Editing Stepstones (section)

===Antiquity===
According to legend, the Stepstones are remnants of the [[Arm of Dorne]], a land-bridge which once linked [[Westeros]] and [[Essos]]. More than ten thousand years ago the [[First Men]] used that land-bridge to cross into what is now known as [[Dorne]] to begin their migration to Westeros.{{Ref|TWOIAF|Dorne}} During the [[Breaking]], the [[greenseer]]s of the [[children of the forest]] are said to have used [[magic]] to shatter the land-bridge into an archipelago named the Stepstones, located between the [[Broken Arm]] and the [[Disputed Lands]].{{Ref|TWOIAF|Dorne: The Breaking}} Instead of a magical cause, Archmaester [[Cassander]] suggested the islands came about from a slow rising of the seas, which he called the [[Song of the Sea]].{{Ref|TWOIAF|Dorne: The Breaking}}

The [[Freehold of Valyria]] established [[Tyrosh]] as a military outpost to control trade near the Stepstones.{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Free Cities: The Quarrelsome Daughters: Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh}}

[[Slavery|Slavers]] from the Stepstones captured the [[Wolf's Den]] at the mouth of the [[White Knife]] during the reign of King [[Edrick Stark]],{{Ref|ADWD|29}} and pirates from the isles also sometimes attacked the eastern [[riverlands]]{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Riverlands}} and [[Vale of Arryn]].{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Vale: House Arryn}} Some of the [[ten thousand ships]] of the [[Rhoynar]] were shipwrecked on the Stepstones during their migration from the [[Rhoyne]].{{Ref|TWOIAF|Ancient History: Ten Thousand Ships}}

As the mainland kingdoms of Westeros grew more powerful, [[ironborn]] from the [[Iron Islands]] began instead raiding more distant lands like the Stepstones and the [[Basilisk Isles]].{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Iron Islands: The Black Blood}}