Following the interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6NZlN1e_Y4
It seems that the "Dire" is actually some kind of malvolent force at play in the world that the "Dire Lord" employs.
I am happily surprised that the name Dire Lord has a different meaning than "Lord of Doom!" in Pantheon's lore. It's someone that Masters this grim power. Not sure if it was something mentioned prior to this interview.
So if the Dire is the "Dark Side" of the force. Do you know what is the "Light Side" of the force?
It kinda was but never really spelt out, the lore entry for the Ogre DL whos name escapes me hadsome lines about drawing from the dire like it was some sort of power void.
Being all things written in a lore format though it was always up for interpretation.
Come to the dire side, we have cookies.
They are setting up pretty much all aspects of Pantheon to be good vs. evil. Dragons have a good side that protects and a bad side that seeks to destroy even the life of the planet, mentioned as the Seed of Life and the corrupted dragons/basilisks trying to find it and kill it. The Lycandrell or werewolves follow a god with dual personalities, one good and one evil; even the elves have the cursed ones that live in Murkwood. Dwarves are split, humans have two pantheons (one with good deities and one with bad). About the only thing we haven't seen yet is a nonviolent protest featuring Skar in their safe spaces.
But directly to your question, I am assuming the Dire is an ancient (as Istuulamae said) power that is counter to the Seed of Life, since the Dire seeks to drain life. It's opposite the powers of the Spriggan.