The year 168 AC was dominated by the war in the Stepstones, where the fleets and armies of the Iron Throne and Dorne fought to break Pentoshi power, and by the continuing strain caused by King Baelor’s confinement of his sisters. Victories at Grey Gallows and Bloodstone brought glory to Lord Alyn Velaryon, Prince Rhodry Martell, and their allies, while Princess Daena’s renewed escape from the Maidenvault showed that peace at court remained fragile.
Day 2: After Grey Gallows fell at bloody cost, the allied forces of the Iron Throne and Dorne secured a harbor and foothold in the Stepstones. Dornish commanders pressed for a swift assault on Bloodstone, while Lord Alyn Velaryon counseled caution and scouting before the next move.
Day 12: Lord Velaryon’s fleet won a naval victory that opened the way toward Bloodstone, but a parley with Pentoshi forces failed to end the conflict. Ser Garlan Hunter was among those in the forefront as the allied ships escaped a Pentoshi maneuver meant to pin them against Grey Gallows’s shore and beat out to sea. The island remained the key to breaking Pentoshi control in the Stepstones.
Day 25: Lord Alyn Velaryon divided his forces and launched a coordinated assault on Bloodstone. The battle carried the war forward decisively against Pentos, with the allied cause strengthened by local knowledge from those native to the Stepstones.
Day 9: The Dornish army on Bloodstone became locked in stalemate against Pentoshi forces anchored by Unsullied. Raids, skirmishes, and siege work failed to give either side a decisive advantage.
Day 20: Dornish and allied forces used a ruse to draw the Unsullied and Pentoshi sellswords into ambush. Ser Sarmion Baratheon and the allied heavy horse helped break the enemy column, turning the campaign sharply in favor of the Iron Throne and Dorne.
Day 23: Ser Garlan Hunter, lightly wounded in the campaign, departs the Stepstones under Lord Velaryon’s orders to carry dispatches and news of the war back to the Iron Throne.
Day 17: Sunspear feted the commanders of the victorious Stepstones campaign. Lord Velaryon, Prince Rhodry, and other leaders received honor for the campaign, though the thin attendance in the Sandship revealed lingering unease within the Dornish court.
Day 18: Lord Alyn Velaryon returned to King’s Landing with the royal fleet and was welcomed as a hero for his victories in the Stepstones. King Baelor himself came to receive the fleet, confirming the campaign’s importance to the Iron Throne.
Day 15: Princess Daena was recovered in Duskendale after escaping the Maidenvault and King’s Landing. She was returned under guard to the capital, restoring King Baelor’s immediate control over his sister but renewing attention on her resistance to confinement.
Day 24: With Princess Daena again confined, the small council turned to the question of securing the Maidenvault and preventing another royal escape. The matter showed how the governance of the realm remained entangled with King Baelor’s religious handling of his sisters.
Day 6: Lord Manard Meadows dies at seven-and-seventy, and Lord Robett Meadows succeeds him at Grassy Vale. With Robett’s sons dead and his surviving children married into Bulwer, Caswell, and Prester interests, the succession brings renewed attention to the uncertain future of House Meadows.
Day 27: Cyrissa Yronwood is betrothed to Lord Aryard Manwoody of Kingsgrave, joining two old Dornish houses after negotiations at Yronwood.
Day 4: The fast galley Queen Daenaera, newest of the King’s Landing sea watch, is presented at the city docks. Ser Garlan Hunter is appointed to command her, with Malwyn Hightower present among those connected to her launch and service.
Day 8: The wedding tourney of Ser Myles Hightower and Lady Rylla Tyrell is held in King’s Landing. The day is remembered for sharp surprises in the lists: Malwyn Hightower, still a squire, unhorses Ser Bryon Waynwood; Ser Edgar Brune earns notice by defeating his own master Ser Jorian; and Ser Myles shows flashes of temper after his own defeats.
Day 9: After a vigil in the Royal Sept, Malwyn Hightower walks barefoot to the tourney grounds and is knighted by Ser Janden Melcolm for his performance in the Hightower-Tyrell wedding tourney.
Day 30: The Embassy Tourney is held in Sunspear on rain-muddied lists before the Lord Protector of Dorne, the Dornish court, and the highborn of the embassy. Prince Rhodry Nymeros Martell wins the joust by defeating Lord Joscelyn Mallister in the final, with Lord Joscelyn taking second place and Ser Darion Fowler third. Among the lesser-noted displays, Mycah Sand makes a bold debut in borrowed armor before Lord Joscelyn unhorses him in a single pass.
Day 27: Peace in the realm and a mild winter strengthened King Baelor’s reputation among the smallfolk, some of whom had begun calling him Baelor the Blessed. The Great Sept continued to rise in King’s Landing, while the court also looked toward new marriages, offices, and unsettled matters around the king’s household.
Day 8: Word reaches Starfall that Prince Rhodry Martell is to wed Tanyth Toland, a match of clear consequence for Dorne’s princely house and its allies.