The Myrish Civil War of 91–92 AC was a struggle between rival factions for control of Myr whose consequences reached beyond the city: the defeated party’s flight helped turn an Essosi power contest into a crisis on Tarth and drew the attention of the Targaryen king and council.

Rivalry and victory

The account gives no detailed history of the factions or their claims to power. It describes a contest for supremacy in Myr, marked by assassinations, riots, poisonings, executions, torture, and fighting at sea. One side eventually prevailed, forcing the losing faction out of the city. The chronicler deliberately leaves the internal course of the civil war largely untold, presenting it chiefly through the repercussions that touched the Seven Kingdoms.

Flight from Myr

Exile did not bring the losing faction a secure refuge. Its members first tried to establish themselves in the Stepstones, but were driven out after the Archon of Tyrosh joined forces with a league of pirate kings. By then, the displaced Myrmen had become little more than pirates themselves. Their subsequent turn to Tarth carried the conflict farther west and placed it directly within the orbit of the Iron Throne.

The conflict reaches Tarth

The Myrish landed on Tarth and took the Evenstar by surprise, soon capturing the island’s entire eastern side. Their success prompted the king and his council to organize a campaign to drive them back into the sea. They judged that the Myrish, now described as pirates, would not require a major effort to defeat. Aemon Targaryen was chosen to lead the assault; first, however, Corlys Velaryon was to bring the Velaryon fleet south to protect Lord Boremund Baratheon as he crossed with stormlanders to join Tarth’s own levies. The expected combined force was considered sufficient, with Caraxes available to Aemon if the fighting proved more difficult than anticipated.

Corlys and the fleet sailed from Driftmark on the ninth day of the third moon of 92 AC. Aemon followed a few hours later, after taking leave of Jocelyn Baratheon and their daughter, Rhaenys Targaryen. Rhaenys had just learned she was pregnant and did not accompany her father on Meleys. The account thus records the war’s aftermath not only as a change of refuge for the defeated faction, but as a mobilization involving the royal family, Tarth’s levies, stormland forces, and the Velaryon fleet.