Triarchy

Triarchy
Information
Type	Political union
Location	Free Cities, Essos Stepstones
Rulers	Magisters

"I would urge that you not allow this Triarchy much latitude in the Stepstones, Your Grace. If those shipping lanes should fall, it will beggar our ports."

―Corlys Velaryon

The Triarchy is an alliance between the Free Cities of Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh.

History

House of the Dragon: Season 1

Triarchy archers during the War for the Stepstones.

Corlys Velaryon informs the Small Council that the newly formed triple-alliance in the Free Cities has started calling itself "the Triarchy". He goes on to report that under the command of their prince-admiral Craghas Drahar, known as the Crabfeeder, the Triarchy has conquered the Stepstones from local pirates which had long infested them. King Viserys I Targaryen doesn't see the problem, but Corlys warns that they have simply traded one problem for another, as the Triarchy is now in complete control of the vital sea lanes into the Narrow Sea controlled from the island chain, and if they close them off it could cripple the sea trade of the Seven Kingdoms.

Within the next half year, the Triarchy indeed begins to attack Westerosi shipping through the Stepstones, much of it from House Velaryon's fleet. King Viserys I Targaryen sends out diplomatic messages to the Triarchy's rivals to try to seek common cause - Volantis to its east and Pentos to its north - but otherwise takes no action, unwilling to provoke a war in the Free Cities. Ultimately Corlys decides to launch his own private War for the Stepstones, and enlists the aid of Viserys's recently exiled brother, Daemon Targaryen.

Corlys and Daemon spend the next three years fighting a proxy war against the Triarchy's forces in the Stepstones, but their attacks are frustrated from Craghas's reliance on hit-and-run attacks, harassing the Velaryon positions by night then fleeing into local caves by day to hide from dragon attacks. The Triarchy's forces are finally defeated at the siege of Bloodstone, in which Daemon personally kills the Crabfeeder.

A decade later, however, the Triarchy regroups through an alliance with Dorne on the opposite side of the Stepstones, and they launch a new joint invasion of the island chain on two fronts. This time, the Triarchy assigns command to a flamboyant Tyroshi general, Racallio Ryndoon. The resurgence of the Triarchy makes feel threatened to its north, where Prince Reggio Haratis offers Daemon grants of land in exchange for rejoining the fight against his old foes. Daemon considers the offer but ultimately declines and returns to Westeros after the sudden death of his wife - Corlys's own daughter Laena Velaryon.

Bereaved over the death of his daughter and subsequent (believed) death of his son Laenor, Corlys spends the next six years in the renewed fighting over the Stepstones. Despite taking a near-fatal injury near the end of the fighting, Corlys ultimately recovers and later informs Rhaenyra that the Velaryon fleet has fully secured the Stepstones once again, this time leaving a full garrison behind to hold them against the Triarchy.

House of the Dragon: Season 2

Aemond sends Tyland Lannister to negotiate an alliance with the Triarchy, hoping that they would then help the Greens in breaking Corlys Velaryon's blockade of the Gullet. As Corlys is a common enemy, Aemond is confident that the Triarchy will accept. Alicent is skeptical, pointing out that the Triarchy is untrustworthy.

In the books

In Fire & Blood, the Triarchy is known to the Westerosi as the Kingdom of the Three Daughters, due to the Free Cities being called "daughters of Old Valyria." It was also derisively called the "Kingdom of the Three Whores." Despite being called a "kingdom" by the Westerosi, it is not a monarchy, but an oligarchy ruled by a High Council of thirty-three magisters, eleven from each member city. Even its official name is therefore a misnomer, as it is not ruled by a council of three "triarchs" the way Volantis is.

Before the formation of the Triarchy, the Free Cities of Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh were bitter enemies, almost always at war with one another. In 96 AC, however, they set aside their differences and combined their forces to rival the strength of Volantis. They defeated the Volantenes in the Battle of the Borderland, driving their rival from the Disputed Lands.

The unexpected political union of these three formal rivals into a larger realm upset the balance of power throughout the Free Cities, and even in Westeros. With Volantis left reeling to the east, the Triarchy turned its attention northward, threatening Pentos along the border with Myr. Even Braavos saw its merchant fleet increasingly challenged by the growing power of the Triarchy, though its influence was not so great that it could attempt to conquer Volantis, and further inland, Norvos and Qohor were not concerned by its growth. The greatest effect of this alliance was that the fleets of all three cities combined were finally able to crush the pirate-lords in the Stepstones who had carved out increasingly powerful kingdoms for themselves, using the rocky isles as bases to raid ships passing into or out of the Narrow Sea for fortunes in loot. The navies of the Triarchy pushed westward to destroy the pirates in the Stepstones and then permanently conquer the islands outright.

The Three Daughters first created their alliance in the waning few years of the reign of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen in Westeros, who died in 103 AC and was succeeded by his grandson Viserys I. At first, the union of the Three Daughters was welcomed in Westeros, as it brought an end to the increasing pirate activity in the area. The Triarchy's navies levied high taxes on all passing ships in exchange for this protection, however, and as the years passed the taxes grew worse than what the losses to the pirates used to be.

At the beginning of the Dance of the Dragons, Otto Hightower attempted to form an alliance with the Triarchy; the thirty-three magisters who manned the high council of the Triarchy, however, argued about the matter for long without reaching a decision, till Aegon lost his patience and dismissed Otto.

Military commanders

• {Craghas Drahar}. Killed by Daemon Targaryen
• Racallio Ryndoon
• Sharako Lohar

External links

• Triarchy on A Wiki of Ice and Fire (potential spoilers for House of the Dragon)