Located within the waters of the Summer Sea, along the northwestern coast of the continent of
Sothoryos, the Basilisk Isles were named for the fearsome creatures that once populated the region.
Shattered in various small islands, the most well known include the Isle of Tears,
the Isle of Toads, Talon, Skull Island, Ax Isle, the Isle of Flies and the Howling Mountain.
Surviving ruins on the Isle of Tears, Isle of Toads and Ax Isle suggest a long lost
civilization once inhabited these lands, a remnant of which might still exist on the Isle of Toads,
home to a small native population, said to have an unpleasant fish like aspect to their faces. Many
of these people were born with webbed fingers and toes. The island was also home to a 40 foot high
toad statue carved from a mysterious greasy black stone, similar to the material used in
other ancient structures all over the world, like the Seastone Chair of the Iron Islands,
the ruins of Yeen and buildings of Asshai. Whatever it was in the past, the Basilisk
Isles eventually became a refuge for pirates, slavers, sellswords and murderers, where the
worst of humanity might find others of their kind. Exiles sometimes fled to these islands,
like the former King of the Stepstones Racallio Ryndoon, after his defeat in the Daughters War.
Earning their coin through raids and slavery, the corsairs of the Basilisk isles grew into
a constant threat for the coastal people of Sothoryos, Naath, the Summer Isles any ships
passing south of the Valyrian Peninsula. Life on the islands was harsh and volatile,
with the hot humid weather spawning stinging flies, sand fleas and bloodworms. Many perished
from wildlife and disease, and as a result few settlements could survive very long, seeing towns
like Black Pudding, Port Plunder, Sty, and Whore's Gash going through cycles where they were built,
abandoned and then rebuilt in another location. Thousands of years before the Targaryen conquest
of Westeros, when the Old Empire of Ghis grew powerful and sent ships to explore the world,
they upon the Basilisk isles, and settled the city of Gorgai upon the isle of tears.
Occupying the territory for several centuries, they were eventually defeated by the Valyrian
Freehold in the Third Ghiscari War, losing the colony to their dragonlord enemies who
renamed the settlement, Gogossos, using it as a penal colony for the worst of their criminals.
Valyrians allowed sorcerers to practice their blood magic upon the prisoners with some stories
claiming they forced slave women to breed with beasts, producing twisted half human offspring.
After Valyria completed their conquest of Ghis, they expanded west, and eventually went to war
with the Rhoynar people, defeating their armies and forcing the survivors to flee aboard 10000
ships, following their leader Princess Nymeria on a journey to find a new homeland,
they arrived in the Basilisk Isles and faced raids from the corsair kings of Ax Isle,
Talon and the Howling Mountain, who burned two score ships and enslaved hundreds. The kings
then declared the Rhoynar could settle the Isle of Toads, but in exchange must give up their ships,
and pay a yearly tribute of 30 virgin girls and pretty boys to each king. Refusing,
Nymeria led her people away, and attempted to settle Sothoryos,
Naath and the Summer Isles before finally finding a home in Dorne.
During the years of Corsair rule, the isle of Talon became one of the most popular
destination for pirates and slavers, as its deep, honeycombed caves to provided a fortified refuge
for many their kind, with Barter Beach becoming a prominent center of trade.
Many of the corsairs who journeyed through the Basilisk Isles decorated their ships
with the bloody heads of their enemies, leaving them until the flesh rotted away. Afterwards,
the skulls were dumped on Skull Island, as an offering to a dark god.
After the Doom of Valyria, when the continent of Essos erupted a century of blood,
the settlement Gogossos became an independent city-state, much like the 9 free cities of Essos,
growing so rich from the slave trade, many soon considered it the tenth Free city.
Yet all this success could not protect them from the Red Death, a terrible plague which
tore through the population, killing 9 of every 10 residents. Those few that survived,
abandoned gogossos, leaving it a desolate ruin for the next century.
Though the population of the Basilisk Isles diminished greatly after the red death,
outlaws and slavers eventually returned, with the Qartheen pirate Xandarro Xhore building
a blackstone fortress on Ax Isle, while the Brotherhood of Bones settled on the Isle of Flies.
Concerned for the safety of trade ships, local powers in Essos, often led by Volantis,
sometimes sent their fleets to disperse and destroy the corsair of the Basilisk Isles.
However these assaults were not always successful, like when the city state of Lys sent Saathos Saan
with a fleet of ships to destroy the enemy and he instead stole the ships and united the pirates of
the islands under his rule. Saathos Saan reigned for 30 years as King of the Basilisk Isles.