Let’s learn all about the organization known as Xalsion 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
Ritual is believed to have been handed down by the gods, but these sorceresses take it to a cosmic level.
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 organization known as Xalsion 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
The Xalsion (zal-shun) formed as one of the first organizations mortals manifested. When Ciar-mhonadh (kierd-vonnig) was entirely covered by the Wildlands and the gods walked the land conversing with their creations, some women were blessed by Brigid, the goddess of fire and poetry. She believed that while mortals’ penchant for creation and destruction was strong, it could be tempered in the forge of fire. Ritual was the forge she laid out to her favored mortals and she shared with them the knowledge of cosmic magic.
Select females from all mortal races would gather, and revel in Brigid’s light, celebrating the grand cosmic sky and practicing the rituals she gifted to them. As this order developed structure, and as the Wildlands themselves began to slowly retreat into itself, splitting the realms of mortals and the divine, the women decided to try to carve out a space that would be protected, a space that fights back against the spreading mortal realm, protecting their god and all gods by proxy. That is, until the Aeriof Waters (air-ee-off) arrived on the cosmic scene.
You see, the women who had become Xalsion believed that the wildlands were simply divinity on Ciar-mhonadh, and that the celestial bodies that dwelt in the sky were other forms of the Wildlands. In fact, they believed you could travel to the different moons and planets through worship and practice of the gods’ rituals. This belief was tested when, fearing the Aeriof Waters’ desire for knowledge would pollute the moons Dòiche (do-chye) and Eu-dòchas (eh-do-chas), the Xalsion split their order in two. One group agreed to stay and protect the Wildlands, and the other would travel to the moons and preserve their wildlands for future generations. What these cosmic travelers never expected was that there was something already on the moons. Something more ancient than the world they left behind. Something hungry.
Whatever this nameless horror was, the Xalsion who remained planetside never knew, but they quickly learned through ritual communing that their sisters who had left, became something entirely different due to the horrific tortures of these beings. The gods would never speak of the horrors discovered, but the Aerioff Waters believed that they had contacted them. In truth, the beings they called the Dubh-chreideamh (Du kar-etch-ev) were what the cosmic traveling Xalsion became. They were granted power by this aberrant manifestation of the sisters and turned the Aerioff Waters against the very gods who created them.
This put the Xalsion in a terrible place. They could travel to the moons themselves and try to aid their sisters, hoping to undo what they have become, or stay and protect the gods from this new threat in the Aeriof Waters. Brigid bade them to stay. She told the Xalsion that their sisters were beyond redemption, and the horrors that twisted them were beyond comprehension or defeat. The power harnessed by the Dubh-chreideamh was at the behest of this unknown horror who sought to destroy the gods. They turned the Aeriof Waters against the gods, promising them power, but despising them at the same time as infantile meddlers in a divine war. They could use them for their own ends to bring the nameless power to Ciar-mhonadh.
The Xalshion now focused their rituals for preservation against both the Aeriof Waters and their sisters the Dubh-chreideamh which took them out of the world’s sight for millennia. It wasn’t until the witch queen Mearanach (men-a-nach) arrived with the assistance of the Aerioff Waters that the mortals began to look to the Wildlands for their old gods’ aid. They learned of the Xalsion as the gods fought the Aeriof Waters and some of these female mortals joined the order in defense of their home. When the Witch-Queen was defeated, and the gods ended their long war, the Xalsion retreated further into the Wildlands. Their plans turned from preserving the Wildlands to retrieving their lost sisters, the Dubh-chreideamh.
In the wake of the Witch-Queen’s reign, the Xalsion is no longer trusted. And though no one knows they are the source of the Dubh-chreideamh, the witch-queen’s terrible rule left any female magic wielders distrusted, even ostracised from the mortal realm. This suited the Xalsion just fine. They do not need to be understood, nor their plans known to save Ciar-mhonadh. They are not doing it for the mortals, they are doing it for the gods. For it is the gods that created life, and it is the gods who will preserve it. And with their attention no longer focused on the Aerioff Waters, it is the hope of the Xalsion that they will assist them in the retrieval of their sisters in the cosmic realms.
What they do not know is that since the Witch-Queen was once a member of their order, a being made by the gods, she is inextricably linked to the Wildlands and is being brought back with the aid of the Aeriof Waters. This is causing the Wildlands to grow at an exponential rate, and in this growth it is being corrupted by the power of this nameless cosmic horror that created the Dubh-chreideamh. Once the Xalshion discover this truth, will they continue their scheme to save their corrupted sisters? Will the gods leave Ciar-mhonadh and the Wildlands to aid them? And will the Aeriof Waters take advantage of the change in focus of the Xalsion? Only your home campaign can answer these 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.
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Always remember that evil spelled backwards is live, so get out there and be evil!