I don't own A Song of Ice and Fire . If I did , I would have finished the winds of Winter by now . The only things I own are houses redstark , Barrowstarks and Marchstarks .

"Winter is coming " House Stark motto

"A lone wolf dies in winter , but the pack survives " common phrase in the North

"I swear by the old gods to forever be their sword that kills the vile, to be the shield that protects the innocent and to be the lantern to guide the lost to them for I am now a mere man no longer for now I bear the mark of the laughing tree" the oath of an initiate to the order of the laughing tree

"As old as trees" the words of the Barrowkings

Rise of the direwolf

8000 years brfore Robert`s Rebellion after the defeat of thr others in the long night , Brandon the Builder raised the Wall to protect the realms of men and founded the order of the Night`s watch and built the castle of Winterfell , which would serve as the seat of house Stark for centuries to come . Although by the time of writing very little of the original Winterfell remains, the castle being renovated, sacked and rebuilt more times than the Starks themselves.

During a visit to the wall , Brandon found himself separated from his party during a terrible blizzard . Alone in the wildrness it seemed that he would meet his end , however he stumbled upon a herd of strange looking cows , covered in long wavy coats that provided protection . Brandon managed to kill one and cooked its meat and used its coat to warm himself , allowing him to survive long enough to be found by his escorts.

After his survival , Brandon saw great potential in the Bovines , realizing that they could survive in conditions where most other farm animals would perish . So He rounded up an entire herd with his escort and cut his visit to the wall short . Brandon then buried himself in his work , hiring the best herdsmen and cattle breeders from throughout the North , not just the lands of house Stark , believing that these cows could provide an advantage to the starks over the other kingdoms of the north . Many people thought that Brandon had gone mad , Time however soon proved him right. In the meantime Brandon had earned a new moniker in the North "Brandon the herder".

Thanks to Brandon , the starks and their people had a stable food supply and their lands prosperd , villages soon spread like wildfire . This also meant that the starks could field a much larger army than their lands would otherwise allowed . Thus when the Starks and Barrow kings went to war , the more numerous Stark armies managed to hold their own against the Barrow kings in a war that lasted for many years . The Barrows had started the war when they saw Winterfell's power grow too much for their comfort; despite the Starks being technically loyal vassals. His worries might not be unfounded though for the Starks were kings in all but name and had amassed armies equal to those of their supposed Overlords and it was they supported the night's watch. The people didn't see the Barrows in their lands much for they were content in their Barrows; it was the Starks who kept the peace and dispensed Justice, so the people started whispering the Starks should be kings.

The war was long and brutal. The Barrows held the initial advantage of suprise but the Starks had the numbers to match them; at least at first, but the Barrow kings had much larger influence in the North and forged an alliance with the March Kings , The Bolton Red kings and had even bought sellswords from south of the neck. Thus the Starks despite their increased numbers found themselves ironically outnumbered in many battles. Their lowest point came when a Stark king was killed by some sellswords and his body looted after a devastating defeat that had cost the Starks half their armies.

In the first ten years of war it seemed the Starks would lose and their rise to power strangled in its crip. But then Winter came, one of the harshest in known memory . Dwindling food supplies and grumbling soliders forced the Barrow army's to relinquish some of their gains and gave the Starks time to regroup and reorganise and this was the turning point for the Starks. The cows that Brandon had been so obsessed had proven lifesaving being able to survive the harsh winter and providing a year round food source. Thus while the rest of the houses were forced to rely on stores from the summertime and had to keep their armies at home, the Starks were free to fight in the winter. Burning villages to the ground, laying seige to castles packed full with starving soliders; piece by bloody piece the Starks reclaimed everything that was taken back and more. What's more when the Barrow king had offended the Warg king by rejecting his daughter's hand and mocking him in court. The warg king in return joined forces with the Starks.

The war lasted for a further ten years, but now the Stark armies were the ones on the offensive and were marching towards the Barrowton in an ironic twist of events. Their alliance with the warg kings served them well for from them the Starks learned their secrets of warging and greenseeing. Legends tell of armies heralded by Massive Direwolves, eagles intercepting raven letters and Shadowcats used as deadly assassins . None of these would be verified until the war of twelve kings.

In the final battle, King Rodrik Stark X brought 20000 soliders to Barrowton. The Barrows ;abandoned by their allies and their peasants starving could barley muster 7000 poorly trained levies. The last Barrow king wanted a last stand but his son and subjects didn't share that. And so the prince overthrow his father in a relatively bloodless coup and presented him to king Rodrik as a peace offering. The Barrows became the Dustins and were vassals to the Starks now. Rodrik had the princess taken as a hostage to ensure their compliance and would eventually marry her to his younger brother forming House Barstark which would begin a long tradition of cadet houses (which would be used to watch over new possibly rebellious vassals).

Eventuallly when Brandon the Breaker and King beyond the wall Joramun defeated the night king , Brandon made an offer to the Wildlings , if they swore fealty to the House Stark , they would be allowed South to live under his protection . The free folk were split , many wanted to remain free content to remian raiders while most wanted a better life for their children and a safer lifestyle . In the end Joramun kneeled to Brandon and the free folk were allowed south , but many tribes refused and retreated further North and would fight the Night`s Watch for genertaions to come . The rest spread into the north and some in time integrate into northern society , eventually founding their own houses (houses such as Thenn, Rayder, Frost and Ictark) , while others held onto their life style , kneeling to no lord or king but the Starks and lived in their own villages . Some lords look at them with contempt as nothing but upjumped savages but the Starks know better than to waste Loyal subjects who are hard to come by.

The Srarks found themselves in a postion of power , now with an extra fifty thousand warriors , but that wasn`t the only thing they had now , for with the free folk , came the Giants and they brought mammoths , vicious beasts in war and excellent food sources and beasts of burden in peace . With their new power the Starks sought to unite the North. A tale claims that the greenmen and children of the forest warned the Stark king of a threat from the East and that the north would have to be united to face it. To this day every Stark king in addition to the traditional Kurasci (old tongue for wise man) has at least one child and green priest to advise him.

King Jon Stark had the Wolf`s Den built and gave it to his Bastard son Eddard who would form House Greystark; and gained the alligence of the Umbers , Blackwoods and Greenwoods peacefully . But not all houses joined the Starks peacefully; for the Starks had not forgotten who fought with the Barrows to exterminate them years ago.

Rickard "the Laughing Wolf " would conquer the march kings , placing house Reed as it's lords with his secondborn son establishing house Marchstark with the March kings youngest daughter. The fate of the rest of the family was to be buried in the earth except for their faces and they would be fed only for the worms to eat their bodies.

And to the north , King Brandon IX Stark stopped the raids of the Skagosi and forced them to sumbit to Winterfell's power . He had brought many mainlanders to the island to civilise it and assimilate the Skagosi but the result was a hybrid culture neither northern or free folk.

However , despite the many advantages of House Stark and having the backing of most of the north , The Red kings of dreadfort , were not dettered and fought the Starks with unrelenting ferocity , and while the Starks had the advantage in numbers , the boltons were more than willing to use unconventional tactics , for there was king Jonos Bolton , who managed to defeat a Stark host of ten thousand men and over a hundred mammoths by setting pigs on fire and having them charge the mammoths . The noises caused the mammoths to panic and sent them backwards trampling their own forces as bolton archers rained arrows from above . King Edywn Stark was captured and pieces of his skin was sent to Winterfell . The Bolton's were also not averse to dark magic, some saying they bargained with the others themselves for the power over shadows and necromancy. Tales of Men having their body parts removed and reattached to form Flayed men still make the blood of any norther run cold.

However , the deciding battle went to the Starks , for King Rickon "the black wolf " Stark marched on Dreadfort with an army of over 50000 men . After a long campaign of atrocities on both sides the Boltons were defeated and forced to bend. The Dreadfort was given to the newly christened Redstarks while the Boltons were reduced to ruling the town of Weeping water.

But king Rickon was overcome with guilt over the crimes he committed and went to the green men to ask for the forgiveness of the old gods. The green men gave him the location of a peculiar weirwood tree. This one was a deathly white and it's smiling face was stained red. It was here that he and all after him would surrender his old life and pledge himself to the old gods and the order of the laughing tree was born. Some say Rickon still walks the North seeking to punish sinners and protect the innocent.

For the first time in its history the North was united under one house , and for two centuries , the northerners lived in peace , rebuilding their towns , raising new castles and repairing old ones . But the peace was about to be broken as the Andals made their way to Westeros