War for the Stepstones
| War for the Stepstones | |||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 106–115 AC | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Stepstones | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Daemon forms his kingdom and later abandons it | ||||||||||||||||
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War for the Stepstones occurred when Prince Daemon Targaryen and Corlys Velaryon, Lord of the Tides, fought a series of land and naval battles with the Triarchy for control of the Stepstones, islands between the Broken Arm and the Disputed Lands in the southern narrow sea.
Events
After defeating Volantis in 96 AC, the Triarchy of Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh invaded the Stepstones to subdue outlaws and pirates living in the islands. While the Seven Kingdoms were appreciative at first, they came to resent the high tolls imposed by the Free Cities on trade in the narrow sea. Foremost among the aggrieved Westerosi was the Sea Snake, Lord Corlys Velaryon of Driftmark.[1]
After his older brother, King Viserys I Targaryen, refused to name him heir, Prince Daemon Targaryen decided to establish his own kingdom. Daemon joined forces with Corlys in trying to wrestle control of the Stepstones from the so-called Three Daughters. While Corlys commanded the Velaryon fleet, Daemon led an army of sellswords, cutthroats, landless adventurers, and second sons.[1]
In 106 AC, Daemon invaded the Stepstones atop his dragon, Caraxes. Despite inferior numbers, they inflicted a string of defeats on the Triarchy for two years before Daemon slew Craghas Drahar of Myr in single combat with his blade, Dark Sister.[1]
Viserys supported Daemon's campaign with gold. By 109 AC, Daemon's armies controlled all but two of the Stepstones, and the Sea Snake's fleets had naval supremacy. Daemon chose the title King of the Stepstones and the Narrow Sea and received his crown from Corlys.[1]
In 110 AC, however, the Triarchy dispatched a counterattack led by Racallio Ryndoon, supported by newly-acquired Dornish allies. Fighting continued in 111 AC, when King Daemon withdrew to court at King's Landing for six months. Daemon struggled to defend the Stepstones against the Triarchy and their allies from Dorne.[1]
Upon hearing of the death of his estranged wife, Lady Rhea Royce, in 115 AC, Daemon left his seat at Bloodstone in the Stepstones and attempted to claim Runestone in the Vale of Arryn. Although he failed to acquire Rhea's inheritance, Daemon then married Corlys's daughter, Laena Velaryon, and abandoned the Stepstones altogether. Five other men, including Racallio,[2] followed Daemon as Kings of the Narrow Sea before the Triarchy and Dornish alliance ended the sellsword kingdom he had created in the Daughters' War of 131-134 AC.[1][3]
Quotes
—Viserys I Targaryen to his court
In the Stepstones, my enemies learned to run and hide when they saw Caraxes's wings or heard his roar ... but they had no dragons of their own.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon - A Question of Succession.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, Under the Regents - The Hooded Hand.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Lysene Spring and the End of Regency.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - The Blacks and the Greens.
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