Aftermath of the Conquest

In the coming weeks Victor made many decisions to strengthen the foundation on the newly captured islands. He decided on how to use the captured wealth, pirates, mercenaries, and the large number of slaves. The pirates and mercenaries were sent to Redwater to die in the mines and the former slaves were used as construction workers, but not before letting them rest and eat in peace for a few days. The captured wealth was quite large, but Victor still looked down on it. After forming several industrial chains for House Di Natale, the family would never lack something like money. He heavily rewarded the three commanders and the elite soldiers. Each commander earned himself a large piece of land on the island they conquered and were further responsible for commanding the military port. Victor built a scouting network around the now six islands he controlled in the Stepstones, to make sure he would not be threatened by a fast attack anytime soon.

Overall, the military action was a large success and further improved the status of House Di Natale in Lys. They not only earned a large amount of money for most families but also made sure Lys was safe against military attacks. Even though the many noble houses of Lys owned private armed forces and supported mercenary regiments in the Disputed Lands, if they were to fight real battles against large scale elite armies, they would have not the slightest chance.

The size and strength of the navy further improved this point. As Lys was placed in the middle of the sea House Di Natale now had a way to completely control Lys without even needing to be part of politics. Everybody knew that if Victor wished for it, he could completely block Lys from the outside world with his large number of ships and siege equipment, while Canahs was a fortification that even the alliance of all noble families of Lys could never capture. A trade blockade would be extremely detrimental for a city that thrived through entertainment and trade. If Victor would improve the strength of the navy with newer and more technological advanced ships and new weapons with longer range and more destructive ability, the foundation of House Di Natale would be extremely strong. He now no longer had any worries. 

While the news of the conquest spread far and wide the free states that heavily participated in the attack, like Tyrosh, Myr and Pentos, were completely at loss. This feeling slowly but surely turned into panic as they realized they couldn't defend themselves at all if Victor were to decide on revenge. They just lost a large part of their fleet and sailors and were not at all prepared to defend against large siege equipment placed on boats. Let's not even talk about the green fire of Lys. The incendiary bombs were on their way to become even more popular than the already feared Tears of Lys, simply because they could cause more destruction on a large scale and were way more important in large scale wars. This also improved the status of the Alchemy Guild in Lys quite a lot. They were very grateful that their youngest student brought honor to the guild, even if he decided to not participate for the last few years. But Victors time away from alchemy and chemistry will soon end. The extreme use of alchemy in this war once again showed him the importance of technological advancement, especially in chemical warfare. If he were to develop poisonous bombs, he would completely overpower the art of war that is used in Westeros right now. But this kind of tactics would also damage the honor of the noble House Di Natale. Something as despicable should only be used as a last whole card, especially in a world full of feudalistic thoughts and a strong concept of family honor.

While Victor was consolidating his achievements his enemies were thinking about how to deal with the aftermath of the war. Once they realized that they had no way of winning back the lost islands and even were unable to defend if Victor decided to attack further, they didn't have many opportunities left. They decided it was time for a peace agreement. Obviously, this peace agreement couldn't be placed in any of the free states that participated in the losing site of the war. The only realistic place would be Lys. But they all knew that they would be even more disadvantaged in the negotiations if they were held on Victor's home soil. So, they asked the only noble family known for their relatively good connection to House Di Natale, apart from the families of Lys, as a peacemaker.

House Martell of Dorne.

They wished for peace negotiations to be held at Sunspear. This request made House Martell very uncomfortable. Some of the nobles that lost were from Dorne and among the 500 captured soldiers there were two dornish knights. If they disagreed with the request, they would not only worsen their relationship with the free states but also abandon their good relationship with the two noble families in Dorne. On the other hand, they would consume the goodwill House Di Natale had for them but could greatly increase the loyalty of the two dornish families and further increase their cooperation with the rich merchants of Essos. This could be of great benefit for Dorne and especially House Martell. As most parts of Dorne are deserts and they have little to no relationship with the Reach and the Stormlands they rely quite heavily on trade relationships with the free states of Essos by sea. Especially House Martell, as the location of Sunspear dictates that they need a good relationship with the sea powers of the Narrow Sea.

Finally, three weeks later an invitation of House Martell reached House Di Natale. They invited representatives of Lys to Sunspear to discuss peace talks. Victor was ready to respond to this invitation as he already planned to visit Sunspear once the conquest finished. This gave him a great opportunity to visit without alerting the other noble families of Westeros, especially the current rulers, the Targaryen family.