Author's Note: So a lot of people have been begging me to get back to the GOT Fandom, and try again. So here we go. Just to put it out there amigos, I'm completely gutting it. Readers will see elements from the books, TV shows, and from other fandoms such as The Witcher 3, D&D, Skyrim and others. Also, Dragon haters beware, 'cause here there be dragons.

Side Note: Please forget the TV version of Winterfell, because I will be using an enhanced version of the book Winterfell: enhanced because I took the time to redesign it using the Black Ice building articles from Conan Exiles (better known as Obsidian/Dragonglass). Magic is also going to be a thing in this new attempt.

Book One

The Rise of the Black Wolf

Prologue

The tale of Eddard Stark is one of loss, tragedy, love and betrayal. When he was young, his beloved sister, Lyanna Stark, had disappeared from their ancestral home of Winterfell after her betrothal to Eddard's longtime friend and foster brother, Robert Baratheon, second son of House Baratheon. It was then that the raven came telling that Lyanna was seen with the crowned prince, Rhaegar Targaryen.

Enraged, Lords Rickard Stark and his eldest son, Brandon, had ridden to King's Landing to retrieve the wayward child. However the Mad King refused, executing both men in cruel and brutal fashions.

And so the rebellion had begun.

For one year, House Baratheon and the Lords of the North waged a brutal and bloody war against House Targaryen for the deaths of their Liege Lord and his heir, and the kidnapping of Lyanna Stark.

However, as the war began to come to a close, Eddard discovered the truth.

His sister had never been kidnapped by the prince. She had run away with him, and, with the blessings of his former wife, married him under the branches of a Heart Tree in Northern tradition. And their marriage had produced a son.

A son gifted with the strength of the North, and the blood of the Dragon. However, the birthing of such a child had been too taxing on the child's mother as she soon slipped away from life without even naming her child, only having enough strength to beg her brother to protect him from Robert's hatred of the Targaryen bloodline.

And so came the end of the Targaryen's reign, and the beginning of the Baratheon's rule.

Eddard had returned to Winterfell a Lord of the North, with only himself and a close friend knowing the secret of the babe he now cared for. However, the burden of such a secret weighed heavily on his heart, and from a young age, he encouraged the boy to look favorably to Castle Black and the Night's Watch, for there was honor in being a Black Knight. And what greater honor could there be for a baseborn child?

However, things did not play out the way that the Lord wanted them. Sixteen years hence Robert's Rebellion, Jon Arryn, their foster father, and Hand of the King, passed away. Robert then came to Winterfell to demand his friend and brother take up the mantle of Hand of the King so that he could handle the affairs of the crown while Robert wasted his time in drinking, feasting and whoring.

Seeing no other alternative, Eddard accepted and sealed the fate of his House. Young Jon Snow was sent to the Wall to become a Night's Watchmen, Robb Stark replaced his father as the Warden of the North, and Eddard brought his two daughters to King's Landing.

Eddard could not have known the consequences of his actions, for if he had, things may have ended differently. As it was to come to pass, Eddard's life ended on the executioner's block.

That would have been the end of Eddard's role in this tale, yet, his soul was taken into the golden Halls of the afterlife. Here he was forced to watch the results of his decisions.

Seeing the events that unfolded before him, he begged the gods for help in setting things right, even if it meant damning his soul for all of eternity. And for once, the gods listened.

If Catelyn Stark formerly of the House of Tully was asked to describe her life in the North, then she would have responded that she had been lucky. Her marriage into the House of Stark had been readily agreed upon, and she was happy with the choice in her husband to be. However, thanks to the Mad King, that marriage had been endangered.

But, by the grace of the gods, she had been blessed with a loving and attentive husband in the form of Eddard Stark. She had loved his brother, Brandon, very much so, but she was duty bound to the Starks, so her father had gone through with the marriage and bound her to Eddard Stark. And, though she had loved his brother, she found that she had come to love Eddard almost as much.

She had been blessed early on in her marriage with a beautiful son with a mixture of Stark and Tully features that she had named Robb, her husband's first child, and heir to the Starks.

She had hoped that her husband would be pleased when he returned home from the war in the knowledge that he already had an heir to his seat. However, though he was indeed pleased when he held their son for the first time, the man actually had tears in his eyes, but he had not returned home alone. He had a woman with him...along with a newborn child.

Catelyn had at once thought that, like many of the Northern men that had gone of to war, he had sired a bastard, and stained her honor as his wife. But it seemed that that wasn't the case. Eddard had taken her inside and explained everything to her: the babe was his nephew, who was now to be known as Jon Snow, born of the union between Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen.

At first she thought that the child, because of the rumors surrounding the she-wolf of the Starks, had been a Waters, considering he was born in the South, but Eddard assured her that that wasn't the case either. Rhaegar and Lyanna had married out of love, and the babe was the result. Robert Baratheon was the one that had started the rumor of Lyanna being kidnapped and raped by the Targaryen prince in his jealousy. Rickard and Brandon were victims of a lie.

Eddard however, could not fully place blame on his old friend as he was told of Lyanna sending letters to their family to inform them of her marriage and impending motherhood. Letters that had never been read.

Eddard then begged her to not hate the child. He would need love if he was to grow into a good man, and he was already very much loved by Eddard himself. But Catelyn, being of Southern birth, was not as certain as he was about the child. Even if he was to be believed to be Eddard's bastard son, her honor would still be tarnished.

One of the knights he was with, however, convinced her to love the child because of what her husband had done to ensure his safety.

The knight, she found out, was none other than Arthur Dayne, the Sword of Morning. He told her that Eddard had laid aside his honor and begged to see his sister one last time, and so that he could make certain that her child was well taken care of.

He told her how Eddard had held onto his dying sister's hand as the life ebbed away from her, swearing on his life that the child would lack for nothing. He would ensure that the baby would grow into a good man, like his father.

He then told of their harrowing ride to King's Landing.

Though he was unsure of how it happened, Eddard had befriended two truly magnificent creatures. Dire wolves. One white and the other black as Dragonglass, they had come from the forest like ghosts. Eddard entrusted the baby to Arthur's fellow King's Guard and Howland Reed before mounting the black wolf, and urging himself onto the white wolf.

And so they rode to the capital faster than any horse could carry them.

Arthur told her then that their speed had been a good thing indeed as Robert's forces had stormed the city. Astride the massive beasts, Eddard and Arthur had stormed the Red Keep just in time to see Jaime Lannister about to slay the king. Eddard's wolf, however, was far faster than the swing of a sword. Aerys Targaryen, the Mad King, met his end by the teeth of Garm, the monstrous red-eyed dire wolf that Eddard rode.

Arthur had wanted to reprimand Jaime of her near act, yet Eddard had bellowed that the Mountain was after Elia and her children. How he knew this, Arthur could not begin to understand, yet he heeded the man and made for where the former crown princess and her children were being kept. As he burst through the door, sword in hand, it was to find a grisly scene.

Elia's son, Aegon, was slumped against a wall, his skull smashed open and blood pooling around his head. The Mountain was looming over Elia, her clothes in tatters as he raped her, and Amory Lorch was holding a struggling Rhaenys with a knife over her. He had acted quickly, first stabbing Lorch through the back while the little princess had scurried out of the way.

The Mountain turned on him then, his sword raised to strike him down, but he was saved when the white she-wolf he had ridden bounded into the room and lept upon him. Cleagan had roared furiously as the wolf tore at him, but the beast was too powerful for him to shake off, even for one as large as him. Arthur had intended to let the wolf do her work, but the beast ended the man with a swift and powerful bite to the man's neck. Blood had stained her crisp white fur.

Eddard had shown up a few moments later, stating that they needed to get Elia and Rhaenys out of the city. That had not been an easy task. Elia, even in her state of panic, knew of a few secret passages that would lead them to safety.

And safety they were led to: Eddard and Arthur had found a ship crewed by those still loyal to the Targaryens, and placed Elia and her daughter onboard. The pair then set sail to Dorne. However, by the time that Eddard and Arthur had made their way back to the Keep, Robert Baratheon had already taken the throne. Surprisingly, according to Arthur, Eddard seemed displeased by the man sitting on the throne, yet he said nothing as the body of prince Aegon was brought before him.

Arthur had been disgusted when the Baratheon raged at the slaying of the Mountain and Lorch, and the disappearance of Elia and the princess. Both of them had remained quiet on the matter. Of course, seeing the Sword of Morning in the castle alongside his friend had the man demanding to know why one of them wasn't dead.

Arthur had lied and said that Eddard had bested him in combat, but had let him live provided he served the Starks from that point on. Robert had believed him, though it seemed that Tywin Lannister did not. He demanded to know why a man as famous as himself would bend the knee to a mere Northern lord.

Eddard then introduced them to the two dire wolves. And the Lion of Casterly Rock chose to remain quiet afterwards, especially since the black beast had been eyeing him hungrily while the king's blood still stained his fangs.

Afterward, Eddard and Arthur had set out for the Northern realms, and had not looked back.

Which brought her to her present state. Fourteen years had passed since that day, and Eddard had strengthened the North greatly. Peoples from the forest, the mountains and beyond the Wall had come to call North home.

The land had never been richer whether it be coin or culture. And her family had grown. Robb and Jon were only the first of the children of the Stark House. They had been blessed with four more children through the years. All of whom were being taught, much to her chagrin, in the ways of Northern tradition. Which meant that her two daughters, Sansa, her little princess, and Arya, her wild little wolf, were being taught how to defend themselves. Arya loved it. Sansa only saw it as a necessity, much preferring needle work with her mother.

Her second son, Bran, loved climbing the towers, which she swore was going to make her hair grow white someday. And her sweet little Rickon, named for Eddard's father. Still just a child barely able to walk. Yet all of them each had a dire wolf pup of their own. Garm, and the she-wolf, Fenris, had recently had a litter of cubs.

Each cub was fiercely loyal to the children, even the red-eyed albino gifted to Jon Snow, aptly christened Ghost. Speaking of Jon, the boy and her son, Robb, were extremely close, just like real brothers. She couldn't say that she was displeased by the bond. Jon was a fine swordsman, and he tended to push Robb to be better in every way. Even with Sir Arthur teaching them.

"My lady?" Came a soft call from the hall, "Lord Stark is calling for you, m'lady, and wishes to see you in his solar," said one of the handmaidens.

Catelyn moved toward the door, wondering for what reason he would wish to meet there.

Author's Note: This is a short, introduction chapter. The title, Rise of the Black Wolf, is in regards to the achievements made by Eddard since the rebellion. He's done quite a lot, which will be gone over in the next chapter. And we'll see some changes to the North, obviously, and to some characters as well.

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