Let’s learn all about Ciar-mhonadh (kierd-vonnig), the primary planet of DireLands. Join Adam as he explores his DireLands fantasy campaign setting. You can learn more about DireLands here: https://reverendcampbell.com/direlands/
Transcript
Cold Open
It is the fourth of thirteen planets from the star Brigid. It features two moons, five continents and an equatorial diameter of 9,752 miles. But it is much more than all that.
Intro
Welcome to this continuation of my DireLands system agnostic, dark fantasy campaign setting! My name is Adam and in this episode I will be discussing the planet of Ciar-mhonadh in DireLands. If you appreciate the development of this campaign setting, or the features of other games on this channel, I would like to invite you to consider becoming a patron on Patreon. You can even purchase tabletop roleplaying games using my affiliate link in the description below.
Details
The planet of Ciar-mhonadh (kierd-vonnig) is the center of vibrant life in DireLands. It’s the home of all campaign races and it is terrorized by beings who dwell on the moon of Dòiche (do-chye), cosmic aberrations which cross the magical land bridge once every quarter-century. Its second moon, Eu-dòchas (eh-do-chas) has a consistent orbit, and while it holds fascination and rumor as to its possible inhabitants, it’s all conjecture. This al’l suggests that there is a larger population that has learned how to traverse the stars, but other than their attempted invasions in northern Locaston, the people of Ciar-mhonadh live in stark ignorance to this fact. Life on the planet is difficult. Outside the recent ice age which has dominated the planet for the past near one thousand years, there have been two extinction level events which occurred in its primordial past, shaping the DireLands into what they are today.
The first event is only shared through pictograms in antidiluvian ruins currently under miles of glacier ice in what now is known as northern Locaston. It speaks of a comet impact which brought the first cosmic beings to Ciar-mhonadh. The force of the impact nearly wiped out all life on the planet, going so far as to shift the poles. The second extinction event is shared in the myths of the first nations people of the continent of Faultest; it is woven into their creation myth about life springing from cosmic beings, but the truth is much more insidious–as the beings nearly destroyed all life on Ciar-mhonadh, and those who survived are believed to be the first men.
Because there has been no recorded history prior to the Beàrrta (bee-och-te), or men from the west, arriving on the continent of Faulest (faw-lest), history has been handed down through spoken word, so the true timespan of life on Ciar-mhonadh is in the realm of myth. Knowledge is regional and the dangers of the past and their shaping of the planet are largely unknown. Of the five primary land masses, only three are named, and of them, only Faulest is known. The races of Faulest have either been born on the continent or traveled there in antiquity, as there is no knowledge outside of the names of the ancient home of the elves, the continent of Haughlus (haw-lus), the ancient home of the halflings, the continent of Quill, or the unnamed continent which men came from in the Establishment Epoch.
The planet itself has been relatively stable since the last extinction event, allowing life to thrive on Faulest, albeit in a primitive manner for thousands of years. The climate, while erratic since the ice age in the Nations Epoch, has created the perfect environment for the peoples of Faultest to thrive from the high tundra region of the Yezis Mountains in the north, to the scenic plains and swamps of south-western Bressus, even the storm-ridden shores of Caelia’s south-eastern peninsulas are home to native peoples who live among its ancient ruins. The equator runs straight through Bressus from its capital of Trinisius through Caelia’s Kahutehe and Udelose tribal lands. The heat has allowed life to thrive and civilization to grow. The air currents rising from the north west, spiral south, hitting central Faulest hardest, bringing the heat which scorches the land, creating vast deserts which ebb and flow in eastern Bressus.
The currents off the Praulix Sea provide a welcome cooling effect for western Bressus, maintaining more normalized weather. However that current pushes the wind streams east. As they hit the colder winds from the West Groinich Ocean, it generates terrible storms that wrack eastern Caelia and Locaston. Before the glacial ice spread south over Locaston, the higher elevation was still struck hard by the cool glaciers north of the continent, sending weather south which offset the brutal heat from the equator causing large stormfronts with frequent lightning storms and tornadoes throughout Southern Locaston.
Summers are harsh and winters are long with small transition seasons between. In Locaston, with the shift of climate in the past millennia, nights can last for months at a time, with twilight following in the same cycle. Caelia is hit hardest in the winters, in some elevations the snow can reach dozens of feet in depth, and the peaks of the southern Carst mountains are never absent of snow. Even the plains in winter will have a perpetual layer of frost. Bressus has the most advantageous climate year round, and while they do receive a significant amount of snow in the winter, it melts fairly quickly in the spring, feeding the land with its runoff.
The continents were created through plate tectonics, shifting the land around Ciar-mhonadh. This also created massive mountain ranges that run through Faulest. From west to north you have the Tantarus, Ruike, Grux, Carst, and Yezis ranges. Surrounding Faulest are the great oceans of Ciar-mhonadh. Life is vast in each, with unique dangers including ancient aberrations, giant varieties of sea life, and whole hatcheries for Sea Dragons. To the west of Faulest is the Praulix Sea, separating Faulest from Quill is the Krawtion Straits. South of Quill, separating it from the southern pole continent is the Rux Ocean. East of Faulest and separated by Haughlus are the West and East Groinish Oceans. North of Faulest, now under miles of glacial ice is the freezing Zhulix Sea. The coastal regions were once covered in water, but the ice age has lowered the sea levels by a few meters due to water displacement.
As you can see, Ciar-mhonadh is a vast planet with millennia of forgotten history to its current epoch. Signs of its troubled past are all around the people of the world, and if they can decode its secrets, perhaps they can face and even overcome the coming conflicts. But as terrifying a prospect as that may be, there are cosmic forces at work which reside off the planet itself, who gaze greedily at the rich life on Ciar-mhonadh, and it’s only a matter of time before that gaze turns to action.
Outro
Thank you for watching today’s DireLands Fantasy Campaign Setting episode. Please consider subscribing to this YouTube channel, liking and commenting on this video. And if you enjoyed this episode, consider becoming a patron on Patreon. Always remember that evil spelled backwards is live, so get out there and be evil!