Let’s learn all about the ancient, now frozen citadel known simply as The Frozen Citadel in 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
Imagine a citadel carved from obsidian, encased in a tomb of translucent blue ice miles thick. No sun reaches these halls, yet they pulse with a rhythmic, alien light.
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 ancient, now frozen citadel known simply as The Frozen Citadel 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 or get $10 by signing up to StartPlaying.Games using my affiliate links in the description below.
Details
We are traveling to the furthest reaches of northern Locaston (LOW-cast-on). We’re diving beneath the glaciers to uncover the Frozen Citadel. This location represents one of the greatest mysteries of DireLands—a place where ancient history and cosmic terror collide. This is the Frozen Citadel—the ultimate sanctuary for the desperate, and a death trap for the unwary. In the DireLands, the greatest secrets aren’t buried in the dirt; they are frozen in time.
The Frozen Citadel was rediscovered in 640 A.M., or ‘After Men Arrived from the West’, by the descendants of Graullen’s Fist, the all-male order of magic-wielding warriors from Locaston; forced underground by the Witch-Queen. Following ancient astrological charts, they tunneled through the shifting glaciers of the north, expecting to find a simple ancestral site. Instead, they found an architectural impossibility: a massive, sprawling fortress of black stone that predates the arrival of Men from the West. The Citadel is not just in the ice; it is protected by it, trapped in time. Shockingly, the temperatures inside are unnaturally regulated, suggesting that the stone itself is drawing heat from a source deep within the earth—or perhaps from the Wildlands.
The most shocking feature of the Citadel is what lies at its heart. Beneath the obsidian spires lies an underground connection to the Wildlands—this underground jungle of bioluminescent flora and antediluvian growth fuels life as much as it is contained and prevents growth by the citadel and glaciers above. This pocket provides the only life-support for those trapped within. It creates a strange, claustrophobic irony: while the world above is dying in a frozen wasteland, a miniature, vibrant world thrives miles underground. But this beauty is deceptive. The Wildland here acts as a doorway to the fey regions that the Xalsion (ZAL-shun), the order of female sorceresses focused on cosmic ritual magic, have spent centuries trying to understand. The membrane separating the Wildlands from the natural world is too thick to pass through, preventing escape from those within the Citadel.
The residents of the Citadel—the all-male order of Graullen’s Fist—live in a state of perpetual siege. The vast, vaulted ice caverns surrounding the fortress hum with an alien frequency whose source is believed to be the infestation of the Dòiche (DO-chye) aberrations. These “Nameless Horrors” are drawn to the Citadel’s heat and magical signature. They prowl the tunnels, waiting for a breach in Graullen’s Fist’s defenses. Through exploration they have determined that the aberrations are vast in number and control the upper five levels of the Citadel. Graullen’s Fist has barricaded themselves between the sixth and eight levels which feed into the underground caverns. This dungeon is populated by creatures from before the Ice Age. Great Wyrms, mind-assaulting entities, clans of wicked and twisted gnomes and goblins to name a few are constant threats to those who dare explore its musty mold and fungus writtled caverns. Because the residents refuse to allow women into their order, their numbers are dwindling. They are a society of masters with no students, guarding a treasure they can never leave.
But who built the Citadel? The carvings on the walls do not match the orcish tribes of the north, the elven kin of Haughlus (HAW-lus), or even the Beàrrta (BEE-och-te). They depict celestial processions and beings that look uncomfortably like the Aeriof Waters (AIR-ee-off), the obscure order of warlocks who removed their eyes to commune with cosmic beings. Some Jhion Order (GEE-on) scholars believe the Citadel was a “Life-Raft”—a place built by an ancient race to survive the arrival of the Ice Age. Others fear it is a “Lure,” designed to draw in the powerful and trap them, keeping them contained while the world above is harvested by the Dubh-chreideamh (DU KAR-etch-ev).
Graullen’s Fist desperately hopes someone will come and provide an opportunity for them to escape. How long can they survive with their dwindling numbers and hunger at their doorstep? What ancient power and treasure could possibly exist as a draw to the cosmic and terrestrial? With this being the only known connective tissue on Ciar-mhonadh (KIERD-vonnig) to Dòiche, there must be some shred of knowledge that can assist the mortals in fighting back against the cosmic invaders.
The Frozen Citadel offers your players a unique “Dungeon Crawl” experience: a high-stakes survival mission where the environment is as deadly as the monsters. Will they find a way to liberate the trapped masters of the Fist, or will they become just another set of bones preserved in the obsidian halls? Only your home campaign can answer those questions, as the future of these DireLands are 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.
Thank you Creator Patrons Aaron Hardy & D. Robert Handy and Developer Patrons Chris Androu & Sam Ruiz!
Always remember that evil spelled backwards is live, so get out there and be evil!