Falcon's Gambit

The **Falcon's Gambit** was a conflict fought between the North and the Vale that spanned the years 364 AC through 366 AC.

After the Vale suffered years of economic stagnation born of White Harbor's growing dominance over trade with Braavos, Lord Arryn decided to bolster Gulltown's trade by hampering that of the North. His unscrupulous sponsorship of piracy in the Bite, however, provoked a Manderly invasion of the Three Sisters. The crown subsequently intervened and ruled in favor of the North, stripping the vassalage of the sisterman houses from the Vale and compelling them to swear fealty to House Stark.

## Origins

Over the first half of the Fourth Century, White Harbor steadily grew in size and importance. Skillful economic diplomacy on House Manderly’s part brought close and fruitful relations with Braavos, and much of the trade that had previously flowed into southern ports was redirected into the Bite.

Though most southern ports continued to grow in prosperity despite this northward shift, Gulltown was especially hard hit, and commerce in the Vale stagnated. Even the port of Sisterton, which had for so long benefited from its proximity to White Harbor, saw fewer and fewer Braavosi vessels in its port with each passing year. The increase in mercantile traffic in the Bite, moreover, interfered the Three Sisters’ fishing industry.

At the Eyrie, these grievances did not fall on deaf ears. Even in the Mountains of the Moon, the lords of the Vale - few of whom ever cared for matters of finance - could feel the effects of Gulltown’s economic decline. Lord Uther Arryn promised his vassals that he would take quick and decisive action to return the Vale’s coastal trade to its former heights.

Lord Uther met with a Braavosi representative at Gulltown and tried to negotiate a new trade relationship on the city’s behalf, but the Braavosi proved impossible to persuade. Neither did Lord Arryn’s heavy investments in Gulltown seem to make a difference; with their taxes going to waste, the lords of the Vale grew angrier with Lord Arryn’s response than they were with the problem he was attempting to solve.

Having failed to raise Gulltown into prosperity, Lord Arryn turned to the opposite approach and began working to undermine White Harbor

## The Falcon's Gambit

### Piracy in the Bite

Early in 364 AC, Lord Uther Arryn entreated with several narrow sea pirates at Sisterton, where they were joined by the lords of every sisterman house. To rogues and noblemen alike, he put forth an irresistible offer. They were granted permission to raid any Braavosi ship traveling to or from White Harbor, and were allowed to take keep ninety percent of the loot. So long as they other ten percent was given to the Eyrie, they would enjoy the full protection of House Arryn at every port in the Vale. Lord Arryn’s only other condition was that all piracy in the Bite would cease as soon as he was ready to end the operation.

Only a day passed between the formulation of the agreement and the initiation of the raids. The course of 364 AC saw a dramatic and sustained rise in piracy throughout the Bite, and the consequences were swift and immediate. Many Braavosi merchants resigned to trading in Gulltown instead, and despite Lord Arryn’s terms, even Westerosi ships were regularly targeted by the pirates. Though the expected economic revival of Gulltown had yet to come fully into fruition, by the end of the year Lord Arrn’s scheme had proven successful.

### The Invasion of the Sisters

House Manderly’s suspicions, however, had already been raised. At the beginning of 365 AC, Lord Manderly had finally gathered enough evidence to definitively prove the Vale’s complicity in piracy. Unwilling to rely on the crown to rein in Lord Arryn, he gathered two thousand men and the full might of his fleet for an invasion of the Three Sisters. He further enlisted the aid of several ships and five hundred men from Widow’s Watch; Lord Flint was no less aggrieved by the rise of piracy in the Bite.

When Manderly’s fleet approached the island of Sweetsister, the heavily outnumbered sisterman fleet readily surrendered. The small force mustered by House Sunderland and House Borrell prepared for a siege, but after three days Lord Manderly managed to break through one of Sisterton’s walls. Mere minutes after the northmen poured in, Lord Sunderland raised the banner of surrender.

An occupation immediately followed; Manderly and Flint footmen garrisoned the islands while their ships - joined by the seized sisterman fleet - prepared for the Vale’s inevitable response. As expected, Lord Arryn spent the next moon gathering every warship at the Vale’s disposal. A combined fleet of sixty-five sailed for Sweetsister under the command of Lord Melcolm, who was confident in his ability to take on Manderly’s fleet of forty.

Melcolm’s initial assault nearly overwhelmed Manderly’s forward line, and over the course of the battle more than half of the North’s ships were either seized or sunk. The Vale’s casualties, however, were just as heavy, and when a sudden injury incapacitated Lord Melcolm, his fleet’s organization fell apart. The northmen secured a narrow victory, forcing the Vale fleet to retreat to the east.

### The Capture of Widow's Watch

Though wounded and defeated, Lord Melcolm’s resolve remained unshaken. Knowing that a second attack on Sweetsister would likely end as poorly as the first, he instead sailed for Widow’s Watch. Undermanned, the castle immediately surrendered, and the Flints became prisoners in their own home. Lord Stark, who had tried to stay out of Manderly and Arryn’s conflict, could not abide the capture of northern territory. An army was raised at Winterfell, and Lord Stark made haste for Widow’s Watch.

No longer could the crown ignore the conflict. Early in 366 AC, the royal fleet sailed for the Bite, where it loomed large over the Three Sisters - but instead of retaking the islands, the King anchored his fleet at the island of Pebble. Lord Stark, in the meantime, surrounded Widow’s Watch with his army, but likewise refrained from assaulting its walls.

## The Treaty of Pebble

King Alester called for peace negotiations at Pebble, summoning lords Arryn, Stark, Flint, Melcolm, Sunderland, Borrell, Torrent and Longthorpe to Lord Pryor’s keep. The Valemen arrived confident, believing the King would recognize the invasion and occupation of the Sisters as an unwarranted act of aggression. To their chagrin, Alester was thoroughly convinced by the evidence of Lord Arryn’s support for piracy in the Bite.

Judging Lord Arryn to be the ultimate instigator of the conflict, the King ruled fully in the North’s favor. He called for the Three Sisters to be ceded from the Vale and for Lord Sunderland to swear fealty to House Stark. After failing to dissuade King Alester of his decision, Lord Arryn relented, knowing that he was in no position to defy the Iron Throne.

The incorporation of the Three Sisters into the North effectively rendered the entirety of the Bite northern waters, and after the royal fleet waged a quick and effective campaign against the remaining pirates, the Bite was once again safe to travel. Trade with Braavos flourished, and White Harbor continued its steady growth. Though the Three Sisters did not benefit from their incorporation into the North, neither did they suffer; the islands’ lords and inhabitants alike were largely indifferent to the conflict’s conclusion.

After the catastrophic failure of Lord Arryn’s gambit, the lords of the Vale anticipated that the region’s economic decline would only worsen. Matters worsened when Lord Uther Arryn died in his sleep while travelling back to the Eyrie, leaving his son, Osric Arryn, as Lord of the Eyrie. To his surprise, though, a golden opportunity presented itself at the end of 366 AC. A Pentoshi delegation arrived in Gulltown in pursuit of a new relationship with the Vale and it's new lord, and after a productive meeting with lords Arryn and Grafton, an effective trading partnership was formed. Over the next few years, commerce with Pentos ushred in an economic resurgence in the Vale.

Nevertheless, the lords of the Vale continued to regard the loss of the Three Sisters as a grave slight. Never once did the Arryns regard the arrangement as permanent; the Lord of the Eyrie immediately began contemplating how and when the islands would be returned to the Vale.