Editing Basilisk Isles (section)

==History==
===Ancient History===
Ruins on the [[Isle of Tears]], the [[Isle of Toads]], and [[Ax Isle]] indicate the presence of an ancient civilization, now lost, established during the [[Dawn Age]]. Maester [[Yandel]] speculates the inhabitants of the Isle of Toads may have a link to this vanished people.{{ref|TWOIAF|Beyond the Free Cities: The Basilisk Isles}}

The [[Old Empire of Ghis]] founded Gorgai on the Isle of Tears. The [[Valyrian Freehold]] captured it during the [[Third Ghiscari War]] and renamed it [[Gogossos]]. The [[dragonlords]] used it as a twisted penal colony for the worst criminals.{{ref|TWOIAF|Beyond the Free Cities: The Basilisk Isles}}

During the migration of their [[ten thousand ships]], the [[Rhoynar]] stopped in the Basilisks for provisions but were attacked by corsair kings of Ax Isle, [[Talon]], and the [[Howling Mountain]], who put twoscore ships to the torch and carried off hundreds into slavery. The corsairs offered to allow the Rhoynar to settle on the Isle of Toads, provided they gave up their boats and sent each king thirty virgin girls and thirty pretty boys each year as tribute. Princess [[Nymeria]] refused, however, and took her fleet to sea again.{{ref|twoiaf|Ancient History: Ten Thousand Ships}}

[[Swan ships]] from the [[Summer Isles]] explored the Basilisks, though pirates and slavers from the Basilisks then began to raid the Summer Islanders.{{ref|TWOIAF|Beyond the Free Cities: The Summer Isles}} Some Summer Islanders joined the pirates and became feared captains.{{ref|TWOIAF|Beyond the Free Cities: The Summer Isles}}

[[Ironborn]] from the [[Iron Islands]] have reaved in the Basilisk Isles.{{ref|TWOIAF|The Iron Islands: The Black Blood}} Pirates from the [[Stepstones]] and the Basilisks have fought the fleets of [[House Arryn]].{{ref|TWOIAF|The Vale:House Arryn}}

===Recent History===
Powerful Gogossos fell into ruin after an outbreak of the [[Red Death]] during the [[Century of Blood]], and the Basilisks were shunned for a century until corsairs returned. [[Xandarro Xhore]] of [[Qarth]] eventually built a black fort at [[Ax Isle]], while the [[Brotherhood of Bones]] settled on the [[Isle of Flies]]. In the aftermath of the [[Doom of Valyria]], the islands became nests for [[pirates]] who attacked merchants attempting to avoid the [[Valyrian peninsula]] and [[Smoking Sea]].{{ref|TWOIAF|Beyond the Free Cities: The Basilisk Isles}} Slavers from the Basilisks have raided [[Naath]] so frequently since the Century of Blood that the [[Naathi]] have largely moved inland.{{ref|TWOIAF|Beyond the Free Cities: Naath}}

[[Volantis]] and other [[Free Cities]] periodically send fleets to clear out these pirates, with varying success. Instead of suppressing them, [[Saathos Saan]] of [[Lys]] joined the pirates and reigned as [[King of the Basilisk Isles]] for three decades.{{ref|TWOIAF|Beyond the Free Cities: The Basilisk Isles}}

[[Harwyn Hoare]] spent two years in the isles as the captive of a pirate king.{{ref|TWOIAF|The Iron Islands: The Black Blood}}

The author of ''[[A Caution for Young Girls]]'' claims to have spent time as the plaything of a corsair queen in the isles.{{ref|FAB|A Surfeit of Rulers}}

[[Dalton Greyjoy]] raided the pirate towns of the Basilisks with his uncle when he was fifteen.{{ref|TWOIAF|The Iron Islands: The Red Kraken}}

Highborn maidens from Volantis sailing to [[King's Landing]] to attend the [[Maiden's Day Cattle Show]] for King [[Aegon III Targaryen]] were captured en route by corsairs from the Basilisks.{{ref|FAB|Under the Regents - War and Peace and Cattle Shows}} [[Racallio Ryndoon]] fled to the isles after the [[Daughters' War]].{{ref|FAB|The Lysene Spring and the End of Regency}}