Valley of the Witch Seer is a massive valley filled with a vast forest surrounded by tall mountains and a wide ocean. It has a wide, white sand beach that’s excellent for lounging on. Ruled by a well-known spirit seer, this area is largely peaceful and friendly.

This is my go-to area when entering the astral. It’s peaceful, it’s relaxing, and people let you do what you want without bothering you so long as you aren’t cruel. War is kept to a minimum too which is always a bonus.

Names

Something to know is that “Valley of the Witch Seer” isn’t actually the real name of this area. It’s also known as “Valley of the King Seer”, “Valley of the Seer King”, “Witch Seer’s Kingdom”, and similar combinations. The king here sometimes calls it “Myrdin” or “Myridin” and various approximations of that but that’s fairly rare. Largely, it’s just left unnamed. Before it was known as the Golden Tree Valley or Deep Forest. The beach and ocean area wasn’t part of the original territory either and had a wide-variety of names that have been largely forgotten since the ruler left the forest and conquered the beach.

These cliffs are known as the Hanging Cliffs or the Golden Cliffs. The mountains to the far left (straight across when passing by the Hanging Cliffs) are  known as the Aerie locally. Elsewhere, they’re known as the Diamond Cut Mountains, or the Waves of the Earth.

The ocean is known as the Ocean of Fallen Tears, Sea of the Giant’s Tears, Sunlight-Glances-Off-This-Body-of-Water-and-Dances-Across-the-Sands-to-Scatter-on-the-Sea-Glass- Castle-and-Dies-at-Sea. Locally, it’s known as the King’s Sea or Dragon Sea or Mermaid Cove.

 

Directions

You’ll have to travel past a modern-appearing city known as Raika or  Toreeh City. This city is really great for commerce or dance clubs. The modern roads go right to the edge of a cliff where it switches to dirt. Asking directions from this location usually gets you into the valley fairly easily.

Following the road  as it winds around the bottom of the large bluff and cliffs known as the Hanging Cliffs or the Golden Cliffs. This road dumps you into the huge forested valley.

Sometimes the road’s called “The King’s Road” but it’s mostly only called that by the locals.

When asking for directions, you’ll probably do best by asking directions to the witch seer (king). The king is largely implied for this particular ruler but most people will be able to fathom out which seer you’re asking about. Information brokers and certain fox spirit clans in particular are good sources of information. The kingdom is very large so it’s a popular destination, despite the sparse population.

 

Climate and infrastructure

Infrastructure in this area isn’t terribly well-built. Homes and villages are constructed with wood, stone, and magic but some residents live in trees or burrows. There are a few scattered buildings but the most noteworthy building is the ruler’s castle. It is made of sea glass and sand, towering up like the mountains it mirrors on the right of the beach. It half sits on the water. The is a modern-appearing city on the other side of the cliffs before entering the valley.

Trade is flourishing in this area and the villages tend to be friendly. The port attached to the castle especially is a current focus. If you need a place to stay, you may be able to find room & board in the villages or even in the castle. You can also camp out in the wilderness.

Roads do exist in this area but there isn’t a road to the castle. Instead, roads lead in and out of the valley and to villages or the mountains. Water is extremely common in this area and you can follow most streams and rivers  to villages or right to the beach itself.

Temperature wise, this area is temperate with a late summer-early autumn season. It does snow, on occasion but that largely depends on the ruler’s moods. This realm is largely stable, topographically speaking, but the weather fluxes to the ruler’s moods. The sky is usually very blue and the forest near the entryway will be golden and red birches fading into your “average” green forest trees.

There will be tall mountains will be in the distance on all side of the forest, save for the road you’re on and the sea. The mountains are very hard to climb and tower so high they are cloaked by clouds. The ones right of the castle are known as the Taira Mountains. In the mountains and cliffs there’s an aerie city of griffins. There’s other beings living in those mountains so it can be pretty fierce at times. Clan members of the fox guards also live at the base of the mountains by the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean so be wary of hurting any of them. This fox clan tends to hold a grudge.

The ocean in the distance is very blue and cool. The sand is bright, white, and clean. It smells slightly floral, from the local beach flowers along the edges. the beach is framed by low cliffs on the left and right sides. The ruler’s castle sits to the right on the beach.

 

Friendliness of the locals and how to identify yourself

Identify yourself as a “dreamer” or “spirit walker” if you don’t specifically have a name or title you want to be known by.

This region is extremely welcoming to humans so don’t be afraid to say hi to people. Even the king themselves is rather friendly. The king’s court is large but often has time for visitors.

If you run into trouble or are attacked, you can informed the king. Whether they address the issue or not depends on the situation but they’ll take care of problematic people.

 

People to know in the area: 

The spirit ruler is very powerful both personally and politically. So long as you don’t cause a fuss or incite violence, they won’t concern themselves with you. Don’t cross them though and don’t hurt their people. They’re vicious when necessary and they might not use violence to get back at you. They may just smear your name for all to hear or to block you from the astral.

Many guards are fox spirits so they make tricks or try to bribe you – you do not need to pay to gain entry into the kingdom or the palace. They also don’t appear human so prepare yourself mentally. Much of the staff is like this.

There’s a lot of staff that’s willing to help out but we’ll get into that in a future post.

 

Sights and things of note in this area:

That castle has a pool and waterfall of cleansing water. Visitors and staff can bathe in the lower public part of the castle to cleanse themselves spiritually and receive minor healing. There’s another part of the pool in the ruler’s audience hall which is worth seeing because it’s beautiful but they’ll gut you like a fish for trying to use it.

The spirit king here uses magic, especially in combat often leads battles. It’s kind of like watching a video game or anime so they’re worth watching from a safe distance if you’re into that sort of thing.

 

Warnings and things to be wary of: 

Be careful around the beach. There’s a very large sea dragon that likes to bask in the sun there. The dragon’s pretty ambivalent in general towards most things and won’t like being bothered with questions.

Merfolk also like to sun themselves on the beach, near the rocks, but they might try to drown you for the fun of it. The ruler and/or their staff will probably stop them but it’s better safe than sorry. The dragon, however, won’t help.

 

Honestly, this is a great place to visit if you’re looking for a less modern and less populated area. The folks are friendly and helpful but it’s sometimes a journey to get here. But, if you want a good place to start your astral exploring, this is a good beginner area.

 

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I’ll add to this post when there’s a new information to add so check back often.

Does some of this sound familiar? This location and people have been mentioned here, here, and here. Been here before? Drop a line and let me know if I need to add information.