Let’s learn all about The Triumvirate, the knighthood that unified the free peoples of Faulest and overthrew the Witch-Queen. 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.
Episode Content
Cold Open
It was once a force which was born from necessity, unifying the free peoples against the Witch-Queen and has fallen to corruption.
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 Triumvirate 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 need for a knighthood like the Triumvirate, we need to go back over a millenia to 1113 A.M. or ‘After Men Arrived from the West’ which preceded the Nations Epoch. You see, the arrival of the men from the west, and their carving out their colonies along the western shore of the continent of Faulest, spurred conflicts for over 600 years! The nation of Locaston was formed as a direct result of this threat from the west and territorial disputes were a continuous point of conflict. Even the first nations people of Caelia were forced to come together and form the tribal collective known as Biel Gos.
To face off against these border threats, the Triumvirate was founded by First Knight Commander Anthony Keel. Commander Keel had a vision of a unified government for Bressus, and an order to stand in support of that government’s protection. He was joined by Lord Hes Rusaris, the leader of the Reichan Colony, and Maga Leonard Yuul, priest of the Order of Nuada, the god of war. Together they outlined the three orders of the Triumvirate.
The Triumvirate was governed by the Order of Shields, which itself was overseen by the Master of Shields, Lord Rusaris. This order oversaw the public relations, distribution of the coffers, and general assignments of the Triumvirate’s Order of Arms. The Order of Arms is led by the Master of arms, Commander Keel. This order commands the troops on assignments from the Order of Shields. They are in charge of training, readiness, and protection of the army and borders of Bressus. In times of war, they command the troops and brigades against national enemies. The third order is the Order of Books. This was led by Maga Yuul, who insisted on the focus on spiritual purity and education for all soldiers of the Triumvirate. They would train the army in the rules of war, history, and religion.
Over the years the Triumvirate became a force of bureaucracy in itself, working with the heads of the nation of Bressus and defending the realm, solidifying its borders between Locaston and Caelia, while monitoring the ever shifting borders of the Wildlands. The order’s national seat is located in the grand lord city of Trinisius, the capital of Bressus. From here, for a thousand years the order maintained peace and prosperity through defence and instilling order throughout the nation. Some conflicts of note are the incursion of 1012 A.M. known as the Face Stealers War, the territory shift of 875 A.M. known as the Dryad Migration in the years following, and the Vitro peninsula liberation of 535 A.M. against the Locaston forces.
Throughout the years, as new masters took the head of the orders of the Triumvirate, its righteous mission would wax and wane in national popularity, but it would always support the Emperor of Bressus, and try its best to balance politics, social change and national defense. The Triumvirate was tested most in the Frozen Epoch. After hundreds of years of the Witch-Queens rule, the Triumvirate was able to unify the free peoples of Faulest in each of the three nations and lead their combined forces in a three pronged assault against the Gaullix, the military force of the Witch-Queen.
This operation took a decade with countless lives lost and hundreds of military operations turned aside. But in the end, their engineer corps of the Order of Books worked to tunnel tinder the Grux Range, while the armada of the Order of Arms fought the sea battle north of the Vitro peninsula against the Gaullix’s armada, and a group of heroes traveled to the sacred ruins of Visiio Zess in the Grux range. They opened an ancient portal which allowed the Triumvirate to transport its forces deep into the Grux Range and assault the Gaullix forces in their home territory. The campaign was the bloodiest in history, but in the end, the Master of Arms, Commander Wils, sacrificed himself and his unit to detonate a bomb crafted by the Jhion Order which levelled the Szesz fields and eliminated the Witch-Queen.
While it still took the lion’s share of a decade to clean up the remnant forces of the Gulex, driving them back to the Grux Range, the security and freedom of the three nations was secured. In the years following the Witch-Queeen’s defeat, politics began to take the Triumvirate over. The Emperor no longer felt the need to fund such a massive force, and the senators of Bressus began to leverage the forces for their own selfish needs. They would turn them against their own people, setting up military blockades and terrorising any who would speak out against them. Kickbacks and back door deals were made with the masters of the orders and their subcommanders, with chrony command favors taking over the orders. As corruption set in, the once proud organization became complacent and corrupt, ill prepared to face any new national threats.
The military might of the Triumvirate is a shadow of what it was even a decade prior. But not all members of the Triumvirate are content to leave the once proud order in its current state. And with the growing rumors of ancient foes and forces rising in the frozen glacial north, now more than ever is the time for heroes to rise and lead the Triumvirate to glory.
In the current year of 75 F.A., or ‘Frozen Age’, the Triumvirate is poised for its greatest comeback or its ultimate downfall, and only the outcome of your home campaign can determine its ultimate fate. Do you believe the Triumvirate can reclaim its glory of old? Has the systemic corruption infested the Triumvirate to their detriment? And will you stand with them to face the coming threats? 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. Always remember that evil spelled backwards is live, so get out there and be evil!