In the south of the Narrow Sea, between the continents of Westeros and Essos, are the
islands of the Stepstones.
Lands whose long history are plagued with piracy and violence, often becoming involved
in the wars of neighboring territories.
Long ago, over 12 000 years before Aegon’s Landing, the area was believed to have been
a land bridge referred to as the Arm of Dorne, which allowed the First Men to migrate west,
becoming the first humans to inhabit Westeros.
However they eventually went to war with the native Children of the Forest threatening
to take over the continent.
Desperate to save to stop the continuous flow of humans into their lands, the Children used
their magics to call upon the hammer of the waters, breaking the Arm of Dorne, and preventing
further mass migration.
But it was too late, as the First Men would establish a hundreds of petty kingdoms, spreading
far into the north.
Yet others do not give credence to such legends and claim the Stepstones were formed by a
natural event, such as the melting of ice in the far north beyond the Shivering Sea,
causing the sea levels to rise and claim much of the land.
Thousands of years later, the Valyrian freehold established the city of Tyrosh, originally
as a military outpost and to control trade in the area.
And while Tyrosh developed into a strong city state, known as part of the Free Cities of
Western Essos, the rest of the Stepstones became best known for piracy and the slave
trade.
During the reign of King Edrick Stark, pirates from the Stepstones managed to capture the
Wolf’s Den, but it was later taken back by King Edrick’s great grandson Brandon
Stark, who freed their captives and then stripped the pirates naked, making them the slaves
of those who they freed.
And while this venture ended in defeat, raiders from the Stepstones would continue to plague
the North, Riverlands and Vale of Arryn for centuries.
The islands themselves also became populated by a number of Rhoynar exiles, who fled the
conquest of their homelands by Valyrian Dragonlords.
And after the fall of Valyria, became pawns in the wars of Myr, Tyrosh and Lys, often
conquered and made a part of their territories.
When the three cities united to defeat the Volantis for position of the disputed lands,
they became the Kingdom of the Three Daughters, allowing for the Myrish prince-admiral Craghas
Drahar to then conquer the Stepstones.
Yet they soon lost the territory in 106AC when Prince Daemon Targaryen, brother of King
Viserys I, and his ally Lord Corlys Velaryon, led an army to conquer the stepstones, as
retribution for Myrish piracy over a decade earlier.
Corlys then crowned Daemon Targaryen King of the Stepstones and Narrow Sea in 109AC.
A year later, a Tyroshi captain named Racallio Ryndoon invaded with fresh troops and new
allies in the Dornish who had joined the efforts of the Triarchy.
The War for the stepstones would go on for many more years, seeing Daemon Targaryen abandon
his position in 115AC, leaving it to a series of 5 more kings, before the Kingdom collapsed
under pressure from the Triarchy.
After the war, Racallio Ryndoon established his own small pirate kingdom on the Stepstones.
During the Blackfyre rebellions in Westeros, the descendants of Daemons Blackfyre and his
supporters often fled in exile to Tyrosh and its neighboring islands, even becoming the
center of the Fifth Blackfyre Rebellion, when Maelys Blackfyre and the Golden company allied
with the Band of Nine, a number of wealthy pirate merchants who were planning an invasion
of Westeros.
But the forces of House Targaryen under King Jaehaerys II were able to invade the Stepstones
and defeat them, becoming a proving ground for many great Westerosi warriors such as
Steffon Baratheon, who saw his father Ormond cut down in battle, dying in his arms, and
Ser Gerold Hightower who rose to command their forces after the death of the Hand of the
King.
Tywin Lannister, Brynden Blackfish Tully, and the future king Aerys Targaryen II all
distinguished themselves in battle, but none so much as a young Ser Barristan Selmy, who
carved a path through the Golden Company to fight Maelys Blackfyre in single combat, killing
him and ending the Blackfyre threat.
Throughout their history, the Ironborn have also taken to raiding the stepstones, with
the future King Balon Greyjoy having spent a summer reaving the isles alongside Dagmar
Cleftjaw, killing his first man and taking his first two salt wives.
And the lands continue to be centers of piracy and slavery into the modern era, with a Pirate
King known as the Lord of Waters, establishing yet another Pirate Kingdom on Torturer’s
Deep, during the mayhem of the War of the Five Kings.