292 AL

Griffith I
A warm breeze blew through his apartments at the very apex of the great pyramid of Meereen, a few scrolls on his flawless cedar desk attempted to dance away on the winds of the bay. Griffith caught the scrolls with the tips of his fingers, ordering one of his attendees to close the curtains of his apartments. The great pyramid of Meereen had become a fine palace and office for the daily run of affairs Griffith had been keeping himself busy with. Much had to be done to ensure the loyalty of his newly conquered people. He had to overthrow the traditional order, but maintain a semblance of continuality, as to not shock the population too much at once with his ambitious reforms.

For one the massive bronze Harpy of the great pyramid had remained untouched. In fact Griffith had taken it as one of his own symbols now. After all the Harpy was the perfect summation of his new realm. He wings representing the Hawk. And the woman the people of his new realm. A people united and strengthened by the Hawks' wings! He had participated in many religious ceremonies and attended the fighting pits as well. Earning him a careful sense of respect amongst the former masters and the priests of the city. Not that Griffith was that religious, he simply saw the use of not angering the main religion in the realm he had only just sat foot on.

He had however been changing many other things in these last 2 years. ''Had it really already been two years since the Hawks conquered Meereen?'' He mused as a couple of children ran past his apartments. Almost as if they didn't know they were hostages to his new regime. Taking the sons and daughters of the great families of Meereen and the other cities hostage had proven to be a very valuable way of keeping them under control. His reforms had hit the power of the former Masters the most, as he broke their power and reduced to a mere class of learned men and scribes. Rather than the men of wealth and power they used to be before.

Truly they should have been happy he had not ordered them all killed. Griffith despised slavery to its very core, ''Men must follow my dreams of their own free will, not because I ordered them to do so. Otherwise what is the point.'' He said with enough volume to alert his attendee, a literate young man from the original Hawks named Emilé. ''Is there anything you require King Griffith?'', Griffith simply waved away the concerns of the attendee, never forgetting to smile heartily while doing so.

''King Griffith'', he thought. ''Now that is something I have been wishing to hear for a long time.''
King Griffith looked a map of his domain, Meereen, Yunkai, Astapor and the lands surrounding these three great cities belong to me. Corkus governs Yunkai, stomping out any resistance and building up quite the intriguing network of ''Birds of Paradise'' as the calls them. Griffith smirked at that, he knew full well that Corkus used the connections of Yunkai's former bedslaves to collect dirt on any who opposed him or forge bonds with anyone who may be of use to him. He had proven to be quite capable when properly motivated. And motivation by teats proved to be working the best, as long as he remained loyal, Griffith did not care.

Astapor was currently governed by Judeaux, a crafty and competent man. And above all, loyal. He as well had ruthlessly stomped out any resistance to Griffiths rule, taking hostages, threathening people when necessary but also by winning the commoners hearts by relentlessly enforcing many reforms and laws that would improve their livelihoods. Yes the Kingdom of Hawks' Bay had truly changed the lives of everyone in the area formerly known as Slavers Bay. His agents had already infiltrated the cities of Tolos and Mantarys, stirring up the local slave population in his favor and preventing them from attacking the still fragile stability of his new realm. The cities of the Isle of Cidars had been harassed by ships flying the Hawks' flag for a few months now, primarily attacking slave ships and the like. But leaving other merchants perfectly safe, sometimes even escorting them to the safety of a local harbor.

Envoys from the so called Free Cities had arrived rather sooner than later when it became clear that the Hawks' were here to stay. Some envoys such as those of Lys, Myr and Tyrosh simple asked for a continuation of trade, knowing that they were not in a position to oppose the Kingdom of Hawk's Bay its policy on slavery. They figured they'd make the best of it and even brought symbolic gifts from their cities. Griffith looked a small bottle said to contain the Tears of Lys, a deadly poison. Presumably given to him as an insult or a threat, he had simply smiled and thanked the Lysian envoy for his considerate gift. Flabbergasting the envoy and allowing Griffith to charm the envoy into signing a few trade treaties with his new Kingdom.

These acts had very much angered the much stronger city of Volantis. A veritable first among equals if there was such a thing amongst the Free Cities. The Volantine envoy had demanded that he would return to the slaver business of the former rulers and reimburse the Volantines for their lost wares. Casca had properly slapped the envoy with his approval and he had been shown the door. The next Volantene envoy was more... Flexible in his thinking, though still insisted on the reimbursement of the Volantene merchants and that they could perhaps come to some sort of agreement on 'labor contracts' and such. He had outright refused the thinly veiled excuse for slavery, but agreed to consider a reimbursement for the Volantene merchants. As he did not want the entire Volantine fleet and allies to attack his new realm, not yet at least.

Really the only envoys from he really took a friendly interest in where the Braavosi. Who where themselves a city of freedmen and runaway slaves, to Griffith they were practically gift wrapped allies and trading partners. Griffith would meet the Braavosi envoy, Tycho Nestoris later that day to discuss certain matters. One of them being if Griffith would consider a loan from the Iron Bank to finance the many projects he had running across his new lands. It would remain to be seen how fast the former masters coffers would run dry before he needed loans to fulfill his ambitions...

Rebuilding Bhorash and establishing new border towns on fortified positions had helped defending his realm against the ever annoying Dothraki raids. No serious Dothraki Khallasars had crossed into his lands since they destroyed Khal Jhiego on that faithful day. The small Khallasars all wanted to make a name for themselves by defeating the Hawk and his greatsword wielding general. Guts had certainly been busy in the hills of Lhazar and the edges of the Painted Mountains. Smashing small Dothraki raids and Khallasars rapdidly with his raiders and own ''Bloodriders''. Normally Griffith would have been concerned by a minion amassing an own group of loyalists. But Guts did not care for politics, as was proven by the fact that Griffith had to send envoys to the Lhazareen himself. As Guts simply did not care about them enough to establish some sort of relations with the herders.

Griffith however had seen them as useful buffer states against further Dothraki incursions. He had been trading their wool, meats and grain for high quality steel that the Hawks' smiths produced. And he even sent over some drill sergeants to whip the Lhazareen militias into shape. His men had become very popular around the Lhazareen villages, and thanks to Mirri Maaz Duur his men spoke the Lhazari language to some degree. Yes that woman had been very useful in explaining how the Dothraki and Lhazareen societies worked.

To be frank, the Dothraki were idiots. While masters of horse archery they barely made use of it in combat. Preferring to charge half naked into the enemy ranks... They were ferocious that's for sure, but they lacked doctrine and proper tactics. Which made them a mere nuisance. News that larger Khallasars had been taking notice of them had been... Disconcerting at least, perhaps he would simply bribe one of the approaching Khallasars. God forbid they would attack during a campaign against a power such as Volantis.

Guts his efficient cleaning up of the border regions had allowed Griffith to securely move settlers towards the new towns and the rebuild Bhorash. These settlers ranged from former slaves, freemen and those of the former nobility, or masters, of Slavers' Bay. In the harsh life of the frontiers there differences did not matter as much. And Griffith believed that it would dissipate the power of the former Masters by spreading them thinly.

Their literacy had however been useful as administrators of the new towns, to them their roles changed. But at least they still held more power than the rest of the rabble. That was how Griffith was selling the position of frontier town administrator to the former masters, after all everyone needed a little incentive beyond the sword. ''Men must follow my dreams of their own free will, not because I ordered them to do so. Otherwise what is the point.'' He thought, this time making sure not to alert his attendee by raising his voice, not wanting to be bothered by their attention.

These last few months Griffith had been thinking about how to run his new realm properly. Sure he had loyal governors in the great cities with Corkus and Judeaux. But what he really needed was a system in which almost all of the power was focused on him. Sure it would be a monarchy, but not a feeble one such as Midland had. With feuding nobles always thinking they could meddle with the decision making. No! His governors and administrators had to be just that! Loyal Hawks of King Griffith, competency and loyalty! He had gathered many scholars from his realm, as well as the odd job from his own men who knew his legal codes. And had set them to work on creating a new legal code based on his wishes. It should protect the people, and focus all power around the King, who should only be checked by law. Not by rebellious nobles and ''great masters''.

His attendee Emilé caught his attention, ''Your Grace, the Braavosi envoy, Tycho Nestoris has arrived.'' Griffith nodded and signalled for Emilé to send the Braavosi envoy into the office. ''Come in my Braavosi friend, I'm sure there are many things to discuss. But first would you care for some food or drink?''