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  ===Background===
  Stannis was born as the second of Steffon Baratheon and Cassana Estermont's three sons, and in his youth he was constantly overshadowed by his older brother Robert.  When Stannis was fourteen he witnessed his parents' death in a shipwreck off the coast of House Baratheon's castle of Storm's End, and subsequently lost his faith in the Seven Gods.
  During Robert's Rebellion, a teenage Stannis holds Storm's End in Robert's absence, but is besieged by Mace Tyrell and Paxter Redwyne for the best part of the year. Stannis' garrison only avoids starvation thanks to the smuggler Davos Seaworth, who evades the blockade by the Redwyne fleet to bring the Baratheon soldiers a cargo of onions and fish.  When Eddard Stark arrives to lift the siege, Stannis knights Davos as reward for his aid, but also insists that Davos have four fingers removed as punishment for his years of illegal smuggling; Davos agrees, on the condition that Stannis removes the fingers himself.  Stannis is subsequently tasked with building a new royal fleet to assault Dragonstone and capture the island, but arrives to find that Aerys II Targaryen's children Viserys and the newborn Daenerys had fled. Robert names Stannis Lord of Dragonstone, giving him control over the islands of Blackwater Bay and the nearby peninsula of Massey's Hook - but Stannis feels slighted, as their younger brother Renly is named Lord of Storm's End, giving him control over the entirety of the Stormlands. It is suggested that this was because Robert was following the custom of granting Dragonstone to the king's heir, but Stannis perceives it as an insult.
  Several years later, Stannis is married to Lady Selyse Florent, but Robert soiled their wedding bed by deflowering Selyse's cousin Delena, further insulting Stannis. Stannis and Selyse have a single daughter together, Shireen, who nearly dies in infancy after contracting greyscale and is left disfigured.  Stannis, who is named Robert's Master of Ships, destroys the Iron Fleet under the command of Victarion Greyjoy at Fair Isle during the Greyjoy Rebellion and leads the conquest of Great Wyk, the largest of the Iron Islands, adding to his significant military resume.
  At the beginning of the first novel ''A Game of Thrones'', Stannis comes to suspect that Robert's children with Cersei Lannister are not actually his, and reveals his suspicions to Robert's Hand of the King, Lord Jon Arryn. The two discover several of Robert's bastard children in King's Landing, and begin to gather proof, before Jon's sudden, untimely death.