Across the Eastern Ocean, nearly a month's travel by boat, can be found the Eastern Continent, and occupying the coast nearest Acryn, the territories of the King of Valydd. Hundreds of years ago, the people of Valydd were raiders, sailing up and down the shores of their continent pillaging. At some point (probably within 200 years of the present date), they switched from raiding to conquest, and built themselves a kingdom. The kingdom maintained a proud nautical and military tradition, and are generally in a state of conflict with at least some of their neighbours across the inland seas that border their territory. In order to support this, trade and scholarly endeavours grew rapidly as the demand for resources and military improvements grew.

Acryn has never been close enough to Valydd to be seen as a threat or a potential conquest, and a major source of knowledge for the Symposia of the kingdom, and thus trade between the two has been ever buoyant (often taking place on the isle of Thys as a useful middle ground between the two). Some tensions have always bubbled under - several of Acryn's royalist noble families fled to and remain within Valydd, and their unashamed warlike tendencies disgust more liberal thinkers within the city, but intellectual disgust has never been especially good at standing against the potential for profit and shared success.

Since the Upheaval, no contact has been made with Valydd. Thys lies closer, and a very limited number of ships accompanied by the best wayfinders make it through, but so far every attempt to reach Valydd has failed, and most who have tried have never been seen again.