Chương 154: The Platinum Bank
POV: Tycho Nestoris
Never Winter Bank.
Immediately after dozens of gazes began to scan with suspicion and envy a twelve-year-old clad in dazzling new armour fresh from the forge...
'Damn...! This situation has turned all the tables.' The Director was undecided about the new political/economic condition of the North.
He did not know whether to assess the shocking new revelations as possible opportunities to stay alive and reassert his hierarchical position, snatching an excellent deal with House Bolton and House Stark, or see them as a disproportionate threat to the institution to which he had sworn eternal loyalty...
In Tycho's eyes, Barbrey Mormont had just hoisted herself into the top twenty most powerful and influential individuals in the Known World.
The icy Spice Queen had moved with cunning, invisibility and celerity...
'Barrowton fooled us like a sock! All the financial, military manoeuvres, information and Lady Barbrey's past of the last four years were just to throw us off!'
The thought that the Iron Bank had, in fact, granted a sizable loan of nearly a million gold dragons to help finance one of their possible competitors was an affront that could have stirred more than two-thirds of the council to declare war on Barrowton.
But after the latest certified truths, declaring war on Lady Barbrey meant declaring war on the whole of the North and a good part of the Kingdoms who would have wanted to gain Gauntlgrym's favours and benefits.
Probably no one in that room, apart from the Great Players, could yet figure out who or what really controlled Gauntlgrym. This metal-producing seat would revolutionise the Known World and locate in the middle of the lands belonging to House Mormont and House Tallhart...
How many among those thousands of spectators wondered:
[House Stark and House Bolton hold a monopoly in the rights to sell weapons and armour, but who has the monopoly on Damascus steel? Who does Gauntlgrym belong to?]
There were so many market slices and applications on which Damascus could be directed that one was spoilt for choice...
Armoured doors, architectural beams, horseshoes, furniture, safes, coffers, jewellery, hammers, picks, ploughs, chains, precision instruments, prisons and many... many other possible products.
The thought that most troubled Tycho was:
'Could the Damascus steel of Mott and the twelve apparent Forgemasters recreate basic arcane conductors for magical objects?' There were very few known ingredients with such properties. And the rarest and most sought after were: Dragon bone and scales, Phoenix feathers, Tree of Life wood, Acromantula silk, and of course... Valyrian steel.
There were hundreds of other ingredients of excellent quality, such as Giant's bones, hair of the Sons of Life, Basilisk skin, Viperna's or Leviathan's bones, and many more. Still, none of them could rank up to the quality of the three divine Legendary creatures, except for Valyrian Steel, the only known artificially synthesised magical ingredient.
A conductor capable of supporting indefinite amounts of magic, the most powerful form of energy in the World.
Legend has it that a Valyrian blacksmith follower of R'hllor of humble origins named Azor Ahai invented the formula for Dragon Steel.
The legendary hero recreated the one ingredient that could support all the divine power needed to bring down the hordes of the God Estranged.
No one knew the location or confirmation of the Lightbringer's existence.
According to Magician culture, the enchanted sword possessed power on par with the Three Great Gifts of Genesis: the Phoenix Song, the Starry Gem, and the Chalice of Life...
One of the reasons why the Iron Bank preferred to keep as many of Valyria's steel weapons as possible in their crypts and limit the production of new swords was because of the Valgudryel lineage.
House Targaryen was an ancient magical dynasty of the Sons of Fire. One of the few bloodlines to possess the rare gift of Divine Divination...
One Targaryen in a thousand was born with this peculiar gift. Daeny the Dreamer saved the dynasty of the Three-Headed Dragon from the Doom of Valyria by dreaming up the cataclysm a hundred years before it wiped out the lineage of the Sons of Fire...
But only a handful of individuals knew the Prophecy of Rheyna Targaryen, 'The Forger of Heroes', the only direct descendant of the first Guardian of Love.
Even the Director General did not know much about it; information about Rheyna Targaryen was segregated at the highest levels and was currently possessed by only two individuals in all of Braavos: the President of the Bank, Ultherro Zorays, and the Sect Leader of the House of Black and White, the Kind Man.
What Tycho and the remaining members of the Council knew was that there was a real possibility that the Lightbringer was an Artifact with ethereal-sophic properties, that is, that Azor Ahai's legacy was possibly sealed in Dragon Steel, and that one day the power of the Lightbringer could be resurrected in any of the existing swords of Valyria.
That is to say, the organisation in possession of the most Valyrian Steel weapons had the best chance of getting their hands on one of the most powerful Artifacts in the World...
Tycho turned his head slightly to look for the face of The King in The Yellow and The Old Man of Oldtown... It was as he feared.
The look of the two of the greatest Arcanists was enough to tell him. The Tallharts had found a worthy substitute for an artificial magical conductor.
Now the First Men, the Mage Confederation and the Spider Queen's Organisation would have unlimited supplies to reproduce dangerous weapons, armour and magical resources!
The Titan could not face the armies of the magicians armed with equipment superiority. Nor did the lord of Oldtown seem so eager to face the armies of the First Men and the Nine Demons, fully armoured and armed with Damascus steel in the field...
The Age of Obsidian, Bronze, Iron, and Steel had passed.
The Age of Andal supremacy was coming to an end... and if the Titan wanted to maintain its supremacy, it would inevitably have to go with the flow of change.
'The Iron Bank 'Must' at all costs replenish itself with Damascus Steel!' The solutions to this enormous problem always turned to that one bitter choice.
Ronan had lured him into his web. As a result, all House Mormont and Bolton members could not be dealt with by the Faceless Men, and now Lady Barbrey was virtually immune to any political or economic pressure from the continent...
War was an option, of course, but it took time... It would take months to gather all the hundred and fifty thousand swords, the dozens of wandering sorcerers in their pay, and their fleet of three thousand ships scattered across the globe.
In that time, the two hundred blacksmiths in Gauntlgrym would have churned out hundreds of tons of swords, arrows and armour fresh from the forge...
The defences in the Silk Road were far too solid. The Titan or the High Tower could not have conquered Gauntlgrym without revealing their true strength to the world. Nor could they intervene so radically without just cause.
House Baratheon, Arryn and Tully could have sided with their allies...
It would have taken at least five, if not ten, generations to erase an event of such proportions from history.
Anonymity and the illusion of power were the keys to controlling the masses...
Peeling back the veil of conventional false beliefs that kept Lords, Princes and Kings silent, predictable and manipulable were detrimental to business.
Tycho looked for the greatest threat to the Iron Bank within the hall and found it.
'This whole show is your doing, Bloody Snow?!
How long have you been planning this...? Wait...' Tycho wondered inwardly, scrutinising the twelve-year-old with a cold mind.
Lightning struck and illuminated Nestoris' hard-working brain at the exact instant he witnessed the scene of a boy from the North and an elderly lady from the Reach arguing with each other, bringing the bank official's mind back to an episode that occurred almost seven years ago...
'Damn you!... The loan payment clause between Highgarden and Torrhen's Square!!!'
In that damned agreement signed and sealed by Bloody Snow and The Queen of Thorns in the presence of Tycho, hidden among the dozens of contract pages, there was a small note, which escaped the Braavosian's attention at the time, that drained House Tallhart's gold reserves held and managed by the Iron Bank for the past five years.
Six hundred eighty thousand four hundred gold loan dragons repaid entirely through bank payments...
No... this could not have been a coincidence. It would all have made sense if House Tallhart had planned to create a private banking institution from the outset.
The procuring gaze of gold and numbers called upon all the wealthiest and most prosperous lords of the North of the last decade, associating them with their most profitable trades and the net profit of each household.
[Lord Rickard Karstark]:
-Monopoly on the Karstark Pelts and Leather trade.
-Minimum annual net profit: 420,000 gold dragons.
[Lord Wyman Manderly]:
-Monopoly on the trade in Toilet Paper and Water-Sewer Construction Manderly.
-Minimum annual net profit: 550,000 gold dragoons.
[Lord Galbart Glover]:
-Monopoly on the writing paper trade and Semi-monopoly on the publishing and printing books.
Minimum annual net profit: 360,000 gold dragoons.
[Lord Jon Umber]:
-Monopoly on the Vodka and Whisky trade.
Minimum annual net profit: 800,000 gold dragoons.
Tycho scrutinised every Northern nobleman within range with business or sums similar to the first mentioned.
It was difficult to assess and recalculate the new Lord of Barrowton's profit forecast considering all of Lady Barbrey's ongoing business and the inaccurate estimate of the glass trade, but... roughly that amount could not be less than 2,000,000.
However, Tycho's brain nearly overheated when he shifted his gaze to the Master and Protector of Torrhen's Square...
[Ser Helman Tallhart]:
-Direct monopoly on the trade of Soap, Fertilisers, Agricultural implements, Ships, Gin, Taylish... etc.
-Rights and corporate interests in Northern Network, Karstark Pelt and Leather, Umber Alcohol, Glover Paper and Books, Ryswell Horses and Transport, Mormont Salt and Glass, Manderly Toilet Paper, Tyrell Perfumes, Cerwyn Grain and Livestock, Flint Wool and Clothing, Hornwood Stoves and Heaters... etc.
The endless list reported only the declared and legitimate business of Torrhen's Square... Possible and probable gains from the black market were still unknown to the Iron Bank.
A conservative minimum estimate could not be less than '5,000,000' gold dragons a year profit.
Although the Titan was in business with almost all the Great Houses of the North, little more than 0.2 % of all that gold was kept in the coffers of the Iron Bank; a symbolic, deceptive and derisory sum...
The Norse demanded that most of the payments due from Braavos be sent safely to White Arbor or Karhold Mouth.
One of the most coveted production goals, which would have guaranteed any Bank official a great reward and bonus prize, was to convince one or more of the wealthy Northern Houses to bring at least a fifth of their gold into the hands of the Bank...
But that goal was now simply unattainable under the circumstances.
And now, the Director also explained 'why' the Queen of Thorns had forced her son Mace to withdraw more than half of the 6,000,000 gold coins stored in the private vault of House Tyrell.
It was likely that Lady Olenna had long been aware, or at least had sensed before anyone else, the possible suspicious financial manoeuvres of House Tallhart...
The seed had been sown and watered since before the day of those two fateful signatures, and what was most disconcerting... was that a devilish mind of barely five years had been planning from the beginning on 'where', 'when' and 'how' to germinate the plant!!!
'That little Demon Bastard is a more unpredictable menace than The Watcher!!!' decreed the bravoosian with an inner roar.
Damascus Steel or not, it was imperative that Duncan Tallhart had to die...
The real mastermind behind all these constant, gargantuan issues had to be eradicated as soon as possible; otherwise, sooner or later, more 'Colossal Catastrophes' would befall the World Order.
Tycho noticed the duo turn in one direction, and a familiar voice came again, catching the audience's attention.
This time, Lady Barbrey elevated herself ten feet above the vast, gold-veined marble staircase so that all could see her.
"Your Majesties, my Lords, my Ladies, Barrowton's guests and friends from the North... I know I have entertained you far too much with speeches and introductions, but I again invoke your patience and leniency, my Lords... I have but one last great announcement to make to you all." Promulgated the icy Spice Queen.
'It is time... Our Competing Enemy is about to announce himself to the World.' It was simple logic. The Master Puppeteers had amply captured the audience's attention with breathtaking spectacles and performances. Now all that remained was to show the final act of the Great Spectacle...
"Leaving the seat of Barrowton in the hands of my husband Jorah and House Mormont was one of the hardest choices I have ever made... Don't get me wrong, milords. I love my Jorah, and I am confident he will be the best replacement the Barrowlands and the North could hope for.
It is not easy for a woman to make her way in a patriarchal society in which, until a few centuries before, men of noble birth even had the right of First Night... I know well that in the thoughts of some of the women here among you today, hidden under false smiles and manners that our society imposes on us, lurks a disappointment at my choice...
Some of you even found the courage to voice those thoughts by asking me, 'Why'?
'Why, Lady Barbrey, do you want to leave all the power and influence you have won in the hands of a man that rightfully belongs to you? You were an idol to me... To all of us..." Barbrey lowered her gaze slightly to the ground for a few moments before breaking the brief pause with:
"I address that woman, and all women of noble birth or not, rich or poor!
I have chosen this path because I have not yet conquered anything! And nothing in Barrowton really belongs to me!'
...After the death of my first husband, Lord William, I inherited the seat of House Dustin not by the law of men, but by a Woman... 'The Good Queen' Alysanne Targaryen! The Queen who fought the patriarchal injustices of the Seven Kingdoms for decades...
She who drafted and persuaded King Jaehaerys I to sign the 'Widow's Law' decree, the law that granted me and thousands of widowed ladies rights, justice and inheritance!"
Tycho noticed that many ladies, handmaids or servants were increasingly trying to approach the front rows. He also sensed a few quiet whispers of agreement from many young women, too shy or frightened by the outraged men who were visibly displeased with Barbrey's words.
"This is why I chose to leave the seat built by men and made 'for men' and invest my talents, experiences, skills acquired over the years, and commitment to something different... Something of my own.
Something that could inspire women who do not want to be just remembered as mere instruments of reproduction or property of their husbands to get involved and take the first step towards a different path...
A path considered by our society to be accessible only to men.
All of you, my lords and 'ladies', currently reside within my path... of my dream." Hundreds of male and female individuals looked around, admiring the massive hall with more criticality and attention to detail...
"Gauntlgrym is the iron arm of the Silk Road, but the beating heart of this commercial street is this structure," Barbrey gave her audience a few seconds to peer around and better admire the building, and then she continued:
"Today, before you all, I declare the birth of the First Great Northern Banking Institution!"
Dozens of valets untied ropes or pulled strings, dropping masked curtains in curtains and decorative tapestries, showing what lay beneath...
Various inscriptions carved in marble and stone with dark steel letters appeared on all sides of the hall. Hundreds of mechanical torch braziers lit up in unison in one great wave of fire so that all the shadowy areas of the vast man-made cave were visible...
Peculiar natural veins in the rock carved into the mountain shone and reflected a red and orange glow.
Tycho widened his eyes, crinkling them with his fingers to ensure his vision didn't deceive him.
'But... those... Are those silver veins! No... the metal is too light.
That's not silver... it's Platinum!
May the Many-Faced Gods show mercy and protect Braavos...
A bank built in the heart of a platinum mine. One of the most precious metals on the world market!' Thought Tycho with alarm, not wanting to believe what he was witnessing.
Currently, the Crown Mint could exchange one ounce of pure Platinum in Westeros for fifteen gold dragons*.
It was no secret that the northern lands were vast and full of new resources.
The biggest problem that prevented the lords of those lands and the resource hunters from exploring and mining the vast northern moors was the frost... House Bolton was a prime example.
There were dozens of iron, tin and copper mines in the Hills of Solitude.
However, House Bolton, over the millennia, never managed to extract any appreciable profit from those treasures; simply because of the cost in lives, labour and resources that mining required.
The small mountain in which the headquarters resided seemed to have been artificially carved deep. And all the construction work must have been carried out in the middle of Winter...
Nestoris had no idea how much Blood, Gold and Tribulation House Tallhart and Dustin might have invested in this project.
'A million? Two? Maybe even three...' the Braavosian now had a clear idea of what Lady Barbrey had invested the four million gold coins in loans required by all the lending institutions in Essos.
The Iron Bank had literally financed one of its most dangerous future competitors!
Barbrey Mormont cruelly waited for all her enemies and future allies to stew in their nefarious and evaluative thoughts.
And finally, the wicked witch proclaimed:
"Here in the mountain... erected in the heart of a platinum mine, I welcome you all to the most imposing, inaccessible and secure fortress in the North!
... {The Never Winter Bank!}"
***
End Chapter.
--------------------------
*[Author's note:
The value between respective precious metals of Westeros.
1 gr Pt= 5 gr Au
1 gr Au= 90 gr Ag
1 gr Ag= 7 gr Cu
1 gr Cu= about 3 gr Fe
Common Forge Steel is worth at least four times the value of Iron (depending on quality).
One ounce= 28.35 gr.
A Gold Dragon weighs 1/3 ounce in Au (1 Gold Dragon= 30 Silver Moon).
A Silver Moon weighs 1 ounce of Ag (1 Silver Moon= 7 Silver Stag).
A Silver Stag weighs 1/7 ounce of Ag (1 Silver Stag = 7 Copper Stars).
A Copper Star weighs 1/7 of an ounce of Cu (1 Copper Star = 8 Pennies).
A Pennies weighs 1/14 of an ounce (low alloy mixture of tin and Iron).
I remind everyone that 'indicatively' the purchasing power of a Penny is around $0.75.
****
Little tidbit for economy-fantasy nerd readers like me... (I may be the only one on planet earth, but who knows!).
Based on these estimates, I can calculate roughly how much House Frey paid in dowry to Roose Bolton for his marriage to "Fat" Walda Frey.
Assuming Walda to be a class III obese person, I estimate the weight to be around 130 kg (270 lbs)
The dowry was the bride's weight in Silver, so.
1 gr Ag= about 10.4 $
Walda= 130,000 g x 10.4= $1,352,000.
Honestly, Roose, I'm a little disappointed....
If it's just a matter of mere bargain, considering that Walda eats for three people, and that in the North in the middle of winter wheat is worth almost as much as gold, it doesn't sound like the 'Bargain of the Century' to me. ]
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