Deep within the sun-scorched peninsula south of Xexesu lies Teasach—a land of skeletal ruins and shifting sands. Join Adam as he uncovers the truth behind the “Ghost Tribe,” their ancient bond with dragons, and the mischievous brownies who help guard their desert secrets. 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
In the deserts of southern Caelia (KAY-lee-uh), the heat isn’t your only enemy. You might walk past a canyon wall a dozen times and never realize that a thousand eyes are watching you from behind the stone. The ruins of Teasach are a graveyard of a civilization that everyone believes is dead—but in the DireLands, the dead have a habit of protecting what’s theirs.
Intro
Welcome to this continuation of my DireLands system agnostic, dark fantasy campaign setting! My name is Adam and today we are adventuring into the peninsula south of Xexesu. 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
Long before the Establishment Epoch, the Teas (tess̪)—a tribe of desert gnomes—were a grand civilization of stone-masons and dragon riders. But when the Halfling tribes crossed the Krawtion Straits from Quill, a brutal war erupted that nearly wiped the Teas from the face of Ciar-mhonadh (KIERD-vonnig).
The world believes they lost. The ruins you see today—crumbling pillars and sand-choked plazas—are left there on purpose. The Teas have embraced the myth of their own extinction. They have transitioned from stone-masons to masters of Hidden Architecture, carving their prosperity into the very desert canyons and subterranean pockets that adventurers assume are empty.
The Teas look like diminutive, aged humans, their skin often appearing burned or blistered by the relentless sun. They wrap themselves from head to toe in desert cloth, but beneath the wrappings, they practice a unique form of body modification. Through intricate scarification, they mirror the cracked earth and the ‘scars’ they left on the landscape in antiquity.
They are largely peaceful vegetarians, surviving on genetically modified flora that they’ve adapted to grow in the harsh, dry heat. They dig deep into the earth for water, living a quiet, prosperous life while the nations above squabble over ice and iron.
Those who wander into Teasach (Tess-ach) rarely find death, but they always find misery. The Teas relish a specific style of mischief to drive away outsiders. Along with their allies—the desert Brownies—they torment trespassers.
Travelers tell tales of ‘desert ghosts’ who steal their gear in the night and inflict non-lethal, stinging wounds while they sleep. It is a psychological war designed to make the desert feel haunted and inhospitable, ensuring that the secret of their survival remains buried in the canyons.
But for the few who aren’t run off, Teasach reveals a grander, more ancient secret. In antiquity, when the Wildlands covered the vast majority of Faulest (FAW-lest), this peninsula was a haven for dragons. The ancestors of the Teas weren’t just stone-masons; they were Dragon Riders. They would tend to the dragons’ eggs, aiding in their development and teaching them to accommodate riders. And while the great dragons pretty much abandon their young to their own survival after a decade, the gnomes developed an entire society based on a mutually beneficial lifestyle. The great dragons were never tamed in the traditional sense of horses. They remained entirely free willed and wild.
Even to this day, scattered among the ruins are the massive, sun-bleached bones of these great drakes. Legend says that in prehistory, the tribe split. While many stayed to guard the desert, others took their dragons and flew south across the Ruz Ocean, seeking a land untouched by the coming ice. This connection to the cosmic and the primordial still draws scholars to the region, hoping to find a spark of that ancient power.
The secret the Teas will never share, is that deep in the caves of the desert, some dragon eggs have remained, staying dormant. The Tess myths speak of an age when the great wyrms will once again return, and the eggs will hatch. The Teas have kept these eggs in pristine condition, revering them in an almost religious way. For their cultural history is tied to their awakening.
While most of the first nation people of Caelia are entirely unaware of the ruins of Teasach, those who do know about it, give the desolate landscape a wide berth. The desert can keep its secrets as far as they are concerned. But for those archeologists, myth chasers, and adventurers, it is a place of danger and a lot of history whose secrets are closely guarded.
Will the dragons ever return to Teasach? What would be the heralding of their return? Will the Teas ever share their history with adventurers? And will the truth of the dragon’s disappearance ever be known? 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!