Let’s learn all about Faulest (faw-lest), the continent of focus of DireLands. Join Adam as he explores his DireLands fantasy campaign setting. You can learn more about DireLands here: https://reverendcampbell.com/direlands/
About DireLands Fantasy Campaign Setting
DireLands is a system agnostic, dark fantasy tabletop roleplaying campaign setting. It was created by Adam P. Campbell in 2024. DireLands is set in a land that is in the final century of an ice age that saw the rise of the Witch-Queen who subjugated the three realms’ populations and cast out the demi-human races. The Triumvirate rose in the last century and liberated two of the three nations, but after their victory, they have become corrupt themselves.
Transcript
Cold Open
At the approximate scale of 8.12 million square miles, the continent of Faulest is just slightly smaller than North America in size.
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 continent of Faulest 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 history of the continent is not known to the inhabitants of Faulest. Not only is it much older than the first-nations people believe, they are not even the original inhabitants. In antiquity, all of Ciar-mhonadh (kierd-vonnig) was populated by the gods. Together these spirits of the cosmos, elements, and nature came together and created the natural world–populating it with creatures of all sorts. As the great wyrms began to overpopulate, they felt the need to balance nature through the creation of mortals. Up until this epoch, there was no mortal realm of the world, as the wildlands covered the entire planet. Sensing the unbalance that the great wyrms represented, the gods decided to create mortals, and a mortal world for them to dwell in. They set this mortal realm as pockets around the wildlands, and this not only forced the wyrms to battle for territory and dominance with each other, but set them in direct opposition to the mortals. However, the mortals banded together and nearly wiped out the great wyrms, as their populations grew so rapidly in contrast.
Once the wyrms retreated within the Wildlands, the mortal realm began to spread, and the mortals settled the lands above and below the surface. As Ciar-mhonadh’s continents began to shift and move apart, continents began to be defined by the races which inhabited them, though even in the case of Haughlus (haw-lus) and Quill, they were populated by much more than just the elves and halflings respectively. It is the receding of the wildlands which not only spelled doom for the gods on Ciar-mhonadh, but also set the stage for the eventual discovery by the Dubh-chreideamh (Du kar-etch-ev), ancient cosmic beings who desired to conquer known space.
With the shrinking of the Wildlands, and the diminished influence and power of the gods in due course, the mortals began to draw tribal boundaries and the land became segregated. Half-Orcs, the result of raids between the Orcs and Humans, retreated to the north, while elves, and halflings settled much of the southern continent. Dwarves claimed the hills and mountains with the gnomes. Many other monstrous races claimed dominion over territories, and conflict became common across the continent of Faulest. The Wildlands would spread once again, and knowledge of the gods and the spirit realm would come to the mortals in the form of war.
The fey creatures would unite with the remaining great wyrms and wage war on the mortal races, but again, like the great wars of the past, the mortals would overcome these nigh immortal beings, pushing back the Wildlands, and in turn, ensuring their own future doom. The few remaining great wyrms retreated deep into the Wildlands, with some of their reptilian cousins traveling to the far corners of Ciar-mhonadh. For it is because the Wildlands remained shrunken that the first nation peoples of Faulest couldn’t unite with their Fey cousins and fight off the incursion of the Beàrrta (bee-och-te), or men from the west, and later, the Witch-Queen.
As the battles between the Wildlands continued, the Half-Orc tribes of the north would unite with the human, elven, and gnomish tribes to form the Nation of Locaston in 1,754 A.M. or ‘After Men Arrived from the West’. The nation would extend approximately 1,500 miles east to west and 3,511 north to south. It has a population of approximately 17 million, composed of 35% human, 20% half-orc, 12% goblin, 8% ogre, 2% gnome, and 33% other. Its capital is Vuurghnim with a population of 1.1 million. It features an autocratic government with an emperor who rules over its tribal leaders. Its primary cities are Griiph, Klintock, Szesz, Krex, Baalie, and Cess.
This was a massive change to the structure of Faulest which had existed as borderless tribal territory for the first-nation’s people since time immemorial. Such was the threat posed by their interlopers for with them came technology of art and war. This spurred the industry of war for Locaston, and they directed their efforts against the Beàrrta. The tribes south of Locaston did their best to stay out of the conflicts, believing there could be peace to be had, after all their ancient ancestors found peace with the Fey, or so they believed.
However, by 1,113 A.M. the men formed the nation of Bressus (bress-sus) in the west. The nation is spread approximately 1,380 miles east to west and 1,110 north to south. It has a population of approximately 20 million, composed of 62% human, 9% elves, 7% dwarves, 5% halfling, and 17% other. Its capital is Trinisius with a population of 1 million, and its government is a republic, ruled by an emperor who is advised in counsel by representative senators, and lords of state. Its primary cities are Vitro, Valcaston, Gael, Prestus, Thraq, Lumin, Lahore, Wallun, Ochar, and Chriun. While it took nearly 500 years for the border to be defined through conflict, it is a defended border with the nation’s founding.
With little option left, Caelia (kay-lee-uh) would unite its disparate tribes to form the Biel Gos, a tribal collective which would be the face of the nation in 1,073 A.M. It spreads approximately 1,260 miles east to west and 1,050 miles north to south. It has a population of approximately 13 million, composed of 47% human, 17% elves, 13% dwarves, 10% halfling, and 13% other. Its capital is Yurtheq with a population of 750 thousand. And its primary cities are Toktek, Wihememe, Udolose, Xexesu, Querel, Moonrhu, and Kahutehe. While the Biel Gos is made up of the tribal chiefs, it is an uneasy alliance that is beginning to fall apart with the renewed spread of the Wildlands in the wake of the reign of the Witch-Queen.
Life continues to thrive and though small border conflicts continue, the nations and people of Faulest try to focus on themselves in this new Frozen Epoch. But peace on Faulest is far from
Secured, for the Wildlands are beginning to spread again, and the threat of the Dubh-chreideamh is far from over. Will you stand with the people of Faulest to face this cosmic horror, or battle between nations for the remaining territory if the Wildlands cannot be stopped? The future of these DireLands are yours to shape.
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!