Chapter 663

If Braavos manipulated Westeros like a puppet master pulling strings from the shadows, then House Rogare had taken a far more direct approach—seizing the marionette’s hand and guiding its every move.

Between these two methods, the former was clearly more sustainable in the long run. It did not provoke immediate resentment or unrest among the populace, and it could endure changes in dynasty, succession struggles, and internal Targaryen power shifts. As long as the Iron Bank’s network of contacts among local lords and key power players remained intact, Braavos could maintain its influence—if not entirely, then at least to some extent.

But in the short term?

Through two god-tier political marriages, House Rogare had positioned itself as kin to both the ruling factions of Westeros: the North-Targaryen alliance and the South-Martell dominion. As a result, they had become royal kin to the entire continent—and had thoroughly suppressed the Iron Bank.

The reason was simple. A kingdom’s treasury is controlled by its monarch, not by advisors and counselors. And no king or queen would allow their house to be a mere puppet of Braavos.

Did the Rogares invade Westeros' political sphere of their own accord, sensing an opportunity? Or were they deliberately invited in by the Targaryens, who saw the Iron Bank creeping ever closer to seizing control of the Iron Throne, and needed a third party to act as a counterweight? That remains unknown. But history is clear on one point: even before the echoes of the Dance of the Dragons had fully faded, the Rogare Bank had already risen to prominence under the joint leadership of the ambitious Lysandro Rogare and his brother Drazenko. And once Prince Viserys Targaryen returned to King’s Landing with his Rogare wife, Lara, solidifying Westeros’ alliance with the Rogares, their ascent became unstoppable.

At first, the Iron Bank responded with its standard playbook for dealing with upstart competitors: spreading rumors to tarnish the Rogare Bank’s reputation, escalating business competition to suffocate its financial reach, manipulating Free Cities’ politics to dissolve the Three Daughters Alliance and plunge the region into war, thus destabilizing its financial backing…

It was a tried-and-true method of sabotage, and initially, it worked. The Rogare Bank’s rise stalled.

But they had Dorne as their patron—a never-ending fountain of wealth. They withstood the Iron Bank’s first assault. And then, when the Targaryen court formally signed its alliance with the Rogare Bank and began withdrawing royal funds from the Iron Bank to deposit them with the Rogares, the effect was devastating.

The Iron Bank bled.

The Rogare Bank, in contrast, thrived.

Within a single year, it had not only recovered from the Iron Bank’s attempts to strangle it in the cradle—it had surpassed them, becoming the single largest banking institution in the known world in terms of both cash flow and business volume.

That was when Braavos' patience snapped.

The House of Black and White received its summons.

And the Faceless Men answered the call.

Just a few months after the Rogare Bank reached the pinnacle of its success, its two most brilliant minds—Lysandro and Drazenko Rogare—were dead. On the same day. Across the Narrow Sea from each other. In two utterly bizarre "accidents."
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But contrary to what many believed, the Rogare Bank did not immediately collapse with the deaths of its two leaders.

Instead, their assassinations were merely the beginning of a relentless storm.

House Rogare was vast—Lysandro had left behind many heirs. The bank itself was a massive institution, well-staffed and immensely wealthy. With Dorne and half of Westeros as clients, it could have endured the loss of dozens of Rogare family members and still remained the world’s top financial power for years to come.

Taking down such an entity required far more than assassins.

And so, the real work began.

Lysandro had not only been the head of the Rogare Bank—he was also the "Perpetual First Magister" of Lys. His death did not just leave a power vacuum in his family; it created a massive political void in Lys itself.

While his eldest son easily inherited the family title, the position of Lys’ supreme ruler was not hereditary. Before Lysandro’s body—allegedly half-eaten by crabs—was even pulled from the sea, a horde of political figures had already begun vying for his throne.

Unfortunately for House Rogare, his son, Lysarro, was known for having twice the ambition of his father, but only half the ability. And that imbalance would soon make him infamous as one of the greatest failsons in history.

After securing his election as Lys’ administrative head, he wasted no time trying to buy his father’s lost influence—hosting extravagant public spectacles, funneling vast sums into bribing rival magisters, and even attempting to start a short, victorious war with Tyrosh or Myr, believing that military glory would cement his claim to Lys' supreme power.

When his personal wealth ran dry, he turned to the bank.

Under normal circumstances, a banker using client funds for personal ambitions would not have been a major scandal—it was, after all, an open secret in the industry.

But this was different.

Lysarro was making his moves under the watchful eyes of a mortal enemy. The Iron Bank had already infiltrated the Rogare Bank at every level. And when he made his fatal misstep, they pounced.

The rumors began.

"Rogare Bank’s vaults are being drained."

The whispers spread like wildfire, not just as gossip but with fabricated "evidence" attached—detailed financial "records," eyewitness accounts of missing gold shipments, all meticulously planted by Braavos’ intelligence networks.

Then came the bank run.

The greatest mass withdrawal in the history of the Free Cities. Magisters, merchants, and noble clients stormed the Rogare Bank, demanding their gold. Within days, the once-mighty institution was shattered.

Lysarro fled. He failed. He died.

The Rogare family collapsed.

And yet, the Iron Bank was not finished.

The Keepers’ Council had made up its mind: House Rogare had overstepped, and they would not be allowed to rise again. Not in Lys. Not in Westeros.

The purge extended beyond the Free Cities.

In King’s Landing, the Iron Bank quietly encouraged the nobility to turn on the Rogares. Political enemies used the opportunity to fabricate even more crimes against them, furthering their downfall. It escalated into a full-blown coup against Lara Rogare—the Queen’s own sister-in-law.

She would have been arrested and executed—if not for two boys.

Aegon III and Prince Viserys, mere children at the time, took up arms to defend her. Their stand led to an eighteen-day siege in Maegor’s Holdfast—eighteen days that forced the Iron Bank to reconsider its course.

In the end, Braavos decided it had won enough.

House Rogare was ruined. Their influence erased.

And that was how Braavos destroys a rival.
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"The dismantling of the Rogare Bank was the largest coordinated operation in Braavosi history," the Keeper’s Council president concluded. "The Sealord’s fleet, our intelligence networks, our propaganda machine—even the Faceless Men—all worked together under the Iron Bank’s direction. We faced an existential threat, and we responded with absolute unity."

His tone grew lighter, more confident.

"And today, Braavos is far stronger than it was back then. Yet we face a threat just as great, if not greater. I expect, now that you’ve heard the story, that the path forward should be clear."

A pause.

"First, we kill their Lysandro and Drazenko. Without removing the heads, trying to strangle the Seven Kingdoms with conventional means is pure fantasy."

The response came almost instantly.

"The only question is—who? Or rather… who are the Lysandro and Drazenko of the Westerosi Bank?"