Difference between revisions of "Basilisk Isles"

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[[File:Basilisk Isles - blue.png|300px|right|thumb|A map showing the location of the Basilisk Isles in blue.]]
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[[File:Basilisk Isles - blue.png|300px|right|thumb|A map showing the location of the Basilisk Isles and [[Naath]] in blue.]]
  
The '''Basilisk Isles''' are a group of islands off the northwestern coast of [[Sothoryos]], on the [[Summer Sea]]. They are named after the [[basilisk]]s that once infested them.<ref name=BasiliskIsles>''[[The World of Ice and Fire]]'', The Basilisk Isles</ref>
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The '''Basilisk Isles''' are a group of islands off the northwestern coast of [[Sothoryos]], on the [[Summer Sea]]. They are named after the [[basilisk]]s that once infested them.{{ref|TWOIAF|Beyond the Free Cities: The Basilisk Isles}}
  
The mud-and-blood towns of the Basilisk Isles teem with escaped slaves, slavers, skinners, whores, hunters, brindled men, and worse.{{ref|aDwD|56}}
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The mud-and-blood towns of the Basilisk Isles teem with escaped [[slaves]], slavers, skinners, [[whores]], hunters, [[brindled men]], and worse.{{ref|aDwD|56}} Corsair towns and pirate lairs—which reuse names like [[Black Pudding]], [[Port Plunder]], [[Sty]], and [[Whore's Gash]]—spring up and are quickly abandoned.{{ref|TWOIAF|Beyond the Free Cities: The Basilisk Isles}}
  
Life on the islands is described as nasty, brutal, and often short. The isles are hot, humid, and swarming with stinging flies, sand fleas, and bloodworms, making them unhealthy for both man and beast.<ref name=BasiliskIsles/>
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Life on the islands is described as nasty, brutal, and often short. The isles are hot, humid, and swarming with stinging flies, sand fleas, and bloodworms, making them unhealthy for both man and beast.{{ref|TWOIAF|Beyond the Free Cities: The Basilisk Isles}}
  
 
==The Basilisks==
 
==The Basilisks==
* The [[Isle of Tears]], located in he bay off the northwestern coast of Sothoryos were [[Gogossos]] once stood
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[[File:Sothoros.png|thumb|350px|The Basilisks off the northern coast of [[Sothoryos]], with [[Naath]] to the west]]
* The [[Isle of Toads]], located southwest of the ruined city of [[Zamettar]], home to a mysterious toad-shaped [[Toad Stone|idol]] made entirely of oily [[black stone]]
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* The [[Isle of Tears]], located in the bay off the northwestern coast of Sothoryos where [[Gogossos]] once stood.
* The [[Isle of Flies]], located on the western end of the isles
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* The [[Isle of Toads]], located east of [[Basilisk Point]] and home to the mysterious [[Toad Stone]] made of oily [[black stone]].
* [[Howling Mountain]]{{ref|TWOIAF| Ten Thousand Ships}}
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* The [[Isle of Flies]], located on the western end of the isles.
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* [[Howling Mountain]]{{ref|TWOIAF|Ancient History: Ten Thousand Ships}}
 
* [[Talon (island)|Talon]], a large, claw-shaped island north of the [[Isle of Tears]], home to the corsairs' slave market and [[Barter Beach]].
 
* [[Talon (island)|Talon]], a large, claw-shaped island north of the [[Isle of Tears]], home to the corsairs' slave market and [[Barter Beach]].
* [[Skull Island|Skull Isle]], the northernmost of the Basilisks, located in the [[Summer Sea]], exactly north of Zametttar, where the corsairs deliver skulls to some dark god.
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* [[Skull Island|Skull Isle]], the northernmost of the Basilisks, where the corsairs deliver skulls to some dark god.
 
*[[Ax Isle]], located northeast of Zamettar and southeast of [[Skull Island]].
 
*[[Ax Isle]], located northeast of Zamettar and southeast of [[Skull Island]].
  
 
==History==
 
==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]]. [[Yandel]] speculates the inhabitants of the Isle of Toads may have a link to this vanished people. <ref name=BasiliskIsles/>
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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 [[Ghiscari Empire]] once founded a city on the [[Isle of Tears]], naming it [[Gorgai]], and held it for between two to four centuries until the [[Valyrian Freehold]] captured it during the [[Third Ghiscari War]] and renamed it [[Gogossos]]. The [[dragonlords]] used it as a penal colony for the worst criminals. Yandel reports that in its dungeons, torturers devised new torments while in its flesh pits, the darkest blood [[magic]] was practiced, as beasts were mated to slave women to bring forth twisted half-human children.<ref name=BasiliskIsles/>
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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 [[Rhoynar migration]], [[Nymeria]] first led her people through the Summer Sea, pausing at the Basilisks to take on fresh water and provisions, only to be attacked by the corsair kings of [[Ax Isle]], [[Talon]], and the [[Howling Mountain]], who put two score ships to the torch and carried off hundreds into slavery. Afterward, 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. Nymeria refused and took her fleet to sea one again.{{ref|twoiaf| Ten Thousand Ships}}
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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 two score 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 and took her fleet to sea again.{{ref|twoiaf|Ancient History: Ten Thousand Ships}}
  
Gogossos outlived the [[Doom of Valyria]] and waxed rich and powerful during the [[Century of Blood]], some calling it the "Tenth Free City", thanks to slavery and sorcery. Its [[slave]] markets became as notorious as those of the cities of Slaver's Bay. However, seventy seven years after the Doom a terrible plague, the [[Red Death]], emerged from the slave pens of the city and swept across the Isle of Tears and then the rest of the Basiliks. Nine of every ten men died screaming.<ref name=BasiliskIsles/>
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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. The [[Qarth]]een pirate [[Xandarro Xhore]] 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]].
  
For a century thereafter, the isles were shunned. It wasn't until the coming of corsairs that men returned to the Basilisks again. The [[Qarth|Qartheen]] pirate [[Xandarro Xhore]] was the first to raise his banner, using the stones the found on Ax Isle to erect a grim black fort above his anchorage. He was followed by the men of the [[Brotherhood of Bones]], who settled at the western end of the archipelago upon the [[Isle of Flies]]. From these bases, these pirates were in perfect position to attack the merchant ships rounding the smoking remains of the [[Valyrian peninsula]]. Within a century, nearly every Basilisk was home to a corsair nest.<ref name=BasiliskIsles/>
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[[Volantis]] and other [[Free Cities]] periodically send fleets to clear out these pirates, with varying success. [[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}} Corsairs from the Basilisk Isles captured highborn maidens from [[Volantis]] sailing to Westeros to attend King [[Aegon III Targaryen]]'s [[Maiden's Day Cattle Show]].{{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}}
 
 
Even though the Broteherhood of Bones is long forgotten and all that remains of Xhore is his fort, the corsairs still haunt the Basilisk Isles. Periodically, mostly once each generation, fleets are sent to the islands to clear out these pirates. Most of these fleets hail from [[Volantis]], often in alliance with other [[Free Cities]]. Some of these ended in failure for the corsairs, forewarned, fled. Others have led to hundreds being hanged and scores of ships either seized, sunk, or put to the torch. Meanwhile, one of these raids ended in infamy,  when the Lysene captain [[Saathos Saan]], commanding a fleet sent to destroy the corsairs' strongholds, turned pirate himself and reigned as "[[King of the Basilisk Isles]]" for thirty years.<ref name=BasiliskIsles/>
 
 
 
Despite the outcome of these efforts, corsairs resume their activities after a time. Their towns sprout suddenly, only to be quickly abandoned. Out of these pirate lairs, [[Port Plunder]] is the most famous, celebrated in song and stories, yet it can't be found on any map, for there have been at least a dozen Port Plunders on as many of the Basilisks. Whenever one is destroyed, or abandoned, another is founded, only to be destroyed or abandoned in turn. The same happened with [[Sty]], [[Whore's Gash]], [[Black Pudding]], and many others.<ref name=BasiliskIsles/>
 
  
 
==Recent Events==
 
==Recent Events==
 
===''A Feast for Crows''===
 
===''A Feast for Crows''===
[[Garin (Orphans)|Garin]] tells [[Arianne Martell]] that according to sailors in [[Planky Town]], a new corsair king has risen in the Basilisk Isles and has raided [[Tall Trees Town]].{{ref|AFFC|21}}
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[[Garin (orphan)|Garin]] tells [[Arianne Martell]] that according to sailors in [[Planky Town]], a new [[corsair king]] has risen in the Basilisk Isles and has raided [[Tall Trees Town]].{{ref|AFFC|21}}
  
 
===''A Dance with Dragons''===
 
===''A Dance with Dragons''===
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After returning to [[Meereen]], [[Daario Naharis]] tells [[Daenerys Targaryen]] that among the turncloaks who have come over to her side is an axeman from the Basilisk Isles, a brute bigger than [[Belwas|Strong Belwas]].{{Ref|aDwD|36}}
 
After returning to [[Meereen]], [[Daario Naharis]] tells [[Daenerys Targaryen]] that among the turncloaks who have come over to her side is an axeman from the Basilisk Isles, a brute bigger than [[Belwas|Strong Belwas]].{{Ref|aDwD|36}}
  
Among Ser [[Barristan Selmy]]’s squires is a young former slave called [[Tumco Lho]] who is originally from the Basilisk Isles.{{ref|ADWD|67}}
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Among Ser [[Barristan Selmy]]'s squires is a young former slave called [[Tumco Lho]] who is originally from the Basilisk Isles.{{ref|ADWD|67}}
  
 
[[Victarion Greyjoy]] gives [[Red Ralf Stonehouse]] the [[Iron Fleet]]'s swiftest ships to sail the corsair's road along the northern coast of [[Sothoryos]] and seek provisions through the [[iron price]] from towns in the Basilisk Isles. Victarion gave orders to reunite off the southern tip of the [[Isle of Cedars]]; only nine of the ships that had sailed with Ralf turn up, with Ralf himself among the missing.{{ref|ADWD|56}}
 
[[Victarion Greyjoy]] gives [[Red Ralf Stonehouse]] the [[Iron Fleet]]'s swiftest ships to sail the corsair's road along the northern coast of [[Sothoryos]] and seek provisions through the [[iron price]] from towns in the Basilisk Isles. Victarion gave orders to reunite off the southern tip of the [[Isle of Cedars]]; only nine of the ships that had sailed with Ralf turn up, with Ralf himself among the missing.{{ref|ADWD|56}}
  
==References and Notes==
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==References==
 
{{references}}
 
{{references}}
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{{Basilisk Isles|state=uncollapsed}}
 
{{Basilisk Isles|state=uncollapsed}}
 
{{Regions}}
 
{{Regions}}
 
{{Islands}}
 
{{Islands}}
<!-- Categories -->
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[[Category:Places on Sothoryos]]
 
[[Category:Places in the Summer Sea]]
 
 
[[Category:Basilisk Isles| ]]
 
[[Category:Basilisk Isles| ]]
 
[[Category:Islands]]
 
[[Category:Islands]]
[[Category:Missing map]]
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[[Category:Places in Sothoryos]]
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[[Category:Places in the Summer Sea]]
  
<!-- language interwikis -->
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[[es:Islas Basilisco]]
 
[[fr:Îles du Basilic]]
 
[[fr:Îles du Basilic]]
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[[ru:Острова Василиска]]
 
[[zh:&#34503;&#34597;&#32676;&#23707;]]
 
[[zh:&#34503;&#34597;&#32676;&#23707;]]
[[ru:Острова Василиска]]
 

Latest revision as of 20:08, 3 June 2019

A map showing the location of the Basilisk Isles and Naath in blue.

The Basilisk Isles are a group of islands off the northwestern coast of Sothoryos, on the Summer Sea. They are named after the basilisks that once infested them.[1]

The mud-and-blood towns of the Basilisk Isles teem with escaped slaves, slavers, skinners, whores, hunters, brindled men, and worse.[2] Corsair towns and pirate lairs—which reuse names like Black Pudding, Port Plunder, Sty, and Whore's Gash—spring up and are quickly abandoned.[1]

Life on the islands is described as nasty, brutal, and often short. The isles are hot, humid, and swarming with stinging flies, sand fleas, and bloodworms, making them unhealthy for both man and beast.[1]

The Basilisks

The Basilisks off the northern coast of Sothoryos, with Naath to the west

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.[1]

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.[1]

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 two score 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 and took her fleet to sea again.[3]

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. The Qartheen pirate Xandarro Xhore 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.

Volantis and other Free Cities periodically send fleets to clear out these pirates, with varying success. Saathos Saan of Lys joined the pirates and reigned as King of the Basilisk Isles for three decades.[1] Harwyn Hoare spent two years in the isles as the captive of a pirate king.[4] The author of A Caution for Young Girls claims to have spent time as the plaything of a corsair queen in the isles.[5] Corsairs from the Basilisk Isles captured highborn maidens from Volantis sailing to Westeros to attend King Aegon III Targaryen's Maiden's Day Cattle Show.[6] Racallio Ryndoon fled to the isles after the Daughters' War.[7]

Recent Events

A Feast for Crows

Garin tells Arianne Martell that according to sailors in Planky Town, a new corsair king has risen in the Basilisk Isles and has raided Tall Trees Town.[8]

A Dance with Dragons

It is revealed that Missandei and her brothers had been taken from their home in Naath by raiders from the Basilisk Isles and sold into slavery in Astapor. [9]

After returning to Meereen, Daario Naharis tells Daenerys Targaryen that among the turncloaks who have come over to her side is an axeman from the Basilisk Isles, a brute bigger than Strong Belwas.[10]

Among Ser Barristan Selmy's squires is a young former slave called Tumco Lho who is originally from the Basilisk Isles.[11]

Victarion Greyjoy gives Red Ralf Stonehouse the Iron Fleet's swiftest ships to sail the corsair's road along the northern coast of Sothoryos and seek provisions through the iron price from towns in the Basilisk Isles. Victarion gave orders to reunite off the southern tip of the Isle of Cedars; only nine of the ships that had sailed with Ralf turn up, with Ralf himself among the missing.[2]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: The Basilisk Isles.
  2. 2.0 2.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 56, The Iron Suitor.
  3. 3.0 3.1 The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: Ten Thousand Ships.
  4. The World of Ice & Fire, The Iron Islands: The Black Blood.
  5. Fire & Blood, A Surfeit of Rulers.
  6. Fire & Blood, Under the Regents - War and Peace and Cattle Shows.
  7. Fire & Blood, The Lysene Spring and the End of Regency.
  8. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 21, The Queenmaker.
  9. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 11, Daenerys II.
  10. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 36, Daenerys VI.
  11. A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 67, The Kingbreaker.