Greyhawk: Why the Scarlet Brotherhood is full of monks?

[Shin Okada]

As far as I know, ancient Suloise Empire was magocracy and the ruling nobles were wizards. Now, the Scarlet Brotherhood, which is a bunch of Suloise purists, is full of monks, not wizards.

Why this happened? Did any of the past supplements, adventures, articles and such described the reason of this change?

 

[trancejeremy]

Weren't they always monks? That's how the original Greyhawk folio describes them, and there was one (a monk from there) in A3 - Aerie of the Slave Lords

 

[Shin Okada]

Weren't they always monks?

Yes, the Scarlet Brotherhood itself was always a bunch of monks.

What I want to know is, why the descendants of a magocracy empire became a bunch of monks.

 

[Cleon]

Yes, the Scarlet Brotherhood itself was always a bunch of monks.

What I want to know is, why the descendants of a magocracy empire became a bunch of monks.

The closest to an explanation I'm aware of is the history section of the 2E AD&D Scarlet Brotherhood accessory book (1999).

A Suel noble called Kevelli Mauk founded the Scarlet Brotherhood as a "racial purification" group a few years before the Rain of Colourless Fire. He had a premonition of disaster and used an artifact to teleport himself and his followers away, where they joined up with various other bands of Suel refugees and founded a colony.

The History section includes this pertinent paragraph:

Although Kevelli died in 5105 SD, his vision lived on. He was succeeded by his most talented student, Reshek Nes. Reshek followed her mentor’s lead and created a strict monk-like regimen for the most talented students, building strength and focus through discipline and denial. Over the next century, the Scarlet Brotherhood’s members developed a method of unarmed combat, recognizing the many situations where an empty hand and an innocent face would be a valuable weapon. Other members trained in the arts of disguise. poison. espionage and lethal strikes. Still others learned stealth, infiltration and thievery. During this time the three-tiered structure of the Brotherhood developed, with martial artists at the top, assassins below them, and thieves comprising the remainder.​

So, it sounds like the founder and his protégé favoured the discipline of monks and that class gained a dominant position in the Brotherhood.

Also, the Ancient Suel Empire may have been ruled by wizards, but the original Scarlet Brotherhood was an independent organization in that empire, so might not have had many wizards members. It may have been a piddly little organization that the powerful Suel wizards of the time would not deign to pay attention to, but was in a position to dominate the disorganized Suel survivors because it was lucky enough to survive the Rain of Colourless Fire with its power structure intact.

Also, few of the "magocrats" may have survived the Rain. Presumably their Baklunish enemies would have focused on destroying them first, and many of them could have dies trying to oppose the Rain of Fire.

 

[pemerton]

As far as I know, ancient Suloise Empire was magocracy and the ruling nobles were wizards. Now, the Scarlet Brotherhood, which is a bunch of Suloise purists, is full of monks, not wizards.

Why this happened? Did any of the past supplements, adventures, articles and such described the reason of this change?

[MENTION=57383]Cleon[/MENTION] seems to have given the canonical answer.

For me, the monk aspect of the Scarlet Brotherhood has always been more important than their notional Suel history, so I've tended not to dwell too much on the minutiae of the latter. In my Greyahwk campaigns some of the Scarlet Brotherhood are of Suel descent, and some are more-or-less Japanese.

 

[Cleon]

[MENTION=57383]Cleon[/MENTION] seems to have given the canonical answer.

For me, the monk aspect of the Scarlet Brotherhood has always been more important than their notional Suel history, so I've tended not to dwell too much on the minutiae of the latter. In my Greyahwk campaigns some of the Scarlet Brotherhood are of Suel descent, and some are more-or-less Japanese.

I view their "Suel supremacy" beliefs as being as important to them as their monastic sects. They're basically racist a-holes who seek world domination — Nazis who use kung fu. It's quite possible they don't know anything solid about the Suel Empire but just have this deluded vision of what it was like, based on how they believe the Suel would have ruled the land.

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

My guess is that it was a "backlash group;"

Think about it:

In a society ruled by mages, anyone who is a mage must participate in the hierarchy, and follow the rules, and participate in the "politics."

Anyone who is not a mage is basically a peasant, i.e., second-class citizen.

As the society continued to decay, and the excesses of the mage aristocracy increased, I'd be willing to bet that dissidents began to form groups that would turn their back on magic, in an effort to improve one's self through strict discipline of the mind and body, in hopes of attaining enlightenment.

They may have even started out peaceful, but in a society where corruption is rampant, it isn't surprising that a corrupt leader would arise, and turn the group toward a more sinister agenda and/or purpose.

 

[Shin Okada]

Thank you all for the cannon information and interesting point of views.

I am planning to use a kind of "true" remnant of Suloise Empire in my current campaign. They are the descendants of Suloise whom escaped into the Plane of Shadow just before the cataclysm and living there since then. Now they are Shades and Dark Creatures. They are still maintaining magocracy & more traditional Suloise tradition. But they are not human any more. The meeting of two ex-Suloise forces may cause interesting interaction.

 

[Cleon]

Thank you all for the cannon information and interesting point of views.

I am planning to use a kind of "true" remnant of Suloise Empire in my current campaign. They are the descendants of Suloise whom escaped into the Plane of Shadow just before the cataclysm and living there since then. Now they are Shades and Dark Creatures. They are still maintaining magocracy & more traditional Suloise tradition. But they are not human any more. The meeting of two ex-Suloise forces may cause interesting interaction.

Hmm, if you're taking that approach I'd have at least one Suel Lich in the "magocracy" faction, since all those are high-level Suel wizards who survived the Rain of Colourless Fire on account of being body-swapping undead.

You can find the Suel Lich in Monstrous Compendium Appendix Two or Polyhedron #101 for the AD&D versions, or Dragon #339 for 3E.

Oh, and there's a Suel Lich in the Dungeon #70 adventure "Kingdom of the Ghouls". That only has her stat-block though, so isn't much use if you don't have a 2E Monstrous Compendium entry that explains their powers.

For a living Suel wizard who survived the devastation, there's Izek the Battlemage in the Dungeon #42 side-adventure "Izek's Slumber". Izek got buried in a magical stasis-slumber while battling an Oeridian rival on the banks of the Selintan river, and while he was asleep they built Greyhawk atop him! The background says his tribe was fleeing the collapsing Suel Empire when it got in an intertribal war with an Oerid tribe that was also trying to settle the "lands in the east".

 

[Bert Blaine]

The Suel may be known for their powerful wizards 5000 years ago, what does that have to do with today? remember most of the racial stock of the barbarians to the NE is Suel and they hate mages traditionally.