The Coming of the Andals

Out of Andalos in western Essos the Andals crossed the narrow sea in their longships, landing first upon the shores of the Vale with the seven-pointed star carved into their flesh. They brought three things that would remake Westeros: the Faith of the Seven, whose septs and septons now stand in every southern town; weapons and armour of iron, against which the bronze of the First Men could not hold; and letters, for the Andals wrote their deeds where the First Men had left only runes on rock. Kingdom by kingdom the south fell to them or wed them, the children of the forest were driven from the southern woods, and in time six of the seven kingdoms were ruled by Andal kings. It is with the Andals that the true recorded history of Westeros begins, as the maesters of the Citadel reckon it, for what came before survives only in legend.