The Daughters' War

The Daughters’ War was a many-sided conflict among the Free Cities and their allies, fought for influence over the Stepstones and the Disputed Lands. Its immediate spark was the killing of Sharako Lohar, the admiral whose fleet had suffered catastrophic losses in the Gullet. The war’s shifting alignments drew in Tyrosh, Lys, Myr, Dorne, and the renegade Racallio Ryndoon; its effects reached beyond the islands, disrupting trade and prompting King Aegon III’s government to consider, and refuse, intervention.

Origins in the Gullet

The defeat that preceded the war had left the Triarchy’s member cities with grievances against one another. Sharako had brought ninety warships from Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh to the Gullet; only twenty-eight made it home, and all but three of those surviving ships were crewed by Lyseni. In the aftermath, widows in Myr and Tyrosh accused the admiral of sacrificing their fleets while preserving his own. Their quarrel became one of the divisions that would help bring the Triarchy to an end.

Sharako’s death turned that simmering dispute into open conflict. Later accounts commonly treated his killing as personal: the arrogant admiral had been slain by a rival seeking the favor of a courtesan known as the Black Swan. At the time, however, his death was understood as a political murder, and suspicion fell on Myr. When Lys and Myr went to war, Tyrosh used the opportunity to assert dominion over the Stepstones. The contrast between the later explanation and the contemporary suspicion gives the conflict an uncertain beginning: private rivalry supplied the spark, but the cities’ political rivalries determined how far it spread.

Racallio and the Stepstones

To advance Tyrosh’s claim, its Archon summoned Racallio Ryndoon, a flamboyant captain-general who had previously commanded Triarchy forces against Daemon Targaryen. Racallio quickly overran the islands and put the reigning King of the Narrow Sea to death. He then claimed that title for himself, betraying the Archon and his native city. Tyrosh’s attempt to extend its power thus helped create a new rival rather than a dependable agent.

The result was described as a confused four-sided war. Its competing claims cut the southern end of the Narrow Sea to trade, affecting ports on both sides of the water. King’s Landing, Duskendale, Maidenpool, and Gulltown lost commerce with the east; Pentos, Braavos, and Lorath were affected as well. The Stepstones were therefore not merely a prize disputed by rival powers: control of them could close a major route and unsettle the economies of distant cities.

Westeros declines to intervene

The disruption brought envoys from Pentos, Braavos, and Lorath to King’s Landing. They sought to draw the Iron Throne into a grand alliance against Racallio and the warring cities. Ser Tyland Lannister received them lavishly but refused their offer, arguing before the regents that Westeros should not become involved in the Free Cities’ recurring quarrels. His decision kept the realm out of the conflict even as its ports felt the loss of eastern trade.

The war remained relevant to Westerosi policy through the changing fortunes of the Stepstones. When Alyn Velaryon later came to Sunspear with a large fleet, the Dornish treated his arrival as a visit rather than an attack. Princess Aliandra Martell supplied his ships with water and provisions, as well as charts of dangerous whirlpools along the southern Dornish coast. During Alyn’s return to Sunspear, Drazenko Rogare, an envoy from Lys, privately disclosed a secret that changed the admiral’s course. Alyn ordered his fleet to sail for Lys the following day. The account identifies the political context of that decision: Dorne had joined the Daughters’ War, allied with Tyrosh and Lys against Racallio. Dornish involvement made the conflict’s shifting alignments consequential to a Velaryon voyage as well as to the cities at war.

Settlement and consequences

By the end of the conflict, Racallio had fled south to the Basilisk Isles with his remaining supporters. Lys, Tyrosh, and Myr divided the Disputed Lands, while Dorne took dominion over most of the Stepstones. The settlements did not distribute the gains evenly: Myr suffered the greatest losses, while Tyrosh and Dorne emerged with the greatest advantages.

The war also altered the balance of power within Lys. Old houses fell and highborn magisters were ruined, while new figures rose to power. Lysandro Rogare and his brother Drazenko became especially influential: Drazenko had helped shape the Dornish alliance, and Lysandro had ties to the Iron Throne. Their ascent made the Rogares princes of Lys in all but name. The conflict’s aftermath thus extended beyond territory and sea lanes, reshaping the ruling order in a city whose connections to Dorne and the royal court would matter in Westeros as well.