as Written by Septon Eustace, Chronicler of the Crown
***
The Seeds of Gold.
It was said of Prince Aemond Targaryen that he was a man who saw the world not as it was but as it might be. One-eyed though he was, his vision for King's Landing surpassed the grasp of most men with twice his sight. What the realm remembers as an age of splendour and prosperity was, in truth, born from a crucible of debts, daring, and dragonfire.
When Prince Aemond assumed the mantle of Master of Coin, the capital teetered on the brink of collapse. King Viserys had grown too infirm to govern, and the lords of Westeros were consumed by petty rivalries. The city itself was a cesspit of squalor and thievery, its people too hungry to hope and too angry to fear. Yet Aemond, ever the strategist, knew that chaos was but opportunity in disguise.
His first act was the establishment of the Dragon's Bank, an institution that would come to rival the Iron Bank of Braavos. To the sceptical lords of the small council, Aemond spoke with calm assurance. "Why must we bow to Braavos?" he asked. "Do they not bleed as we do? Do they not quake before fire?" And so, with coin plundered from Ironborn lords he deemed unworthy of their titles, the bank was born.
The Dragon's Bank was no mere repository of gold. Aemond used it as a tool of power. More than one noble house nearly found its lands forfeit when the interest proved too much to bear, and yet more flocked to his banners, eager for coin and opportunity.
Yet, the prince understood that gold was nothing without the stone to house it. King's Landing, sprawling and unkempt, was no city to match his ambition. Its streets were narrow and filthy, its markets unguarded dens of thieves. The Blackwater Rush stank of offal, and even the Red Keep seemed to sag under the weight of its neglect.
Disgusted, Prince Aemond set about remaking the city. He drained the marshes west of the Dragon Gate to build new granaries and storehouses, ensuring the capital would never again be at the mercy of a poor harvest. He commissioned the paving of main thoroughfares with stone quarried from the Crownlands and ordered the construction of aqueducts to bring fresh water to the city.
The docks along the Blackwater were expanded, their wooden piers replaced with sturdy stone wharves. Merchants from Essos and beyond now found a port worthy of their ships, and soon the markets of King's Landing teemed with exotic wares—spices from the Summer Isles, silks from Myr, and lumber from the east.
Not all welcomed the changes. The smallfolk cursed the levies imposed to pay for the prince's ambitions, but Aemond was not a man easily swayed by complaints. "Better they curse the weight of gold than the grip of hunger," he said. And indeed, as the city grew richer, so too did its people, though they did not always see it.
***
Order and the Red Cloaks.A city of gold attracts not only merchants but thieves, and Aemond was no fool. He knew that wealth would bring chaos unless it was guarded as fiercely as a dragon guards its hoard. As Lord Commander of the City Watch, he set to reforging the Red Cloaks in his image.
Under his rule, the watch was doubled, then doubled again, then once more for good measure, its ranks filled with disciplined men armed with spears and blades forged in the Dragonpit's shadow. Patrols were organized into shifts, ensuring that no street of King's Landing was left unwatched. Aemond himself was said to have led the training of the watch's captains, drilling into them the importance of discipline and loyalty.
It was not enough to guard the streets. Aemond also sought to guard the hearts of the people. Public executions of thieves and smugglers became common in the squares, each one a grim reminder of the prince's justice. Yet he was not without mercy—those who confessed their crimes were often conscripted to the Wall or into labour crews, their work building the very roads and walls that kept the city safe.
The Prince's reforms went further, far beyond King's Landing. He sought to weave the lords of Westeros into a web of trade and coin, knowing that a realm bound by commerce was harder to sever with swords. The North was lured south with promises of wealth; the West provided gold in exchange for grain from the Reach; and the East, ever fickle, was courted with loans and treaties.
But if the Dragon's Bank was the heart of Aemond's vision, its shadow was long and dark. To fund his endeavours, Aemond extended loans to lords who could ill afford them, forcing them into submission when they defaulted. House Rosby nearly lost its lands this way, as did more than one Crownlands house that dared question his authority.
The Iron Bank of Braavos took notice. Aemond's rise was an affront they could not ignore, and whispers of their displeasure reached even the halls of the Red Keep. The prince, disdainful of their opinions, responded with an uncharacteristic pettiness, offering the Dragon Bank's services to all cities the Iron Bank had long shunned.
To this, the Braavosi were not amused.
And so began the first Trade War in Westerosi history.