Game of Thrones: StormBorn

291AC

Thandril Blunt was considered a boring man by Essosi standards. A well-connected one to be sure, but boring nonetheless.

He had always strived to take that as a compliment. It was a desirable trait for his profession after all. One would not trust an exciting man to take care of their money, lest he lose it all in some gamble in a far off land you had never heard of.

Not that exciting men weren't useful mind you. They most certainly were, indeed, the discerning investor could make a great deal of money by identifying the very gambles he spoke of, for as long as the risks were mitigated properly investment in one could yield truly enormous rewards to the boring men who backed them.

Thandril made it a habit of being one of those backers, and approximately a third of the time it worked out for him. That third made enough money to easily dwarf the other two, let him pay interests on the accounts, and the Iron Bank grew, as a result, dwarfing the other banks of Essos to a point where if not for political defenses, it could likely devour them all, and still not take in its own value in the process.

Not that that would be desirable in the long term. The Iron Bank had it's own political protections to concern itself with, protection that only existed in Braavos.

Still, its interests did not stop at the edge of the Titan's Feet, no it had a presence in all of the free cities, and moreover was the primary external bank to operate in the Seven Kingdoms. A land full of exciting men held back from profit by the nature of the frankly primitive systems that governed them.

Still, the occasional individual did breakthrough, and one such man, or perhaps boy would be more accurate, was Arthur Baratheon.

'Now what on Earth am I going to do with this?' Thandril wondered staring down at the odd-looking ship sitting lightly in the dock before him. The letter describing it and its operation had called it a "Cutter" and it was apparently supposed to be a demonstration of the Boy's new shipbuilding concerns.

According to the men he had hired to test it, it was quick, light, and could tack well against the wind without rowers, but it was hardly anything he would have use for.

Why, he hadn't even set foot on a boat outside of parties held on them, much less sailed. He had never set foot beyond the edge of Braavos. He was much too busy for that.

Still, it was a gift and investment in future relations with the bank, and he could not deny the impressive scale of the gesture.

'perhaps the boy wants to invest as much in us as we invest in him?' the banker chuckled, nodding slightly. It was always good for the bank to be properly appreciated, for all their talk of feudal contracts it always seemed hard for the Westerosi to grasp any similar obligation to the Iron Bank, and relations tended to be sour at best as a result.

'Well, I'm sure the Sealord will like it. One more boat for his pleasure fleet I suppose.'

It was all much too exciting for him.