Game House

Excerpt from the diaries of Prince Doran Nymeros Martell about his Spy Network:

Building a spy network was hard work that took me many years. I started it when I was still a child, during my time in Oldtown. There I gained the friendship and loyalty of many acolytes who would later become my spies.

During that time I founded Hogwarts Toy Company and after having an epiphany I realized that my workers travel all over the world delivering my products: they would be the perfect skeleton for a worldwide spy network. Turning sailors and merchants into spies was not a difficult task as both were already used to keeping an ear open for any gossip.

After the success of my company I opened several toy stores in different major harbors around the world, the first store I opened was in Shadow City, the second was in King's Landing, the third in Oldtown, and so on. By the time I was twelve years old I had shops in every major city in Westeros and in various places in Essos (Braavos, Pentos, Myr, Norvos and Qohor). Those shops have two purposes, the obvious being to sell my products and the hidden one being to serve as a gathering intel place, mini-headquarters for my spies.

Needless to say, most of my employees are part of my Spy Network, and those who are not are being trained to become members.

My spy network is not limited to my direct employees, I also have agents who work in other places such as harbors or even serving other lords.

***

3 Moon of year 259AC

Dorne, Planky Town.

Doran and his faithful Knight returned to their ship to change their clothes, since the one they were wearing at the moment were not suitable for the place they planned to go.

"Of all your inventions underwear is my favorite." Lothar comments as he puts on some good quality black pants. Doran nods, he feels more pride in that little invocation than the galleon they are in now.

Since he was still a baby the prince created a mental list of all the inventions he wants to introduce into this world, some are very striking like his ships while others are more discreet but much more useful in everyday life, like underwear. What used to be used as underwear were some very uncomfortable baggy pants and a long shirt. Doran hated them, they were uncomfortable to wear and in the desert that extra layer of clothing increased the heat even more. Not wearing them was not an option either, as the feeling of the pants on the skin was even more unpleasant. So the prince set out to create modern underwear himself, learning to sew with that goal in mind.

And like anything used by someone of such high social status as him, modern underwear gained a lot of celebrity and many wanted it. Seeing how comfortable and practical it is, modern underwear became even more famous.

For a prince to invent something like that was frowned upon in society so Princess Dorna intervened and made the world believe that the one who created modern underwear was Doran's personal maid, Myria. The prince did not mind that it was his maid who got the credit for the invention, and in fact he used her to introduce some more comfortable clothing to the market.

After finishing dressing, the two left the cabin of the galleon and entered the town.

Doran was dressed in green, with pants and a sleeveless doublet under a black cape. Lothar was dressed in clothes similar to his prince only in a different color, in black with silver details. The clothes were elegant and expensive but not of the quality that a prince would be expected to wear, rather something befitting a wealthy merchant or an ordinary nobleman.

After walking for half an hour they reached their destination:

A large three-story tall building made of stone and concrete. The building is elegantly decorated making it stand out from the surrounding buildings and on either side of the large double doors that serve as the entrance is an armed man standing guard.

Doran stood for a moment admiring the building, even from outside he could hear the music and people talking.

"Looks like there are a lot of people inside betting their coins." Lothar looks at the sign above the door.

Doran hums in response.

"Let's go inside."

The two walked toward the building and had to move out of the way as a group of obviously drunk men stumbled out.

"Damn wench! Denying me a pitcher of beer-" One of the men complains.

"I couldn't blame her, you don't even have coins left to buy a glass of water." One of his friends makes fun of him causing the others to start laughing.

"What did you say, you piece of shit?" It seems that the first drunk did not take the teasing well and went to hit his friend.

Lothar was going to intervene before a fight broke out but Doran grabbed his arm.

"We can't draw attention to ourselves like that, ser. Let's take advantage of the ruckus to get into the building." He whispers. Lothar reluctantly agrees and they sneak past the drunks who have started fighting each other. Closing the door behind them, they heard the guards shout something at the drunks, most likely breaking up the fight.

***

All of Prince Doran's Game Houses have a similar design. Upon entering there is a wide corridor that has two double doors on one side and several on the other, and at the end of it there are stairs guarded by two guards.

The two double doors lead into a huge room. That room has a bar in the middle and scattered throughout the room are various games, from poker tables to pool tables. Customers can participate in any game without paying anything, their coins are spent on drinks and bets.

The doors across the hall lead to private rooms, some of which can be rented by clients while others cannot. This is where the highest stakes games are held on this floor of the Game House. Access to these rooms requires a Game House membership. The memberships have three levels, the necessary to access these rooms is Bronze Membership that costs 1 copper star per Moon.

While this level is open to all players, regardless of their background, the second floor of the Game House is more exclusive.

There you can only access with a Silver Membership that costs two silver stags per Moon. It is not excessively expensive since that floor is intended for knights, merchants and poor nobles.

The design of that floor is almost identical to the first with the difference that the decoration is more ostentatious.

The top floor of the Game House is intended for the nobility and the wealthy in general. To be able to enter you need a Golden Membership that costs five golden dragons a year.

The design of this floor is more elegant than the other two, the main room is smaller and there are more private rooms.

Each membership level has benefits, beyond access to a certain floor of the Game House, the benefits range from one free drink a day to free chips. Being a member of a Game House you receive a ring, the ring of each membership level is different and you can use them to access any Game House belonging to Prince Doran.

Doran and Lothar show their golden rings with the Game House symbol on them to the guards and they step aside allowing them to go up the stairs. They show the rings to the guards on the second floor again and go up to the third.

Doran enters a private room while Lothar goes to find the people who are here to see. The prince leans against the window frame and looks out over the town. The district they are in is full of inns and taverns so even in the middle of the night there are quite a few people coming and going from one place to another.

"The shadows spread," a voice says.

"Under the sunlight." Doran finishes the code.

***

NOTE: I little mistake I noticed and just corrected. Doran is not 12 Westerosi years old yet, is birthday is the last day of the 7th moon of the year so he is still 11. But since westerosi years are almost a month longer than ours he is 12 physically, but looks a bit older.