carpentry, Ceramic art, Chip carving, Dollhouse construction and furnishing/scale modeling, Doll making, Enameling and Grisaille, Fretwork, Glass etching, Glassblowing, Jewelry design, Lapidary, Marquetry, Metalwork, Mosaics, Pottery, Repoussé and chasing (embossing metal), Sculpture, Silversmithing, Stained glass, Toy making, Wood burning, Woodworking generally

Using paper or similar

Assemblage, Bookmaking, Calligraphy, Paper craft, Paper making, Papier-mâche

Most major settlements in the North have an undercity/tunnel system like we see at Castle of Black and Mole’s town and for the same practical reasons there — to get around the place in the middle of winter without losing fingers to frostbite. Winterfell is the exception. Because of its place seated over a hot spring digging under it is a bit of a complex feat. Instead Winterfell and Winter Town have a mix of above ground and below ground connector tunnels/passages.

All major castles that are used as winter settlements have greenhouses like the one at Winterfell with that one being the biggest, most advanced and most impressive ones. Greenhouses and related technology like heating systems are one of the areas where the North is more advanced than the South for obvious reasons. Not only do they use the heat of the sun to help warm the greenhouses they also use a radiant floor heating system like ondol from Korea which was also used in greenhouses as we’ve seen in 14th century manuscripts. The idea is that a small fire is made near the building and then the chimney is a long series of tunnels/pipes in the ground under it and the heat of it radiates up. The amount of wood and fire need is extremely small and in the context of the North they’ve absolutely gotten it down to the smallest amount and with the maximum interval between them. They also add to this a cauldron of water to increase the heat and humidity.

Castles and such all over the North use variations of this kind of fire/smoke based radiant heating system save for Winterfell which uses the heat and steam of the hot springs to do the same job. The North also has some of the best understanding of things like insulation and layering of materials and the way they build is unique to them and not seen in other kingdoms. Roofs in the North are intensely steeped to keep the snow from piling too much and collapsing the building. The walls have multiple layers both for strength and heat retention. All entry points from the outside have two sets of doors, like an airlock, to try and keep as much cold out.

The rights of women in the North are a mixed, unequal thing and heavily effected by pragmatism and necessity. Generally a woman’s status is decided by the status of her closest living male relative — be that husband, father, son or brother. This status would decide how much they would get in terms of legal rights. The higher up the social structure the more rights women had, though generally still with caveats. However some things are more general or a little more complex than simply hierarchical.

For example, women were not considered the property of their father or husband but they also can not enter contracts without a male co-signer and can only give testimony in limited circumstances. Women also have a say in who they marry and cannot be made to marry someone they don’t want to. This naturally gets more complicated in real life than it is on paper. Even while her status was tied to that of her closest male kin, a woman was still able to improve her own social status via hard work, education and skill. Women who gained a social status higher than her male kin are then able to act independently according to that high status.

Property and jobs

Men and women maintain separate property even after marriage and women can have businesses of their own and keep the profits of it under their own power. Usually their businesses are related to the industries that are already considered women’s work like weaving. While rare, women are able to become bards, doctors, religious figures, etc.

Women can inherit property and titles, however they tend to inherit less property than any male siblings/co-inheritors and usually they only inherit a title when there are no viable male options. Still, the positioning of a woman as the head of the house is not quite as unheard of as it would be down south, though there will still be plenty of pushback and attempts to marry her for it. After her death, her children do not necessarily immediately inherit her property and title. If she was made the lady of a household because at the time there were no males higher/available but now after her death there are, those men have a very strong case to inherit the title and associated property.

Women’s personal property can not be taken from them by others legally outside of punishments.

Education

While not exactly encouraged (and in fact maybe a bit discouraged) women do have access to higher education and apprenticeship. Again this all comes back to the Northern sense of pragmatism. Why lament the lack of a son if you have a perfectly good daughter who’s able to learn the family business? There is a real mindset of not letting things go to waste which includes people. This allows women access to at least some of the same opportunities as men to educate themselves though not many will go through with it.

Related to this, the North thinks it’s a bit odd that no women can be maesters since it seems like a waste of those who are well suited to the role. They find ways around this ban by ordering maesters to basically give a girl well suited for the job the same education they had or having them apprentice with a bard who studied at the citadel if they want her to have that specific skillset and not just that of a bard. Generally the North sees jobs like maester as well suited for women since they’re generally not physically demanding and put women in a support position.

Self Defense and Combat

The further you go to the far north and west of the kingdom, into the lands more likely to be raided by Wildings or Ironborn the more freedoms and responsibilities women tend to have. This comes from the pragmatic need to have women be able to defend themselves and their homes from these raiders who might try to steal them and their valuables, and so that they can efficiently run things and make important decisions at home without being questioned or undermined.

Most women of the west and far north know basic self defense even if they do not choose to pursue it as a skill past that. Female warriors are still very rare but they’re not quite as bizarre there as they would be considered in the South. At least if she’s from those heavily raided areas like Bear Island, the more eastern or southern the woman the more odd it seems.

Marriage

One of the areas where the North is much different than other places in Westeros, and which can lead to political issues with other kingdoms, is in marriage.

A Northern women is able to leave her husband with more ease than anywhere else in the Seven kingdoms save maybe Dorne. This is another ancient First Men practice which, while there are differences, they still share to this day with the Wildlings. There are two ways a divorce can be had, the first one is that there is a day once a year where either one or both parties decide to get a divorce with no consequence and the two parties separate. The second is that one party comes before the local lord or bard and says they want a divorce for one of the accepted reasons on a list — infertility, abuse, bad money management etc. The lord or bard then goes through the process of verifying the claims and disentangling the assets of the couple in keeping with the results of those findings. Ex. A woman divorcing her husband because he’s a drunk who’s never around is likely going to get much more out of the shared assets than he is since she was the more respectable party.

Women also tend to have more of a say in who they marry and ostensibly cannot be forced into a marriage against their will, the act of doing so making the whole thing immediately invalid. How this all works out in reality is more grey and while a woman might technically agree to a marriage on her own power it’s not impossible there might have been some help to get there.

This idea of divorce of course becomes trickier and more just an option in theory with the nobility, as so many of their marriages are political. The usual solution in those cases is separation, with the two parties simply living apart but remaining married in the eyes of the law to maintain the alliance. However should the husband prove to be say, violent/cruel/deeply mistreating her in some fashion, it is possible for her to petition the current Lord Stark for a divorce and/or protection. Naturally men are able to also petition for divorce but that’s not really as impressive.

An alternative to the couple living separately would be for the woman or man to marry someone else in the other family that they might find more agreeable to maintain the alliance. And naturally basically all bets are off if say, a couple had sworn eternal fealty and love before a weirwood. Then you’re on your own and no divorce law can save you. This is why the North tends to use very specific language for marriage vows when that marriage is before a weirwood (which is most of them). It is said that forcing people into taking marriage vows before a heart tree will lead to calamity for all involved.

There has also traditionally been a history of polygamy in the North though that has completely fallen out of favor below the Wall now. These marriages related strongly to politics and alliance making. A king or lord would have their primary wife and then some amount of other wives who usually had some kind of contract or promise related to them being there. This now only crops up in stories, histories and the more archaic laws.

Their conception of marriage is part of the reason why there have been so few political marriages between the Northern and Southern powers. Their ideas of marriage are so radically different it can make negotiating one very difficult. Many southerners mistrust marriage alliances with the North since they feel the marriage can be dissolved too easily. Northerners also dislike the southern concept of being basically trapped married to someone you hate who’s totally useless for your whole life.

Social Roles

Women also tend to be seen as equal and important figures when it comes to social or household matters. Women are traditionally seen as the ones in charge of the hearth and home and because of that have a right to be consulted by their husband on all matters as his decisions could impact the wellbeing of her homestead. Women have a serious hand in the winter preparations and keeping the peace during them as they’re the primary producers of fabric and are already tasked with keeping households in line. The word of a lady said in the name of her husband when he is away is law and can only be overturned by him or whoever he has publicly made his proxy in his absence.

Generally, lord and lady will work in tandem to ensure stores are full and buildings sound for the winter but when the lords eyes must turn to other matters the lady will stick closely to the winter preparation and relay important developments to her husband. Women are also the first defense against social issues deepening during the winter when everyone is stuck together. Their job is to monitor everything and try to spot the first signs of discontent or bad feelings and find a way to resolve them before it has to be brought up the chain to the lady and then finally, her husband.

A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS

Lyarra is a member of the Stark family, how she fits in exactly is a bit loose since the layout of the family in this time period isn't the most solid.

Lyarra is a bard which in the North means she's basically a maester with a minor in performing arts (more on that here). While she loves her family and the North she chose to go south for the sake of research so she could better council on how to deal with southern lords and politics. Thanks to the timing some of her relatives took her educational grand tour as an opportunity to do things like go to tourneys as they "escort" her, which is how they ended up in Ashford.

After witnessing that fiasco Lyarra continues on her study of the other kingdoms.

During this time she is chronicling the entire journey and engaging in proto-anthropology and proto-sociology. Basically she's trying to understand and record things impartially even if these people are all fucking weird as shit.

In this context her facial scar would most likely either be from a hunting incident or — if it gels/works with other people's lore — from getting clocked by one of Areion's guards at the puppet show because she too is a fucking idiot.

Offered to be Dunk's legal council only that shit when to court in the fucking thunderdome sorry buddy.

The Old Tongue is still the dominant language of the North with Common only really spoken by those who have reason to interact often with southerners. The populations that can speak common are found at Bear Island, Mole’s Town, The Wall, Winterfell, White Harbor and around the Neck. There are now different dialects or variations of the Old Tongue which are spoken and are all largely comprehensible to each other — if only just in some cases.

High Tongue — the tongue used most by nobles, maesters and the like but is also very situational. Largely grew out of a response to the need to have specific language for court and academics. It is also the one most heavily linked with writing as the need to be able to communicate with the southern kingdoms and have records maesters could actually read forced them into reevaluating their writing system and adopting the southern one to suit their use. On the whole their alphabet is now largely the same as the one used for Common but with a few tweaks here or there. More static than Low Tongue. Low Tongue — the most basic form south of the Wall, used by basically everyone, even nobles. It is the normal natural evolution of the language from when the first people settled in the North. Uses the same alphabet as High Tongue though it’s rarely needed since the majority of speakers are illiterate. Marsh Tongue — the language of the Crannogmen, basically just Low Tongue with regional variations. Kinda somewhere between a dialect and the situation with Norwegian and Danish where they are totally comprehensible to each other but also still noticeably different. Wildling Tongue — A catch-all for the variations of the Old Tongue spoken above the Wall. Some of them are comprehensible to Northerners but some are completely alien now. Generally the languages spoken closer to the Wall are the more understandable while the ones of the further or more isolationist groups are harder. Though some like the Thenns are actually reasonably understandable to the average Northerner as they’re using an older form of the language instead of a heavily altered one.

The culture and tongue of the First Men is alive and well in the North thanks to the difficulty of getting there and lower amount of Andal population. To say that though requires a bit of an asterisk and explanation. By the time we get to 300AC there are only 5 solidly first men cultures left — the Crannogmen, the Ironborn, the Free Folk, the Mountain Clans in the Vale, and the Northerners. Inside these groups are even more specific cultures but they all tend to fall loosely in these categories. (This is of course working on the theory that the Ironborn ARE First Men and not somehow from some other peoples yet discovered since there’s a little bit of contention around it in universe)

In the 8 to 12 thousand years since the First Men settled Westeros there has was large amounts of regional evolution that created a diverse ecosystem of varieties to that original First Men culture. The effects of the different environments they chose to settle in and their experiences made these groups very distinct.Then 8 to 6 thousand years after that the Andals invaded Westeros and converted or killed much of the First Men of the south, essentially leaving only those who were too geographically difficult to get too —like the isolated Iron born and Mountain Clans — as the last First Men cultures largely untouched by Andal influence.

Culturally and linguistically these peoples are all now very different with very little in common outside of maybe an old word or minor tradition. There is something of a spectrum to this as there is some cultural overlap between the Northmen and the Crannogmen, and the Mountain Clans have more in common with the other cultures on Westeros proper than they do with the Ironborn. In fact, reminding the Ironborn and the Northerners that they’re from the same roots would probably not be welcomed.

Loosely speaking, the First Men groups with the most affinity to each other are the Crannogmen, Northerners and Free Folk — likely because of their geographical closeness to each other and the fact that the Free Folk are at least in part an offshoot group of the Northerners that formed approximately when the Wall went up. The Crannogmen and Northerners are symbiotic, the Crannogmen guard the way to the North and the North supply them with resources their marsh lands cannot provide and protection when needed. They are also bound in faith, as both were part of the Pact made with the Children of the Forest, like many of the Free Folk as well, and have taken on the faith of the indigenous people.

The North has the distinction of being the oldest kingdom to stand unconquered in Westeros for the longest period of time just after Dorne. Which also joined the Kingdoms in a less standard way than the rest had. In fact, while Tohrren Stark bent the knee to Aegon, nothing for the North actually changed all that much save perhaps some taxes and titles. With their kingdom so removed from the throne and their general disinterest in the bulk of Southron goings on, there was little monitoring or contact by the Crown. They fulfilled their requirements and didn’t cause trouble and thus where left unspoiled.

It shows in their culture which has evolved naturally, only taking in nominal amounts of Andal influence over thousands of years, none of which has truly found footing. The Seven have been in Westeros for thousands of years but there was never a Sept in Winterfell until roughly 286AC when Eddard Stark built one for his wife Catelyn who was originally from the highly Andal Riverlands. Knights in the North are an oddity and Tourneys are either frowned upon as pointless pageantry or violent melees as opposed to anything seen in the South.

For various reasons many of the practices of the North have been altered, toned down or removed completely. The major factors have usually been simply the slow changing of the times, shifting of people’s interest/attitudes/social mores and pragmatism. It’s rare for one of their traditions to be swiftly and forcibly changed. The only time on record that this has happened is during the reign of King Jaeherys I, when the practices of First Night — where a Lord had the right to the wedding bed and the bride of any couple on their first night married— and the practice of hanging the bodies of criminals and traitors in the branches of weirwoods and disembowling them, stringing their guts along the branches as well, were both abolished by royal decree.

This did not endear the Targaryens to the Northerners at all, nor did the mandatory donation of the New Gift — a large tract of land just below the Wall— to the Night’s Watch. While opinions on First Night and its removal were mixed, the meddling of a southern power in their religious practices sparked an immediate outrage and gained the crown a massive amount of blowback. King Jaeherys, but especially his Queen Alysanne who’d pushed for its banning, had to work hard to try and find a middle ground that would appease the North men and quell the potential rumors of the Targaryens trying to dismantle the religion and convert them to the Faith of the Seven which would absolutely spark a rebellion.

Eventually an agreement was struck, the Northerners could still preform the sacrificial rite on the worst of their criminals (kinslayers, breakers of guest right, etc) but any time they wanted to preform it outside of this context, say a holy day, they would have to substitute out a man with an animal. While the North agreed to this they did find loophole after a while— consenting sacrifices. While rare, during special events and certain holy days some will submit to being a willing sacrifice to the Old Gods. As they’re willing and knowing participants the Crown can’t do anything about it without absolutely sparking unrest in the North. A similar loophole was found with the First Night but that tradition has also just generally seen a certain amount of natural drop off thanks to the law against it giving it a certain stigma.

They are also much more serious in their belief in magic, superstition and the supernatural compared to the rest of Westeros. They believe in tales like the Long Night and in the various beings that live beyond the Wall. They believe any vow made in front of a weirwood is supernaturally sealed and to break it will bring disaster. To lie in front of a heart tree is a sin and will bring down ruin on you. Skinchangers and greenseers are somewhat rarer now below the Wall but still looked at with a mix of fear and awe. Greenseers are considered weird and spooky and there is a superstition that if they chose say you’re doomed it will make it so. Skinchangers are seen as inherently dangerous as their animals. However they are also seen as being blessed by the Old Gods and so are given a certain amount of respect and deference.

It’s traditions like this that help create the image of frozen wind burned primitive savages to the Southerners of Westeros. The North is anything but primitive however. While not as developed as some of the other kingdoms in certain categories, the North has a rich and complex culture and politics that can be just as challenging as any southern cloak and dagger show.

Northern culture and identity is strongly based in survival and community. It can snow even in the summer there and with winters that can go on for years and create snow drifts taller than villages, unity is a necessity for survival. While guest rights are important and practiced all over Westeros, they are absolutely sacred in the North were Lords will compete to be seen as the most generous and giving shelter can save thousands of lives. Many of the castles of the North are built with this in mind and are overly large compared to their actual needs even by the standards of Westeros. This is explicitly so that in the winter the local small folk can gather there to wait out winter. Every Northern castle is essentially a city built to take on populations in the thousands for years at a time.

Another key cultural aspect is that the North has produced some of the best storytellers and bards in all of Westeros despite whatever the Reach says. In fact, the word “bard” that is used throughout all of Westeros is a loan word from the Old Tongue and the tradition as we know it now is one of the few (perhaps only) cultural exports from the North.

With so much time spent forcibly in doors even in the summer the Northerners have had to find countless ways to occupy and entertain themselves. Some of the most obvious are storytelling and music. Storytellers do not need to be musical but all bards are. Storytelling is something anyone can participate in and everyone is encouraged to join in. The only limits to it are imagination and good sense. The storytelling can take various forms — competitions, collaborations, groups were multiple stories are serialized and each person has their own night to present the next part of theirs, tales that are told by one person over multiple nights with the goal of keeping it going as long as possible, and many more variations. Everything is decided by the desires of the Tellers and the audience. When it is time for a story to be told, everyone from the highest lord to the lowest of the small folk are equal and even a lord can get boo’d for a piss poor narrative.

Not to diminish these storytellers but Bards are a profession unto themselves. Most storytellers have other duties and in the summers fully return to their true trade if they were not able to continue it during the winter. Bards however, make their living wholly on their songs and related skills. Before the North had maesters it was the bard that filled their role and even now the two tend to share a joint office. The duty of a bard was not just to entertain the masses huddling together during the long dark winters of the North, but also to record memories of the people. They memorized and tracked the genealogies, histories, laws and decisions of kings and lords. Their songs and poems were not just to amuse, but to help convey these things along with cultural values and truths. All noble houses of the North have a bard and eagerly accept traveling ones into their homes.

While over time the North has seen the usefulness of maesters, the bard has not lost their place in Northern culture. For some it comes from distrust. While they might acknowledge the use of a maester’s skill, they’re leery of their southerness and doubt the idea that they’ve truly forsaken their old loyalties. For some it comes from a love of tradition and their native culture. For some it’s because there are some things that regardless of a maester’s skill and wit that can only be understood by northmen and so the bard is the obvious council. Some houses will split the difference and have youths training to be a bard sent to the Citadel and have them then return just shy of taking their oaths to serve as bard and maester.

As the religion of the Old Gods has no priests, scriptures or real teachings they do not have nearly as many feasts, celebrations and holy days as others do. Any holy days they have are related to seasonal or natural events such as seasonal changes, harvests, astrological events, the turning over of a new year etc. Most feasts and celebrations in the North are secular and have a certain amount of pragmatism to them. Despite preservation, some food can only last so long with the tools they have on hand so these events were a good way to use up things that were coming to the end of their shelf life that otherwise might have gone to waste.

They are also a way of getting the various peoples from across the massive and sparsely populated land all together (within reason) and create a sense of community. Lords will come up with whatever reason to hold a feast or dance or melee or community event and give everyone something to enjoy with a handful being held consistently “because we always have one around then”. These events lack the pomp and circumstance of southern events, feasts tend to be just a Big Ole Dinner with Good Tunes and melees are rowdy bloodbaths only a step under a real battle, and generally just excuses to get absolutely sloshed. These are also one of the ways a lord can show how magnanimous and how good of a host he is. It also gives them an opportunity to show how effective a protector and provider they are to their people and to the Warden of the North as everyone can see their warriors fight and the bounty of their tables.

When it comes to sports and activities, the Northmen prefer activities that are either partially practical, in that it includes a useful skill or purpose or that is exceedingly rowdy. Wrestling, fighting, game ball, hammer throwing, log tossing, and similar sports were all regularly enjoyed by all classes. Hunting however has a special place in the Northerners heart and is one of the few sports outside of things like horseshoes women can engage in. Hunting, wrestling and melees all have the power to turn Northerners into the worst kind of drunken sports fan.

A noble’s hunt up North is treated differently than it is in the South. There’s decidedly less pomp as is the usual case with the North but there’s also generally more competition. Unlike in the South where an entire hunt can be a whole team of people doing all the work so a lord can swoop in for an easy kill, the Northern nobles are expected to actually find the damn thing and kill it themselves. There’ll be a certain amount of aid allowed or expected — dogs and a kennel master, that sort of thing — but generally the whole point is to work for it and in turn earn huge bragging rights after. A hunter’s bragging rights are massive. People know their scores and talk about it like they’re building their fantasy football team.

v : gen / modern / the film depicted william defeating the english at sterling bridge with a combination of facepaint and extreme whittling.

A history major at [whichever prestigious uni is most useful to facilitate plotting]. She runs a podcast similar to “Weird Medieval Guys” or “Cunk on Britain” where she talks about real history in dumb and funny ways. She still helps a lot at the family businesses which usually involves something very outdoorsy since their father believes in being hands on despite how wealthy they are. Is planning for a PHD since she has no actually marketable skills outside of organization and terrorizing people into submission. Ran an online criminal empire off of Webkinz as a child without even realizing it was illegal, would consider doing it again now that she does (she’s thought about it and her business model was sloppy and she could do better).

v : gen / urban fantasy / death and the wolf. The catch all for all supernatural based crossovers like tvd/iwtv/etc. Largely the same as her normal modern verse but in this one she's aware of the supernatural and is a werewolf and witch (well, necromancer mainly) herself.

v : au / ameliaverse / a star in her constellation.

based in @wornkindness 's lore and can also act as a fantasy verse less tied up in a the aso.iaf crap. Oldest daughter of King Avery’s most trusted advisor lord Edward Stark, Lyarra is one of Princess Amelia’s Ladies in Waiting. She and Amelia have been friends their whole lives, making her an obvious choice for one of the princesses most trusted assistants.

v : au / vikings + tlk / the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Lyarra is the eldest daughter of a lord from Scotland/Northern England (variable by timeline and context) who's family was lost in conflict between them and one of their neighboring lords, the Boltons, who craved power. So she agrees to join forces with the vikings in their campaign against the English so long as they help her get revenge.

v : au / dragon age / voice of the avvar.

A mage from one of the tribes in the Frostback Mountains. After an inter-tribe conflict decimates her family and forces her to find allies outside of the Basin which leads to her joining the Inquisition. Lyarra is a necromancer, as well as the occasional host for a spirit of Wisdom she's been good friends with since it possessed her for her training. She allows the spirit to enter her so it can learn more about the material world. She joins the war against Solas on the side of Solas.

Lyarra is the daughter of Bennard Stark, Cregan Stark’s uncle who he imprisoned after conflicts around succession along with her brothers. Lyarra herself was not imprisoned in part because of her gender and because of misgivings she had about her father’s actions. Lyarra feels torn between her duties to Cregan and the North and her love and duties as a daughter and sister. Lyarra believes that if she proves herself useful and loyal she might be able to gain some clemency for her family, even if it means they’re only sent to the Wall it would be better than them rotting in a cell.

In this universe Lyarra is far more outdoorsy and still studying to be a bard, this time with no discussion as to whether or not she’ll get married after. In fact, there’s a bit of interest that she doesn’t given the tension between the sides of the family. Here her facial scar is a product of an accident that occurred when her family was taken. She was jostled/shoved around in the commotion and fell into the mantle, striking her face on the stone and splitting it open.

Lyarra's age in this verse is very maliable given I don't have any canonical ages for the brothers to bounce off of. The range is defaults to something like late teens to 30s. It very much depends on things like how people handle the timeline (books vs show etc) and how Bennard and his sons are handled, either just in RP Lore or in the show if we get there.

Options:

v : hotd / blacks / prisoner to love and duty. Lyarra like all the Starks is a supporter of the Blacks and is doing whatever Cregan tells her to do for the cause.

VERSES BY BOOK

v : asoiaf / agot / first goal of a hunt : separate the pack.

Lyarra goes south with her father and sisters and has the worst time ever. She sends her direwolf, Night, to go up to the wall with Jon.

v : asoiaf / acok / a beaten dog has no loyalty. Lyarra is held captive along with her younger sister Sansa by the Lannisters, doing her best to shield her from as much as possible but her efforts only go so far. She urges Sansa to err on the side of self-preservation and caution as she frantically looks to find allies. Eventually her prayers are met when Lorr Lightfingers approaches her in secret with an offer to help her and her sister escape Kings Landing. Desperate, and trusting her gut that he’s not a complete monster, she accepts and planning goes into overdrive. At the Battle of the Blackwater they seize the opportunity and make the escape, their effort helped by Yrre Stone, some of his men and other Lorr found such as Milot Clereband. They then make their way up the country Lyarra going by “Jenny/Jenny Grey” when necessary to obfuscate what kind of party they really are. To that end they generally allow any misinterpretations, rumors, etc to survive and provide more cover to their purpose. Eventually she does make it back to Robb and Catelyn at River Run and reunites. However she has little interest in hanging back after all she’s been through and demands to actively aid and serve her brother in whatever ways she can. Given her increased skill in combat and the shadier end of problem solving on the way there, that and giving counsel tends to be where her serve lies. [ Trigger warning for Rape/Assault: early into their time crossing the country on of the group that smuggled her out attempts to rape her one night. He is quickly stopped and murdered by Yrre, which cements his place as Lyarra’s other advisor along side Lorr and his place as her bodyguard. ] (I tend to default to Sansa not making it out with them to preserve Sansa's arc)

v : asoiaf / asos / cut off a wolf’s head and it can still bite.

Lyarra manages to escape death herself by sheer chance. While Lyarra is thrown nearly off the edge by the sight of her mother and Robb being murdered, her men evacuate her and later, Yrre and a few others track down Robb and Grey Wind’s bodies after and take them to be cleaned, Catelyn however they were unable to recover. Shaken, Lyarra declares herself queen to try and keep things together as much as possible and heads North with his bones to consolidate what’s left of the army, recoup and plan the North’s next move. She spends some time with Howland Reed when they reach the Neck and leaves Robb’s Bones with him for safekeeping until she can be sure Winterfell is secure. (Alternatively: She's aware of Robb’s will either because she was there or by being informed of it by Howland, so she knows that Robb legitimized Jon and made him his heir and supports the choice. So she doesn't declare herself queen but uses Jon as a figurehead to rally behind while she sends someone up to talk to him.)

v : asoiaf / affc + adwd / lean times breed strange unions. Lyarra is conspiring with the Ironborn lead by Maron Greyjoy (azmenka) to gain independence for their two kingdoms as well as trying to contact her brother Jon at the Wall after seeing strange things through Night's eyes.

v : asoiaf / twow / the cold is hateful. it kills all.

[elevator music]

v : asoiaf / ados / peace watered with blood. The way if I have to write up all this shit right now I'll kill someone

v : asoiaf / post-series / the great pillar in the north. Lyarra is the Queen of the North and rules as a lone "chaste" queen with no consort. She has two sons by Maron Greyjoy, Torrhen and Vickon, which is the worst kept secret in the North.

IN SERIES TIMELINE AUS

Basics Name: Lyarra Stark II Aliases: Jenny, Jenny Grey, The Black Wolf, The Black Bitch, the She-Wolf Age: verse dependent Born: 283 AC, Riverrun Gender: female Sexuality: bisexual

Physical Height: 5ft6in / 1.6m Hair: Black Eyes: Dark grey, almost black Faceclaim(s): Mariya Andreeva, Emma Appleton, Alicia Agneson, Laura Berlin, Adelaine Kane, Mikey Madison Hand: right handed Cultural Race: First Men Culture: Northern Animal: Night, Direwolf Profession: Bard, cutthroat, lady, queen Titles: Princess, Lady of Winterfell

Family Dynasty: House Stark Consorts: None Issue: Torrhen Stark III, Vickon Stark

Premise: Robb's Twin sister who wants nothing more than to be a scholar but is forced by circumstance to become a ye olde black ops guy and the Northern CIA. Big Old Gods Stan. Skinchanger.

Inspirations: Sabriel from the Old Kingdom/Abhorsen Series, Irish folklore, wailing/washer women and the Morrigan, Liadan from the Sevenwaters Series, Boudicca, Joan of Arc, Gráinne Ní Mháille, Elanor Lamb from Bioshock 2, Emily Kaldwin from Dishonored 2

Themes & tropes: eerie pale-skinned brunette / chaos and order / action survivor / silk hiding steel / broken bird / combat pragmatist / the banshee

Personality

Bad experiences with people like that with the lord’s son and her general lack of broad socialization have left her generally mistrustful of new people and her fear of marriage is just that in its most extreme form. Lyarra struggles with placing trust or showing vulnerability with people she doesn’t know. She tends to struggle immensely with giving control over her own life/wellbeing when it’s not family (and sometimes even then). It gets worse after her captivity. From then on, the idea becomes totally intolerable to her. As she ages and things go downhill Lyarra goes from being cautious to paranoid. What was normal anxiety over relationships and marriage escalated after her treatment in Kings Landing and exposure sexual violence/general violence after into a full-blown phobia.

Outside of this Lyarra is a very thoughtful and considerate person. She works to be kind and mindful and has a pretty good sense of humor for someone who could not inaccurately called “dour”. She is very much cut from the same cloth as her father and half-brother, dutiful, humble, brooding and stubborn to a fault. She is dedicated and religious, becoming even more so as things worsen. Lyarra is a stalwart follower of the Old Gods and becomes even more devoted as things fall apart. While she believes in things like magic and visions and the power of oaths before the weirwood she is hesitant to put all her trust into obtuse symbolism and vague messages.

While Lyarra is mistrusting of strangers she is not cruel or rude to people she doesn’t know, she’s simply very closed off and functions on politeness/decorum/duty.

Character Notes:

☸︎ She has a scar on her face that arcs from her cheekbone to her chin and bissects the right side of her mouth.

☸︎ Lyarra is extremely afraid of the ocean/deep water/sailing/boats/ the Ironborn (anyone who worships the ocean is an absolute maniac)

History

Lyarra is the eldest daughter of Eddard and Catelyn Stark and the twin of Robb Stark. With the only children close to her age and station being her brothers Robb and Jon and Theon Greyjoy, the Stark’s ward, Lyarra spent most of her early years playing with them whether they wanted her to or not. She was loud, willful, outdoorsy and loved playing games like knights. At this time in her life, she was not unlike her aunt Lyanna and younger sister Arya — a notorious tomboy. However, this side of her died she was 8 and Jon was blamed for her bad behavior. Annoyed with a visiting lord’s son (who was admittedly a little shit), Lyarra sneak attacked him with a broom and beat him up. The lord’s son, too embarrassed to admit she’d been the one to hurt him, pointed the finger at the bastard son as a safe and believable alternative.

She was utterly horrified that no one seemed to believe her when she told them she’d done it. The fact Jon was punished for her actions, even if lightly, was traumatizing for her and she gave up on everything she felt was related to her crime against Jon. This meant that she shut down a whole side of herself, trampling her wild spirit, and abandoning all her former passions, save archery which she was convinced to keep when her family saw how intensely she was punishing herself. (I’ll note that Eddard understood something was up but like, Politics. It got complicated.)

For her that event was her first real disillusionment with the world. While there had always been tension with her mother around Jon’s presence at Winterfell, she had never really understood the differences between them. She had also never really understood the differences in gender or rank, nor the effect of politics, until that event. Some of the major lessons she learned was that sometimes the truth simply doesn’t matter, that liars are potentially everywhere, and people might get away with really bad things. Because of this eye-opening experience Lyarra began to reevaluate things and ask questions, becoming more critical about what people told her.

After giving up much of her rowdier activities, Lyarra turned all of her attention onto her education. Something her parents ended up encouraging with much more enthusiasm than her old hobbies. Of all the Stark children Lyarra is the one with the most passion for learning and knowledge. Even at a young age she pestered maester Luwin and the Winterfell bard into expanding what she would be normally taught until her lessons included more than even the boys’ did. She still learned what was expected of a lady but added onto that topics set by her own ever broadening interests, ranging from medicine to magic. Still, it wasn’t possible for her to completely kill the wild streak in her. Her “wolf blood” as the Starks call it, found an outlet in her love of learning and was the driving force behind many a late-night raid of the library for books she wasn’t allowed to read or dangerous explorations of Winterfell done for “research purposes”. Nor was she always good at keeping her mouth shut when she saw something she didn’t think was very fair.

While she’s never outwardly admitted to it, Lyarra is deeply afraid of marriage for a multitude of reasons. Every time she considered the prospect of marriage, she found a new thing to be terrified of. So, she avoided the thought of it as much as possible growing up by tending to her younger siblings, her studies, and what outdoor activities she still allowed herself. As she grew and her anxieties deepened, she became more and more resentful that she couldn’t become a maester. But Lyarra was nothing if not resourceful and determined, so she began a campaign to convince her parents to let her study to become a bard, a similar position to a maester in the North that women could become. While there was nothing that prohibits bards from marrying, the apprenticeship would mean that any plans for her getting married would be further put off. Her father indulged her and let Lyarra study to become a bard, seeing no harm in extra education. So, at about the age of 13 Lyarra started to officially apprentice under the Bard of Winterfell.

A Game of Thrones

Between her parents there was still debate over just how long she should be indulged. That argument was put on hold with the coming of the King to Winterfell. Eventually it was decided that Lyarra would go with her father and sisters to help them get the other children settled and to learn about the South for her apprenticeship then return after about 6 months or so to help her mother and brother rule in Winterfell. Lyarra sent her dire wolf, Night, up to the Wall with Jon where Lyarra felt she would do better than down south. She urged her sisters to leave their dire wolves at home, without much success. During the trip south Lyarra became more and more suspicious and distrusting of the southerners, finding many to not be very good people. Her mistrust solidified with the execution of Lady and from that moment on she took a very defensive stance against people who she felt were the enemies of their family (namely: Cersei, Joffery, anyone who lied, was underhanded, cheated etc.). While her primary duties revolved around the care of her sisters and her education, Lyarra also became closer with her father as she tried to support him as he took on the role of Hand. She could tell something was increasingly wrong but snooping around his papers and eavesdropping only got her so far. She only really began to understand what was going on around the time Eddard was stabbed in the thigh by Jaime. At that point the goals and priorities of the family begin to switch rapidly, and Eddard places an increasing amount of responsibility on her as he preps to send the girls away and confront Cersei about her bastards. She begs her father to just come with them, but it proves fruitless, just as the attempts to get her sisters out prove fruitless. She and Sansa are taken captive by the Lannisters and her father is executed.

A Clash of Kings

Lyarra is held captive along with her younger sister Sansa by the Lannisters, doing her best to shield her from as much as possible but her efforts only go so far. Lyarra herself is a target for abuse in her own right and is at times subjected to her own vicious beatings. While Sansa is seen as more manipulable, Lyarra having been her father’s confidant and Robb’s twin, is considered far more criminal. During this period as part of her “punishment” her hair is crudely cut, and she gains her facial scar — a result of being backhanded by a gauntlet. She urges Sansa to err on the side of self-preservation and caution as Lyarra frantically attempts to find allies in a last act of desperation to try and get them out. Eventually her prayers are met when Lorr Lightfingers, a thief and spy in the (now former) employ of Littlefinger, approaches her in secret with an offer to help her and her sister escape Kings Landing. Desperate, and trusting her gut that he’s not a complete monster, she accepts, and planning goes into overdrive.

Lorr secures Yore Stone and his mercenary band for the attempt and while there were plans in place everyone seizes on the opportunity given by the Battle of the Blackwater. They then make their way up the country Lyarra going by “Jenny/Jenny Grey” when necessary to obfuscate what kind of party they really are. To that end they generally allow any misinterpretations, rumors, etc. to survive and provide more cover. Eventually she does make it back to Robb and Catelyn at River Run and reunites. However, she has little interest in hanging back after all she’s been through and demands to actively aid and serve her brother in whatever ways she can. That desire starts conflict with her and everyone but her education, time spent with the Lannisters, and firsthand experience with subterfuge and violence make it so she can force Robb and the council’s hand. While she acts predominately as an advisor, she also works with Lorr and Yrre to press for intelligence and more underhanded tactics, something which occasionally means she is out in the field.

Train. 21+. THEY/THEM. EST. 

𝐈. 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋    This is an rp blog for LYARRA STARK an original character based primarily in the ASOIAF verse but with verses for other settings.

Even in ASOIAF canon I end to write Lyarra as older than she, Robb and Jon would canonically be at the start of AGOT. Both to make things less dicey rping-wise and also to compensate for the fact than when GRRM made all the kids so young at the start because he planned to have a timeskip which was then abandoned. So she's usually starting off at something like 16-18 or so depending on how I have to do the math.

𝐈𝐈. 𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆    Please be over 18, ideally 21+, as I will not rp with minors. I’m a mutuals exclusive blog – meaning that I’m only interested in rping with people I’m mutually following. I’m extremely open to crossovers and OCs. It can take me a sec to go and look through blogs and their pages before following back so give it a little.

𝐃𝐍𝐈  If you have a “Billy Hargrove DNI” in your rules please do not follow me. I rp him elsewhere and given how heated people get over him it’s deeply uncomfortable to be in a position where you seem to have someone make a value judgment about you as a real ass person but then still want to play with your toys when it works for them. And all because you thought a fictional character from a mid ass Netflix show was Kinda Fun.

𝐈𝐈𝐈. 𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 I don't have time for it. Unless someone is a legit danger or a terrible person I do not give a fuck about how supposedly problematic they are. I don't care about callout culture or the laws of "acceptable" fcs, or if this or that is problematic. Like the whole point of fiction is to navigate these topics. This is especially relevant here as I have no time or interest in dealing with people who move in the fandom spaces of asoiaf and similar media but cannot actually deal with what that entails.

𝐈𝐕. 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆    I write everything from one liners to multi-paragraph. I don’t require anyone to change their style to meet mine nor do I require my length matched. I only ever ask that what I’m given is legible and gives me something to work with as a jumping off point for a reply. 

𝐕. 𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆    This is a blog that will be geared more towards plotting or at least a kind of cohesive storytelling, where the events/effects of one thread directly effecting other threads, even if all the threads in question are with different writing partners.

𝐕𝐈. 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒 & 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒    While normally I don't really do exclusives, given the nature of this blog I will be doing so here. This will not be a particularly strict thing, but I'm really only interested in building up narratives, plots and relationships here. So while there's still a decent amount of room for more than one of anyone here, I plan to only have one real main timeline for her, in that I will talk about events from other threads inside of current ones and things like that. If I say a character's name, I'll probably only mean a specific person's version.

𝐕𝐈𝐈. 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆    I’m fairly open to shipping of all kinds with characters and anything from enemies to romantic. I don’t like having things forced on me tho and will only do romantic ships with people I’ve talked to OOC for a bit thanks to past experiences. Also, the vast majority of the time in asoiaf verses I default to her being in some kind of relationship with Maron Greyjoy (azmenka) as their relationship is important to her story.