17 Chapter 017 – War and Progress

[287 AC]

From that day onwards, Braavos had ceased all attempts to interfere with Volantis' business, while they had sent ships filled with riches, as reparations for past disgressions.

Gold, fabrics, spices, expensive and well-aged wines, along with many other things, were included in those riches. They had even sent two Valyrian-steel blades along, with one of them being the long lost Blackfyre, the second heirloom weapon of House Targaryen.

It seemed that the Iron Bank had taken the weapon into their possession after Phenex had eradicated the Golden Company years ago, as they had been the former owners. This wasn't too surprising a development, as the founder and first leader of the Golden Company had been a Targaryen bastard, who had fled from Westeros after the failed Blackfyre Rebellion.

The Blackfyre Rebellion being the name of the civil war fought amongst the Targaryen descendants and bastards, after a former Targaryen King had legitimized all his bastards on his deathbed.

Still, with this Phenex was now in possession of both Targaryen heirloom blades – Dark Sister and Blackfyre, which may come in handy in the future.

Another important point was that the preparation for the war against Lys, Tyrosh and Myr had been completed. The fleet of ships had already set sail for Lys and Tyrosh some days ago, while the army that traveled towards Myr on foot, had left even earlier.

…

Several weeks later the fighting had already ended, the forces of Volantis having achieved an overwhelming victory.

Of course that was mostly thanks to the priests Kinvara had sent and the fact that Phenex had allowed the five-thousand members of the Fiery Hand to connect to the magical heart too, though in a different way than the priests. This had given them increased physical attributes and great healing abilities.

Originally there had been no more than a thousand soldiers in the Fiery Hand, but Phenex had told Kinvara to expand their ranks with loyal and capable fighters.

In a fight they were basically unstoppable, as their fierce loyalty and devotion made them fearless in the face of an enemy, while their personal strength equaled three normal men.

Lys, had tried to hire a lot of sellswords, but after what had happened in Braavos, only very few of them still dared to face off against Volantis' forces. Ultimately, they could only rely on their slave soldiers, which didn't end well for them.

At the end they had been conquered in less than a day, as the slaves had refused to throw their lives away against an overwhelming force of roughly 75.000 soldiers that had been sent by Kinvara.

In the last few years, Volantis military had grown from 90.000 to roughly 120.000 and that was only, because Phenex had instructed Kinvara to not scale up their forces randomly, but to ensure that the quality of the soldiers were up to par.

Tyrosh had equally been defeated a few days later, though the fights there had been more bloody and the losses had been greater, as they had employed several pirate crews hiding on the islands around the Stepstones to fight for them, after most sellsword companies had declined their offers.

Another 30.000 men had been sent to Myr on foot, spear-headed by three thousand Fiery Hand soldiers and a number of high priests, including Kinvara herself. Myr had also managed to gather the support of roughly ten-thousand Dothraki, though it hadn't helped them in defeating the forces of Volantis.

The results of the three-pronged conquest had ultimately been successful and while there were losses, they weren't substantial thanks to the healing abilities of the priests.

In all three cities, the temples had of course been attacked, after Volantis' armies had arrived, as they city's rulers had tried to take hostages amongst the priests and servants in the temples.

These attempts though all ended in failure, as a veil of fire had protected the temples from being breached, which had added greatly to the reputation of the faith and substantially increased the number of believers in these three cities.

Doubly so, after the temples had taken over the cities and announced that all slaves were now free men, before performing a thorough purge of the cities upper echelon.

There were of course those who wanted to be spared and had thus surrendered, though this was only possible for those that didn't have any severe crimes to their names. These men and women had thus been marked with the symbol of a black flame on the back of their hands, ensuring that, if they dared to conspire against the temple, they would turn to ashes immediately.

Phenex didn't enjoy forcing people's obedience like this, but he remembered very well the happenings in Meereen after Daenerys had conquered the city. The Harpy's constant attempt at assassination, undermining her rule and authority.

At the end the only thing that these people understood, no matter their language, was power and violence, so that they would rein in their greed.

Of course they could still be rich and powerful, but only as long as they followed the temple's laws, simple as that.

Still, conquering these cities came with its own problems, as now Phenex had to think about their economical advancement, especially Lys and Tyrosh.

Myr was famed for their artisans in all of the known world, with their crystal lenses being used even in Castle Black, while their tapestries and laces were worth their weight in gold. It was therefore not reliant on slave-trade like Lys and Tyrosh to keep their economy afloat.

This was a serious issue, as Phenex couldn't let these cities become destitute, which was why he came up with several ideas to prevent such things from happening.

The first being that all those women and men willing to continue their work as sex workers, could become part of a new branch of the Red Temple called the Blazing Pleasure .

On Phenex's orders dozens of pleasure houses had been opened up under the name of Blazing Pleasure, where every sex worker was welcome and could be employed.

These high-class establishments were fitted with private rooms and baths for all employees, while being guarded by members of the Volantenese soldiers and a handful of Fiery Hand members.

They would then be marked with a small flaming symbol between their brows or on their cheek, which would grant them protection against all sexual diseases, as well as place them under the direct protection of the temple, and therefore Volantis and Phenex itself.

This was something incredibly precious, as only the priests, priestesses and the Fiery Hand had received such direct protection until now. This also meant that any attempt to harm them would be followed by severe punishments, while their status had also been raised considerably.

Another added benefit was that should a woman get pregnant, her child would be taken care of by the servants of the Blazing Pleasure House and even taught how to read, write and count.

In return, any customer would not pay them directly, but the house instead, while they received a fair monthly salary from the house. Tips and such, they could of course keep for themselves.

This type of management, when it came to sex workers on that scale, was completely unprecedented and was also a major success.

Most prostitues, male and female, had belonged to the lowest class and nobody had taken special care of them, except for high-class escorts. This new arrangement ensured not only their safety, but also generated a steady stream of customers.

The simple fact that all of them were disease-free was a major selling point, while it also took a burden off the sex-worker's shoulders.

Another thing Phenex had introduced in Lys and Tyrosh was the brewing of other alcohols like whiskey, vodka, different types of wines and liquors.

Brewing and fermenting was a rather simple process and not only did he have knowledge about these things from his last life, but his father and other ancestors did too.

The same went for producing roman-style glass. The glass that Myr was known for all over Essos and Westeros, was crystal glass, as producing glass via a kiln wasn't something that had yet been discovered.

So after drawing up plans for kilns and explaining the process of producing glass with nothing but sand and a flux, Phenex handed these plans to Kinvara so she could implement them.

The process wasn't overly complicated and the end product also wouldn't be perfectly clear glass, as the technology in this world simply wasn't advanced enough to remove all the impurities from the raw materials, but with enough manpower and artisans working together, there was sure to be great results either way.

Crystal glass was incredibly expensive, but with this new method, cheaper glass products could be produced, like cups, bottles and windows, which would sell just as well, probably even better. And the profits would be enormous as sand was essentially free. Especially on islands and coastal regions like Lys, Tyrosh and Myr.

In the industrialised age on Earth, borax, a naturally occuring mineral, had been used as a flux, which was a component that lowered the needed temperature for melting the sand and it also helped in expelling air and other impurities.

And while Phenex did know of this material, he instead listed saltwort as a flux, which was basically weeds and grasses that grew in coastal regions of saltwater lakes and oceans.

Burnt to ashes and filtered, it could also be used as a flux, even though its performance wasn't as good as borax. It was also what the romans used in their time to produce glass, that in addition to its availability and null cost made it a good choice.

Phenex knew that it would take some time for the glasses and the alcohols to prove profitable, but a few months was nothing in the grand scheme of things and Volantis could easily shoulder the costs of supporting Lys and Tyrosh during that time.

In a few years, he was sure that these four cities under his control, would probably become the wealthiest amongst all the Free Cities. If not, they for sure were the safest and most orderly to live in.

Also, through the conquering of these three cities, the whole south-western corner of Essos was now under Volantene rule, i.e. the temples and Phenex's rule.

To ensure that the secrets behind these businesses wouldn't be leaked, he had also once again established a new branch of the temple, he called Flaming Craft, specifically for artisans and craftsmen to join.

Once they did, they would likewise receive a small flame mark that improved their health and longevity, and gain the protection of the temple, while the flame marks also ensured their silence and loyality.

Though they had the duty to share the secrets of their craft with the temple and the other artisans, while they also gained access to the advanced knowledge Phenex provided, which he made sure wouldn't leapfrog the current technology or age by too much.

Phenex hoped that this would help in advancing the current standard of living, while creating a place for innovation and creativity. Likewise the children of these artisans and craftsman were also taken care of, as literacy was a great issue in time periods like these.