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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.
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.
[ 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 alongside Lorr and his place as her bodyguard.]
Everything after this point can be found on her verses page
Additional Information
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)
