Triarchy

The Triarchy was an alliance of the Free Cities of Tyrosh, Lys, and Myr whose internal rivalries eventually erupted into war. Its collapse transformed those rivalries into a four-sided struggle over the Stepstones, disrupted commerce across the Narrow Sea, and helped redirect people and resources toward the growing market for sellswords.

Alliance and Internal Rivalries

The Triarchy’s political cohesion was fragile. The book describes Tyrosh, Lys, and Myr as rivals whose tensions had been smoldering even before they became open enemies. Its earlier military history included the disaster in the Gullet, where its forces had been commanded by Racallio Ryndoon against Daemon Targaryen. The later account of the alliance’s collapse presents that defeat as part of its background, but identifies a new killing as the immediate spark of the next crisis.

Collapse and the Sellsword Market

The murder of Sharako Lohar, the Lysene admiral who had presided over the Triarchy’s disaster in the Gullet, ignited the conflict. The account distinguishes the explanation later commonly accepted from the interpretation current at the time: Sharako’s death was understood to have been a personal matter, prompted by rivalry for the favor of a courtesan known as the Black Swan, while contemporaries treated it as a political killing and suspected Myr. When Lys and Myr went to war, Tyrosh seized the opening to assert its authority over the Stepstones.

The resulting breakdown was felt beyond the Free Cities. Ser Marston Waters returned from Lys after being sent to hire sellswords and reported that the Triarchy had collapsed. With the Three Daughters hiring free companies as quickly as they could be formed, their wages exceeded what he could offer. For some of Cregan Stark’s Northmen, this created an alternative to returning to a land facing winter and the risk of hunger. Two companies emerged from that opportunity: the Wolf Pack, made up entirely of Northmen and commanded by Hallis Hornwood and Timotty Snow, and the Stormbreakers, financed and led by Oscar Tully, whose ranks included men from across Westeros.

Racallio Ryndoon and the Stepstones

To press Tyrosh’s claim, its Archon called upon Racallio Ryndoon, the flamboyant captain-general who had once led the Triarchy’s forces against Daemon Targaryen. Racallio swiftly overran the islands and killed the reigning King of the Narrow Sea. He then claimed the crown for himself, turning against both the Archon who had summoned him and his native city. Tyrosh’s attempt to extend its dominion thus helped produce a confused four-sided war rather than a settled political order.

Trade and the Iron Throne

The fighting closed the southern end of the Narrow Sea to trade. King’s Landing, Duskendale, Maidenpool, and Gulltown lost commerce with the east, as did Pentos, Braavos, and Lorath. Those cities sent envoys to King’s Landing hoping to bring the Iron Throne into a grand alliance against Racallio and the warring Free Cities. Ser Tyland Lannister received them lavishly but refused to involve Westeros in what he regarded as the endless quarrels of the Free Cities.

The conflict remained a strategic concern for the regency: plans for fifty new war galleys were presented partly as a means of defending King’s Landing from the fleets of the Triarchy. Its collapse therefore had effects beyond the islands themselves, reshaping mercenary recruitment, interrupting regional trade, and forcing the Iron Throne to weigh the danger of intervention against the costs of becoming entangled in the Free Cities’ wars.