The Valley of Broken Mirrors

The Valley of Broken Mirrors lies within the most remote interior of The Grandgleam, itself already one of the most impenetrable and uncharted regions in all of Everwealth. Thick mist rolls over the treetops for miles around, veiling the deeper reaches in a perpetual half-light even at midday. The valley proper is estimated to begin near the region surrounding the twisted elmbane groves, though no confirmed overland trail reaches that far. Access has only ever been achieved through indirect means, primarily by air via hot-air balloon or extremely limited gliding apparatus. Even these methods are considered suicidal in all but name. The land itself dips dramatically, carved into the forest floor like a bowl of broken glass. Reflections dance at impossible angles where sunlight hits the valley edge, fracturing light into blinding spears and prismatic illusions that stretch for miles in deceptive patterns. Many who attempt to cross it report vertigo, nausea, hallucinations, or sudden psychotic breaks attributed to the visual distortion and magical residue embedded in the ancient quartz that litters the area.

A haunting convergence of shattered earth and invasive regrowth, the Valley of Broken Mirrors sustains a delicate yet dangerous balance of life. Its fractured quartz landscape, once deep underground, now sits exposed in jagged ribbons that disrupt soil, water flow, and even light itself. Plants that have adapted to shallow soil and reflected light thrive here, mostly consisting of vine-clinging mosses, fang-leafed shrubs, and moisture-drinking creepers that root through cracks in the crystal. Beasts here have adapted not only to the sharp terrain but to the blinding light bouncing off quartz panels during midday, hunting via sound and scent rather than sight. Predators like the Warchitin dominate the ecosystem, while herbivores such as Splitjaw Hornhogs graze cautiously in shadowed patches. Micro-ecosystems exist within the half-buried caverns, where condensation from trapped mist sustains tiny, luminous fungal networks and bizarre crustacean-insect hybrids. No part of this ecosystem is safe, thorn, tooth, and shimmer all conspire to cull the weak.

The Valley shifts with a strange, almost cruel rhythm through the seasons. In the late spring and summer, the crystals refract so much sunlight that temperatures spike sharply at midday, driving most surface creatures underground or into the shaded canopy fringe. Plant life during this period grows aggressively, vines creeping over rock and root alike to gain foothold before the cooler months. Autumn sees the molting of many species, including the Warchitins, which sheds their outer plates in violent rolling fits that leave polished trails through the crystals. Winter brings fog, and with it, ghostly quiet; creatures either hibernate or go nocturnal, and light-dwelling insect swarms vanish beneath the glinting crust. Crucially, rainfall turns the entire valley into a reflective deathtrap, any moisture across the quartz amplifies slipperiness and can trigger sudden crystalslides, essentially avalanches of sharpened debris. Many creatures breed only during the drier tail-end of spring when terrain stability peaks.

• Shimmer Veins: During strong sunbreaks, certain veins of pink and violet quartz cast illusions due to refraction layers, some say they reflect not the present, but possible futures or mirrored versions of the observer. Scholars dispute the claim, though their hesitation to return speaks volumes.

• Cutwinds: When storm fronts pass over the valley, whistling gales slash through quartz blades, creating high-pitched harmonics known to induce nausea, migraines, and in rare cases, hallucinations. Locals believe it is the valley “singing for its lost heart.”

• Bloodglass Fog: A rare pink mist that sometimes forms when temperature drops sharply after a warm, humid day. It catches in wounds and causes quartz to grow inside them similarly to Glasspox if not cleansed with silver-laced alcohol or faerie sap within a day.

The valley is warm during the day and bitterly cold at night, with extreme shifts in humidity and sudden rains that make traversal deadly. It is prone to monsoon-like rainbursts being so close to the western coast, followed by immediate drying, which leaves the quartz glass slick and broken terrain more dangerous. Snow is rare but not unknown, when it falls, it clings to the angular surfaces and creates a strange, bone-white mirrorworld until it melts. Overall, the climate is volatile and punishing, contributing heavily to the location’s inaccessibility. Wind and sunlight define the land as much as soil and stone.

• Warchitins - Apex predators resembling a mantis-lizard hybrid with muddy plates.

• Brambleboars - Thick-skinned herbivores with under-jaws designed to slice and lift in equal fervor.

• Glint Moss - A photosynthetic, bioluminescent moss that climbs crystal faces.

• Glare-Owls - Nocturnal birds that can allegedly perceive a man's intent.

• Bloodburrs - Vine plants with glassy burrs that cling and slice to spread spores.

• All flora and fauna here share adaptations for visionless movement, hardened hides, or reflective camouflage, predation and survivability governed by the interplay of light, sound, and pain.

While inaccessible to most, the Valley is home to:

• Prism Quartz - Used in high-tier mage equipment and focusing staves.

• Bloodglass Shards - Rare alchemical reagents in rituals involving memory or illusion.

• Glintroot Sap - Painkiller resin used in black-market medicine, illegal for its mutagenic properties.

• Storm-Glass Crystals - Lightning-born minerals useful in a variety of alchemical fields.

Extraction of these resources is both deadly and expensive. The Guild of Reachers and the Merchant’s Consortium have offered bounties for reliable routes in, but few attempts return intact.

Though its origin remains speculative, consensus places the Valley’s creation during the cataclysms following The Fall. Geological theorists believe that a once-enclosed geode cave, potentially miles beneath Grandgleam, was split open by pressure quakes and sunken lava flows. The force may have uprooted the entire chamber system to the surface, scattering its glittering entrails across the forest basin. Early records speak of a “Crystalline Cradle” sought by desperate scavengers during The Great Schism, who believed it held pure arcane deposits. Most were never seen again. Airborne surveys in the 200's CA confirmed the valley’s jagged miles of colored crystal, prompting a dozen failed expeditions and the death of a celebrated expeditionary captain in 283 CA.

Technically, tourism is illegal without permit from The Scholar's Guild or The Merchant's Consortium, both of whom have claim to research and resource control. That said, the mystique of the valley makes it a popular destination for:

• Airborne Glider Tours (unofficial and often smuggled).

• Poetic Pilgrimages by bards and dreamers hoping to “see their truest reflection”.

• Black-market scavenging under the guise of spiritual journeys.

Most would-be tourists are either woefully underprepared or intentionally foolish. The few who return claim to have heard music in the wind, seen their double walking beside them, or glimpsed creatures with mirrored eyes watching from the moss.