The Triarchy
The alliance of Lys, Myr and Tyrosh that rules the Stepstones' tolls ÔÇö the Crabfeeder's paymasters, and later the green crown's hired fleet of ninety warships.
The fuller tale
The Triarchy predates the Dance by a generation ÔÇö an alliance of Lys, Myr and Tyrosh formed to run the StepstonesÔÇÖ shipping tolls under a single, profitable authority, until a mercenary captain called the Crabfeeder turned that authority into a reign of terror over every vessel trying to pass. It took Daemon Targaryen and Corlys Velaryon years of grinding campaign to break the CrabfeederÔÇÖs hold on the rocks, a war that made DaemonÔÇÖs reputation for violence and impatience in equal measure, long before he had a civil war of his own to fight.
By the time the Dance itself begins, the original Triarchy has splintered, but the allianceÔÇÖs name and its ships have not entirely left the story ÔÇö reconstituted, in this era, as a hired fleet under the command of Sharako Lohar, ninety warships strong, engaged not out of any old loyalty to the Stepstones but as paid muscle for whichever crown can afford the toll.
It is the green council, and Otto HightowerÔÇÖs treasury in particular, that meets the price ÔÇö buying a fleet the Greens cannot otherwise match against Velaryon seapower, and putting a mercenary admiralÔÇÖs ships between the black queenÔÇÖs navy and whatever coastline the Greens most need protected. The Three Daughters end the war as they entered the Stepstones generations earlier: for hire, and loyal exactly as long as the money holds.
