Cregan

Lord of Winterfell, Warden of the North

Henry Cavill as Cregan Stark

Name:	Cregan Stark
Aliases:	The Winter Wolf, Lord Pup of Winterfell (derogatory)
Faction:	The North
Organization:	House Stark
Occupation:	Head of House
Rank:	Great Noble Lord
Age:	Aug 28 102 (18)

Description

Broadly built and unusually tall, most would agree that Cregan Stark cuts an imposing figure, his frame and bearing both implying a warrior first, and a nobleman second. His hair is dark and carries a slightly wild wave to its sable locks, worn just long enough to drift along the nape of the Northman's neck. In stark contrast are vivid, icy blue eyes, irises of mingling ocean and steel growing dark indeed around their outer borders, and smooth, fair skin that could be considered lightly tanned only by standards of the North. His face carries a dark shadow of coarse stubble around mouth and sternly hewn jawline, while a strong, cleft chin and prominent cheekbones border a slightly uneven nose.

Cregan is dressed in greys and blacks, his ensemble simple but made of finely woven cloth and leather. The long black cloak he wears is accented with grey-white furs and pinned in in silver shaped like a snarling wolf's head at his left breast. The Northman's powerful chest and shoulders are garbed in a well-fitted grey tunic etched with ancient runic calligraphy, belted by a double-wrapped swordbelt of black leather over loose pants of similar, but more supple material. Dark, heavy boots round out the decidedly understated ensemble, his only ornamentation the broach pinning his cloak and a silver ring which also bears the direwolf of House Stark, worn on his right hand.

Cregan's swordbelt is occupied by an agile arming sword and a long dagger on opposite hips, a rather massive greatsword slung over his back, sheathed in black leaving visible its grey leather grip and silver fittings. A similarly winter-hued longbow is often worn as well, also across the Northman's back over the blade's scabbard.

Background

The second son of Lord Brandon Stark, the Warden of the North, Cregan Stark grew up expecting his brother Rickon to ascend to the throne of Winterfell. Any wise adult in Westeros realizes that second in the line of succession is not such a distant point, however, and Cregan was raised as a true Lord of the North— even if he would not understand this dual purpose until much later. He was weaned on his people's history and traditions as surely as he was immersed in warfare, strategy, and the mastery of arms from the moment he could hold a sword in anticipation of a role as one of his brother's most prominent commanders.

In battle, the young Stark was a natural, with a keen eye for an opponent's weakness (and strength) from his earliest days. This natural talent for blade and bow would be honed by years upon years of intense training and practice, sometimes to the detriment of other pursuits. In his adolescence the young Stark greatly favored the company of hounds and steel to that of most men, earning a reputation amongst those who did not know him well for being taciturn and detached. He would be shunted onto an unexpected stage as injury and then illness claimed his elder brother, and his aging father, leaving a boy barely into his manhood as the heir apparent to Winterfell and the North.

As Warden of the North, Cregan was quick to apply his military acumen to governance, becoming known as both honorable and calmly ferocious; when he deigned to speak his mind at all. His temper was legendary, but rare, and losing control even moreso: a thing that seemed born of the unrelenting winters north of the Wall, or the decisive action of his House's totem. In his first two years as Lord Stark, the young Warden would be forced to fight in as many campaigns; first, against a coalition of his own who overestimated his House's moment of weakness in transition, and second to drive back a veritable horde of raiding Wildling tribals that circumvented the Wall during a particularly brutal storm, seeking to lay waste to valuable and rare farmland.

In recent months, leaving his oldest sister in Winterfell with his most trusted protectors, Cregan rode from the North with an entourage of his own. Seeking new alliances, and conscripts for the Night's Watch alongside a better picture of the tumultuous future ahead for the Kingdoms and his own place therein, he turned his eye south towards bustling cities and towering fortresses that might promise the North salvation— or ruin.