Starks of Winterfell

Robert 'Robb' Stark was born in midsummer, in 280 AC, at Riverrun in the middle of the Usurpers' War. He was a loud and happy child. Born favoring classic Tully looks of blue eyes and red-brown hair instead of Stark looks.

When bannermen of Eddard 'Ned' Stark saw the heir to Winterfell and future Warden of the North whispering many said: "that the starks abandoned the North and the Old Gods, with Rickard's southern ambitions one of the causes of War and Ned's marriage to Catelyn Tully, an Andal, held at a Sept".

It was none the wiser that caught Lord Bolton's men whispering these words. While Stark soldiers should have told Ned of these whispers they didn't know him. Eddard Stark had been an Arryn in all but name, and that had kept the Realms together after the Rebellion.

Robb's POV Age 04 (284 AC)

He was a smart child and he knew it. He knew it to be true because whenever he pranked Fat Tom, he was able to escape him. Like that one time when Lord Commander of Night's Watch came to Winterfell, and winter had ended not that long ago. It was a short winter of only 2 years. Anyway, during the visit Fat Tom had been one of the guards on gate duty and HE WAS ASLEEP AT THE GATE instead of keeping guard.

So he built a great mountain of snow above the gate, when spotted by a man of Night's Watch by the name of Mance strike a deal with him to not tell on him and in exchange for his silence they both agreed that he would share half of his dessert with the man.

When finalizing the deal, Mance had said "Little Lord, did you know beyond-the-wall when men are having any important discussion, they do it in front of a Weirwood tree so that gods of the Forest can be witness to it." After thinking some moments about it he smartly replied "Since you and I had already agreed upon the terms, let's just go to Heart Tree in godswood and tell them about our deal".

By the smile that had formed on his face, he knew that he had replied correctly. So they left for godswood quickly and after arriving there, he took the prayer position that he had learned from his mother and informed the gods about the situation and deal made. When he was about to happily start exiting godswood, Mance had stopped him to ask about the prayer position he took so he told him about how he had learned that from his mother. Told him that his mother took him to Sept every day and prayed.

Mance had kneeled and told him "Little Lord, what your mother taught you was Southron way of The Faith of Seven. You are the future lord of Winterfell you need to pray to the old gods. The true gods. The Gods of Forests, Rivers, Stream & Stones. Your ancestors built Winterfell, built North into a kingdom, when andals came south welcomed them with open hands. Some fought and lost. andals had cut down weirwood trees and burnt children of the forest. And then when Andals looked North to spread the Faith of Seven the Starks of Winterfell and North stopped them"

Then Mance proceeded to show him how to pray to the old gods by kneeling in front of the heart tree, putting his hand on the bark and just saying simple prayers. When he did so as showed and prayed to the old gods it felt like someone was watching him. Someone kind. They exited the godswood in serene silence.

Eventually, he dumped the snow on still sleeping Tom and proceeded to be chased by him.

This had been a fortnight ago. After meeting with Mance he had asked Old Nan about Starks and Old Gods. She told him stories. Stories about Brandon the builder and White Walker, Brandon the breaker, Joramun the King-Beyond-The-Wall and Night's King & his Corpse Queen, the Rat Cook, Osric Stark a boy of 10 namedays old who became Lord Commander of Night's Watch.

Last night while Old Nan was again starting with stories. "Old Nan, please tell me about the history of House Stark and our connection to the Old Gods, not stories," Robb asked. "To learn the history of your house you better go to Maester Luwin" Old Nan had told him and proceeded to tell him more stories to which he soon fell asleep.

As soon as he had broken his fast, he ran to Winterfell library which while is the largest of any Great Houses but a fraction compared to Citadel. "Maester Luwin, Maester Luwin please teach me about House Stark and its history, about North and the old gods," Robb asked speedily.

"Young Robb, your lessons will start when you are five namedays old. You can go outside and play" Luwin replied. "Maester, I am the future Warden of the North, I can't be uninformed about these matters. If you can't start with the formal lessons. How about for now just teach me to read?"

And so after two moons of hard work, he was able to read & write fluently without the supervision of Maester Luwin.