Chapter 032 – Advancements

[289 AC]

Aqueducts had been built that connected to the Rhoyne, one of the main rivers of Essos, which almost completely crossed the continent from the north to the south.

The river formed a giant delta on the southern coast of Essos from which it flowed into the Summer Sea, which was also the exact location upon which Volantis sat.

These aqueducts, inspired by Roman and surprisingly Braavosi example, were used to not only bring water into the city for the public bathhouses, but mostly to flush the waste from the the sewers into the Summer Sea. Of course, it couldn't do so directly at the shore where Volantis lay, so the waste was disposed of in the sea at a distance from the First Daughter.

It was a massive project indeed and even after years only the very basics had been constructed, connecting a few very large public restrooms to this sewer grid. But expansions had already been planned and were worked on at the moment, so Phenex knew that the city's situation would improve rapidly from here on out.

Housing was also a great problem in Volantis and the other Free Cities, as the appearances of slums had to be prevented by creating enough living space for the continuously growing population of the city.

Thankfully, Phenex had seen this coming and had ordered a lot of the big courtyards of fomer nobles to be rebuilt into medieval-style residental complexes.

Interestingly enough, it wasn't the former slaves that he needed to worry about, as most of them had a roof over their head. As slaves, it had been their master's responsibility to make sure that their 'property' was well, which meant that most of them had a place to stay.

The ratio between free men and slaves had been one to five, before Phenex had freed them, but those he had to worry about the most, when it came to housing were the poor free men. Some of them had been former slaves, freed by their masters or other lucky circumstances, but it didn't do them any good, as Volantis had never been an easy city to live in.

Like the sewers, it was a project that was ongoing and would continue to do so in the future, as the population in Volantis was only going to increase and the people would need a space to live in.

The last big project that Phenex was heavily invested in were roads.

It was a fact that the roads from Free City to Free City in Essos were practically nonexistent, the reason being manyfold.

First was the fact that almost all Free Cities and Blessed Cities were coastal settlements, which made it easy to transport goods from one place to another per ship, without having to invest in roads. It was also a faster way of travel, while a lot of cargo could be transported at once.

The second reason being the Dothraki, the slaving horselords roaming the plains between the Free Cities, and while some of them could be negotiated with, that wasn't the case for everyone of them, or even the majority of them.

They were a constant threat and plague, so building roads where they could easily find targets was not something any Free City had considered. Additionally there existed enough normal bandits, who posed the same problem as the Dothraki.

Adding to that, the cost of such roads would be huge and the question of who would shoulder these costs would cause endless arguments between the rulers of different cities, so there had never been a fruitful attempt to build a solid stone road.

All these reasons though were irrelevant for the Blessed Cities under Phenex's rule.

Sharing the cost was a moot point, as these cities were all ruled by the temple and while the travel by sea was fast, it had its limits. Especially when it concerned moving large amounts of troops.

Such an endeavour would need an equally large amount of ships and considering that the size of the army from all cities under Phenex's control added together was 300.000 men strong, the ships needed were around ten thousand and up.

And that wasn't even counting the logistical support such a massive army needed.

Clearly, this number was not one that could be moved quickly by sea from one city to another, so the roads were absolutely necessary.

The Dothraki also weren't a real problem, as Phenex had long since ordered the soldiers to patrol the territory now under his control to purge these lands from the horselords, along with patrol ships that kept the waters around the Blessed Cities safe from some of the more daring pirates.

Fire Sword, a branch of warrior priests and army leaders, had also been created to oversee the army and command them according to his introductions.

These priests had also all been granted the ability to detect enemy movement by being able to sense life, which was necessary as the Dothraki moved in khalasaars of differing sizes. Some only a few hundred men strong, while others were the size of a Free City army with tens of thousands of men.

The Fiery Hand's members had also doubled in quantity since two years ago, making them a ten-thousand man strong, unstoppable force. They were their own branch however and had their own commanding officers, who coordinated with the generals of the Fire Sword.

In the last few years, the temple's armies had successfully slain thousands upon thousands of Dothraki, other bandit groups and more than enough pirates.

One particularly spectacular battle had been against a khalasaar with roughly 12 thousand riders, who had been stopped by only a few hundred Fiery Hand members, as they had simply cut through the enemy lines like a hot knife through butter.

Their speed, strength and regenerative abilities, along with their superior weaponry had made this, normally impossible to win battle, a slaughter.

The Fiery Hand's name had since spread all over Essos and terrified quite a few city rulers, Khals and banditgroups.

Conclusively, this meant that the territory between the cities could be connected without troubles, something that was also worked on constantly.

The stone and wood necessary for all the constructions had come from North Valyria, after Phenex had sent the Fiery Hand along with fifty thousand soldiers and a hundred priests half a year ago to purge Mantarys from all the assassins and criminals that lived there, while he had personally taken action to heal the deformed and crippled living in the city.

Though as most of the city had been murderous scum and banished criminals, there had barely been a few thousand remaining residents. Still, the city worked perfectly as a mining outpost.

The criminals that had survived the assault had directly been put to work in the mines, while the rest of the population had received the temples' grace like Lys, Tyrosh and Myr.

A government had been put in place, temples built, orphanages and bathouses opened up, along with the work and food that had been provided.

The work was mostly mining stone in the mountain or cutting lumber in the woods, but the work hours were fair, while the people received free food for their work and a small pay.

Craftsmen, mostly carpenters, shipbuilders and a few blacksmiths, had also been sent to Mantarys, as Phenex thought it only logical that they worked directly at the source, so that some time and cost could be saved in the transportation of these ressources.

As always, managing and ruling duties were dull and tedious, but the satisfaction of watching one's hard work and plans come to fruition was somewhat gratifying.