Dragon Manse, The prosperous Lands.

The day news came of the rebel Jon Arryn's death a feast was held by the king, when the Usurper died an even grander feast was held, and when word came of a civil war brewing, well joy permeated every surface of the Manse as it seemed after years the Targaryens were finally receiving their chance to take back the Iron throne.

The King Viserys wanted to invade immediately, believing that it was best to set themselves up as an alternative before one side could get the situation under control but Ser Oswell disagreed. For the Knight knew that even with all the sellswords they could hire the Targaryens did not have the number to win against any of the kingdoms, let alone all of them. No, they needed more gold, more ships and more men before they could even begin to plan an Invasion of Westeros.

The Knight also knew that many of the Great Houses would still have many grudges due to King Aerys II's actions and that they would need to offer incentives in order to prevent the Great houses from uniting against the Targaryens.

And so a hunt for allies began. They used the network they had created over the years to search far and wide for prospective allies. Soon they were directed to a man by the name of Illario Mopatis, a rich Magister from Pentos. Illario it seemed was a friend of Varys the eunuch. This new alone made Ser Oswell very wary for he had never trusted Varys. And it seemed his instincts were correct for Illario Mopatis wanted them to ally with the Dothraki! Even ignoring the fact that the dothraki have always betrayed their allies , everyone knew the dothraki would never cross the ocean, they in fact feared crossing rivers which were too deep.

But Illario was persuasive, he was a magister after all, reminding them that the dothraki were a dying race. After being defeated in the Horse-River Wars and being hunted down by the people of the east Essos, they numbered only in the thousands. Recently a young khal had reunited all the Khalasars into one and this Khal was clever. He knew that his people faced extinction if they continued on as they had. If King Viserys could offer his Khalasars lands in westeros he could gain the loyalty of the Dothraki, It seemed at this time Viserys was convinced, while even se Oswell looked contemplative. However when asked about how they could ally with the dothraki, they were told the marriage between Princess Daenerys and the Khal was the only way. At this the King Viserys rejected the magisters plans completely and wholeheartedly. The King would not give up his sister.

Finding this to be a dead end, they dismiss the Magister who leaves for Pentos. Now however the Targaryens are where they started, eventually after much thought and research, they decide the only ones who can help are the Volantene.

And so the Targaryens set out for Volantis, hoping that this venture is more successful.

Volantis, often called Old Volantis in the past and now Great Volantis is located at the mouth of the River Rhoyne on the Summer Sea. The oldest and the proudest of the Nine Free Cities, Volantis has had a turbulent History after the Doom of Valyria.

In the first two centuries after the Doom Volantis tried to rebuild the Valyrian empire, but they failed. In that time, they lost wealth, men and power. What was once undisputedly the strongest power of Essos after the doom was slowly eclipsed by Braavos, The Kingdom of the Three Daughters, The Kingdom of Sarnor and was facing an increasing threat from the Rhoynar who were once again claiming the Lands of the Rhoyne, rebuilding their lost civilisation under the new Kings of the Rhoyne. In this time many felt that the time of the Volantene as a great power in Essos had passed if it not for the Triarch Laenor Celegaris. A member of the elephant party and Heir to one of the oldest and most noble families in all of Volantis. Triarch Laenor recognised that Volantis must become more powerful and that power could net be secured via the old methods. Slavery was dying across Essos in Laenor time, and since old Volantis' power came from slaves Laenor decided to survive Volantis must Adapt. He first secured friendship treaties with Volantis' neighbours, fixing the borders. He then began his great works. Under his plans East Volantis expanded fivefold. Large aqueducts were built taking rivers worth of water to all parts of the city, where it was used to clean the city and its people with 100 great baths built. Also a canal was cut dividing the eastern city into two. Not only did this canal act as a large sewer taking the waste out of the city but it also allowed river barrages to travel into the city creating markets away from the main harbour. Laenor also welcomed trade with the Rhoynar, passing a law which stated that any ship had to either stop and put their goods for sale at the markets of Volantis or pay a fee. This meant that all the sea trade of the growing Rhoynar passed through Volantene markets enriching the city greatly. New roads were built along with river ports and storage facilities. All this meant an increase in the trade and revenue.

Laenor also used the warlike instincts of the Tiger party for his own use, directing their bloodlust at the corsairs of the Basilisk isles. Only this time, rather than simply killing off the corsairs and leaving, Volantis had the forest of the largest islands burnt down and replaced them with fruit and spice plantations.

All this caused Volantis to thrive. Furthermore when Volantis began hunting down the small Khalasars of the dothraki they were able to use this collective effort to mend the past and build new ties. This meant that the Volantene no longer faced the restrictions the other free cities had posed on them since the century of blood.

Nothing demonstrated these ties better than when Laenor was welcomed in Chroyane, the festival city, and the capital of the Rhoynar with open arms. Soon Volantis once again become one of the great powers of Essos. Old Volantis, a name designating not its history but its weakness was replaced by Great Volantis.

Today the Volantene are once again richer than the braavosi, able to raise a fleet larger than any other free city, and can assemble more soldier than anyone barring the Sarnori and Rhoynar.

All this power and prosperity once again began causing dreams of an empire in the minds of the volantene, and decades after their revival they would get the opportunity to act on these dreams when a ship Bearing a flag of black with a three headed red dragon into the harbour.

Winterfell, The City of Winterfell, The North

Winterfell was in good provision. Its stores are full, its coffers are full and it held no debts. However that does not mean that the starks were not concerned. Summer has lasted for over 8 years now, the longest summer most can remember. This greatly worried the Northern Nobility who knew that a long summer is always followed by a longer winter. And so Lords Rickard and Eddard declared that the smallfolk must begin to store for winter. The yearly food storage requirements were increased to what they would have been during an autumn year. Lord Eddard also stopped any taxes paid to the iron throne, using the money for repairs, building shelters, food storages and other preparations.

Furthermore the Order of the Mother wolf was also given funds to begin filling up their storages, for they were the one main institutions the poor relied upon when they had no food during despite the starks concentration on their own lands, some lords were more worried about the news from the south. Many had written to Winterfell with reports of falling trade, reducing their own revenue and making their merchants poorer this was as the crisis of credit caused by Lord Gardeners decision had also affected the north despite the presence of the Bank of Winterfell.

Lord Wyman Manderly of White Harbour also wrote with concerns that the money lent by the North to the Crown was also no longer secure and may not be paid as all his letters to the crown regarding the debt had gone unanswered.

In this matter the Manderly's were not alone for Lord Rickard had also not received replies from the crown regarding the 400,000 Gold Dragons the crown had borrowed from them.

Though despite this high sum House Stark was not worried, for the Bank of Winterfell, which was also the holder of most of the wealth of House Stark, has about 10 million dragons in its vaults, while the vaults of Winterfell hold another 6 million.

And so as the fighting in the Riverland's began the North was at peace, confident it could avoid the war and bloodshed which was soon going to ravage the south. That the north could prepare the coming winter without worry. And they had every and all right to be confident.

If not for the fact that two ravens from the south soon arrived at the Dreadfort, the seat of House Bolton and Ryder Fort, the seat of House Ryswell. The North may not want war, but it was coming for it regardless.

The Lords Solar, The Eyrie, Vale of Arryn.

The Valemen who had been sent by lord Elbert to investigate Peytr Baelish's seat soon returned with a bounty of one Million Gold Dragons. As many of the soldiers celebrated, especially as lord Elbert rewarded each soldier with 12 gold dragons, the Lord of the Vale locked himself in his solar to begin thinking of ways to use this discovery to benefit his position in the War. It was then that his Maester came.

"we have a problem my lord"

"A problem? How can finding so much gold, one million Dragons! ever be a problem?"

"The problem is not the gold but theses ledgers, it seems that we cannot trust many of our lords, Baelish bought them, Or more specifically their debts"

"On the contrary Maester this is not a problem, but an opportunity."

"how is this an opportunity my lord?"

"Just wait and see"

Dismissing the Maester, Elbert sent an order for all his lords to come to the Eyrie. The reason in his letter was to plan for the war, and it was. Only not every lord who arrived would have the privilege of being heard, some would find that their purpose for the war effort was much different than they would imagine.

The Red Keep, Kings Landing, The Crownlands

The Regent and Dowager Queen Cersei is breaking her fast with her family when they were interrupted by a servant.

"Pardon your grace, but we have a visitor"

"A visitor, who?" Cersei asked, suspicious

"A man who claims to be a representative of the Iron Bank of Braavos, your grace"

"Who are the iron bank and what do they want from us mother?" King Joffrey asked

"They are one of the main lenders to the merchants and smaller lords, Nephew" His uncle Tyrion, the Dwarf and acting Hand of the King replied.

At this Joffrey ,predictably, lost interest and ordered his uncle to deal with it. However while Cersei pretended nothing had happened, in truth she was worried. She knew that the crown was not in the best shape at the moment.

This new development will cause trouble and pain, she knew it in her bones.