“Beyond the southern Outlands and west for thousands of leagues is the Dreadful Wilds.
And way west of them lies the Mountains of Madness, which encompass the home and House of
the Black Witch of the West.”
and it be these mountains that keep the claws of the West off the throat of the North.”
“My House is not threatened by the House of the West,” she replied with a purple-gummed
smile. However, it is their great snowcapped peaks that kiss the heavens and separate us the
Commonwealth of the West,
_____________________________________________________
“This aero-port is named The Eye o’ the Witch
the Fringe which is the strip of land that borders first, the Outlands, and continues on to flank the
Dreadful Wilds.”
__________________________________
“I claim this country: from dessert to dow’nunder and from Raven’s Ridge to the Mountains of
Madness as well as the Fringe Settlements bordering the Outlands, Dreadful Wilds, and
henceforth name it Oz.
______________________________________________
“The Mountains of Madness flank us to the north. That,” Jaunty Jack then pointed outward and opposite
the mountains toward what appeared to be a line of flattened peaks as far as the eye could see. “Is
Raven’s Ridge, but she also goes by the name of the Great Divide. Between the Ridge and Madness is
this here No-Name Gorge. Those, however a living down there, think of their lands as a valley and not as
a gorge...if indeed they thinks.”
“What lies at the bottom of the gorge,” hollered Jim from his jumberello.
“We calls the land betwixt the Madness and Raven’s Ridge, the Underworld.
To the far West, is the Valley of the Vegans, a rainforest with some nasty plants.
Then east of the Vegans in the Underworld, there be a couple of days walk through thick jungle and this
be home to the flying monkeys. Far to the east along the underworld lining the base of the mountain are
caves, pocks, and fissures that spew forth pi’sinous gas, flame, and smoke. This two day stretch is called
Hell’s Hearth. The trail cutting through the thick of it, from mainland to the House of the West is called
Devil’s Walk.”
“And…out there…beyond Raven’s Ridge?” Dorothy said.
“The Dreadful Wilds lies south and beyond the Ridge