Let’s learn all about the Biel Gos, the Caelia tribal collective that holds an uneasy truce due to the end of the Witch-Queen’s reign. 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
This loose tribal collective of Caelie only existed as a reaction to Locaston and Bressus defining their borders.
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 history of the Biel Gos 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
To understand the Biel Gos, we must understand the first-nation peoples of Faulest. While the Biel Gos are composed of the seven major tribes of Caelia, the first-nation peoples were once representative of many more tribes. In fact, the nation of Locaston even today has three of the first-nation tribes and even the nation of Bressus contains two itself. But for those tribes outside Caelia’s borders, they typically operate independently, doing their best to stay out of national conflicts and stick to themselves.
The origin of the first-nation peoples is one of myth, which differs slightly from most of the existing tribes. You see, there was no written history before the Beàrrta arrived on Faultest. Frankly there was no need for one. For the first-nations people used spoken word to transmit their history in the form of parables, legends, and instruction. There is a distilled version of the creation of the first-nation peoples, regardless of the race from which they are composed. It speaks of a great power from the cosmos which gave birth to the races, who sprung from nature itself. This great power wears many faces, and presents itself to the tribal shamans in many different ways. But they all speak of being born as caretakers of Ciar-mhonadh, to look after nature until the great power returns.
Each tribe holds its own culture and traditions. While some may have similar counterparts, they are entirely separate entities unto themselves. When the first-nation peoples of now Locaston, made a pact with the half-orc tribes of the north and formed the Nation of Locaston, due to the incursion of the Beàrrta, the tribes of now Caelia felt as though they needed to bind themselves together for mutual protection. This idea was not shared by all the tribes and the Conflict of Heart-Tears in 1078 A.M., or After Men arrived from the West, ended in two tribes being completely wiped off the face of Ciar-mhonadh. Their dissent spelled their doom. The remaining seven tribes united under an agreement of honor and mutual protection. They named this collective Biel Gos, meaning ‘The God’s People’ in ancient Faulestian.
The Biel Gos are composed of the following seven tribes: Toktek, Wihememe, Udolose, Xexesu, Querel, Moonrhu, and Kahutehe. While these are the representative tribes, there are in fact many offshoot tribes which are either too small, secretive, or unwilling to unite with the other tribes of the nation of Caelia, even though they dwell within its border. While a summons to a moot of the Biel Gos has only happened a dozen times, as most of the communication is done by runners between the tribes under a sign of agreed protection, when they do gather, it is a tremendously important affair. The first memorable moot was its founding in 1073 A.M. Then in 902 A.M., when the Ice Age was considered to have begun, the tribes gathered to speak of the migration and destabilization of Location. The last moot was in 1 F.A., or ‘Frozen Age’, when the Biel Gos met with representatives of the Triumvirate from Bressus to discuss the overthrowing of the Witch-Queen.
It is important to note, that while the Witch-Queen was a terror to the lands of Faulest, subjugating the demi-races, banning magic from being practiced by men, and all together terrorising those who believed in autonomy or freedom; there were tribes in the Biel Gos, who believed the Witch-Queen to be the return of the Great Ones from their creation myths. The tribes of Udolose, Querel, and Kahutehe had much internal strife with the idea of standing up against the creators. Regardless of whether the Witch-Queen was attributed to the creation myth of a tribe or not, in the end, all tribes believed they were facing eradication and would rather rise up against their supposed creator, than live as slaves to her whim. The Biel Gos accepted the terms set out by the Triumvirate and coordinated with the tribes of Locaston to circumvent the Gaullix and overthrow the Witch-Queen.
With the death of the Witch-Queen, and the retreat of the remnant Gaullix, the Biel Gos returned its focus to Caelia in 10 F.A.. But the agreement of honor and mutual protection no longer seemed necessary. As many of the tribes believed there was a mutual advantage to having national representation between Caelia, Location and Bressus, others began to draw back from the collective, like the Kahutehe and Wihememe. Some even worked to overthrow the Biel Gos, vying for total control and national domination over the tribes through agents of the Udolose and Moonrhu. This leaves the Biel Gos in the modern era in a tumultuous state. The contentious truce of the Biel Gos has inspired monthly moots, in stark contrast to years past. They meet in Yurtheq, the capital of Caelia, and discuss tribal boundaries, trade, and the preservation of peace within the nation.
Recently the Wildlands, which are populated by fey, aberrant & natural creatures and monstrosities that do not comprehend mortals’ desire to craft boundaries, have been spreading. And while they have always ebbed and flowed in various inner-national and border regions, this spread is entirely foreign, and has become a great concern for the Biel Gos. Representatives of the Moonrhu had spoken of missing people, and the Kahutehe echoed their fears, as they have sent warriors into the wildlands who have yet to return. And while the wildlands are known to belong only to the natural world, with no dominion by the demi-races or first-nations people, something has clearly changed, and this new threat must be addressed.
Will you assist any tribal call for assistance, or work with the Biel Gos to uncover the secret agents vying for the control or destruction of the collective? Can such a representative group maintain its control of national borders, with the original concept of the Biel Gos being for mutual protection, not national governance? And is the spread of the Wildlands a threat to the tribes of Caelia, and can the Biel Gos find a solution to that threat? The future of these DireLands are truly in your hands.
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!