30 The Next Steps

While enjoying his new life in the last years Victor was still planning different routes for House Di Natale to influence Westeros. Even without the support of House Dorne he was going to take over the southern and western part of the Stepstones this year. For this he changed the training of the elite soldiers from purely physical skills to army commanding as well. Many of the elite soldiers are now able to lead small scale wars and up to 3000 people. Whether it is the command during war or the logistics, House Di Natale was already prepared.

In addition to the Veiled Island, he wanted to take control over Dustspear and Lazaror's Rock.

Larazor's Rock is southeastern most of the fourteen major islands that make up the Stepstones. It is a very mountainous island and can only station a small fleet. Nonetheless it would be another supply base and strengthen the control over the Stepstones.

There are three tales of the origin of the small, rocky island's name.

Some sailors talk of a Pentosi merchant by the name of Larazor, who found himself stranded on the island after his cog was scuttled by one of the vicious storms known to sweep from the Stepstones. After nearly two decades upon the rock, he was rescued by a Lyseni Captain who had come ashore in hope of restocking his supply of freshwater.

Others talk of a Pirate King without rival, whom was the first to claim the island after the breaking of the Arm of Dorne. From the small island he commanded a fleet unlike any other and brought even the Three Daughters to heel. This tale is discounted by most, as no reference to this Pirate King can be found in the histories of Lys, Tyrosh or Myr.

The final story is the most sinister and mystical of them all. The tales speak of a sea-leviathan made man by the Merling King. In his wrath, the man collected the skulls of all those who prayed to the Merling King before throwing them into the depths. As the great stack of heads slowly turned to stone with time, the island was formed.

Dustspear is one of the fourteen major islands that make up the Stepstones, named for a forgotten cache of Rhoynar spears, found within a cave at the center of the island, supposedly left shortly before Nymeria's arrival to Westeros, Dustspear is one of the smaller major islands, and the closest of any to the Westerosi mainland. Dustspear is the closest island to Sunspear, sit of House Martell, and could reach the city within a day by ship. Capturing this island would, to a certain extent, pose a serious threat to Dorne. After the capture of six islands within the Stepstones would start his journey to Westeros and visit House Martell. He would meet Elia Martell, before she would go on her trip to King's Landing and marry Rhaegar in 280 AC and reunite with his old friend Oberyn. Victor was already quite happy thinking about that.

The capture of those six islands would increase the value, fame, and power of House Di Natale in the Known World by a lot. They would have complete control over the southern and western part of the Stepstones and thereby gain control over one, if not the major trade route between the South of Westeros, Essos, and King's Landing.

Victor was very confident about his ability to control this trade route, with six islands of the Stepstones and Lys as his immediate backing, because House Di Natale invested most of their revenue in the last three years into building a large fleet in cooperation with House Nahohr and House Maar. This fleet would be able to compete with even the biggest fleets of the Known World in number of ships, quality of ships, number of qualified sailors and the most important point, military strength. Victor used his cooperation with the Alchemy Guild of Lys to develop incendiary bombs that are extremely deadly to the current type of wooden ships.

House Di Natale also improved the blacksmithing industry on the island of Redwater. By using the natural resources available and the position on one of the major trade routes, the furnace on Redwater practically never stopped. Victor was able to come up with a a new way to fry high-grade steel weapons on a large scale. They might not be as good as Valyrian steel but more cost effective. On top of that Victor started the research on siege equipment with a focus on the ballista. He knew that dragons and other magical creature were going to appear in the future. Even if he desperately stopped the birth of Daenarys three dragons, one way or the other those powerful beasts would return to the sky above Lys. Investing in a mighty air defense system was the next focus right after maritime power. The mechanism of the ballista could also be used on the trebuchet and together with incendiary bombs the fire power of the Di Natale fleet would increase tremendously.

But Victor was not going to stop after capturing half of the Stepstones and visiting House Martell to improve the relationship between Dorne, House Martell, Lys, and House Di Natale. He already had a further goal to spread his influence even father towards the mainland of Westeros. He had two entry points, but one would still rely on the decision of House Martell and especially Oberyn.

Victors next goal was on an island further north and extremely close to an old friend. The island is very close to Storm's End, the site of House Baratheon, future ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. Gaining influence and a good relationship with the noble family would make the future steps of Victor a lot easier and would complement his strategic goals.

Victor was thinking about gaining control over the only large-scale island in Shipbreakers Bay, where the parents of Robert Baratheon just died last year. 

Tarth.