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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 9569792" data-attributes="member: 11"><p><h2>Monk</h2><p>Monks use rigorous combat training, mental discipline, and meditation in an effort to perfect the relationship of their mind and body in such a way to achieve supernatural feats beyond that which mortals are usually capable of without magic. This resolve manifests as striking displays of martial prowess, as subtler manifestations of defense and speed, and as power over body and spirit. They follow strict traditions developed over countless centuries in this pursuit.</p><p></p><p>Organized into orders housed in monasteries, most monks adopt an ascetic life dedicated to focusing on their training and whatever philosophical outlook they have come to believe is part of achieving their enlightened state. These monasteries vary widely, some serving as schools from which its monk students graduate and move on to engage with the world, undertaking missions in line with their outlook or seeking to establish a new monastery and draw a body of students, while other monasteries serve as cloisters, places for monks and other seekers to sequester themselves away from the distractions of the mortal world. Many monks view adventures as tests of their physical and mental development. They are driven by a desire to accomplish a greater mission than merely slaying monsters and plundering treasure, however, they strive to surpass the limits of a mortal form and achieve true self-actualization.</p><p></p><p>However, monks are not required to reside in a monastery or actively belong to an order, instead they dedicate themselves to a Way. Some monks are purposefully solitary, at least in terms of spending time with others of their kind, preferring to immerse themselves in life as a context for their discipline. Monastery life, however, with its schedules and order, is conducive to staying on that path through the support of a fraternity of monks.</p><p></p><p>Monks are often treated as if religious figures by laypeople, but very few orders are dedicated to deities or other spiritual beings - some even taking offense at the suggestion - with the few exceptions taking on one of the 13 Gods, their paragons, or other syncretic forms as patrons representing their philosophical ideals. However, even more than their misdirected reputation for piousness, monks are widely seen as eccentrics. The amount of deprivation and discipline required to become a monk, along with the self-focus of being one can be seen as a kind of obsessive vanity, if not faintly ridiculous.</p><p></p><h4>Monk Alignment</h4><p>While there is no restriction on a monk character’s alignment, generally speaking they are agents of Law, whose self-discipline is a reflection on the benefits of an orderly universe. Even in the chaos of battle, a monk’s forms and training creates a skene by which the disorderly becomes ordered. To whatever degree a bit of Chaos is required for the universe to exist (reality having cohered into order from chaos), it is Law that provides the framework for an enlightened life worth living.</p><p></p><p>In terms of ethics, monk behaviors and motives are as varied as any other mortal. While their circumspection can lead many to have a neutral outlook, generally an order’s monastic rules determine the expected behavior of its members, regardless of what is in their hearts.</p><h4></h4><h4>Monks in the Inchoate Empires</h4><p>Several different orders of monks can be found throughout the Empires, but historically many monks have been persecuted when their philosophies were denounced as heretical or subversive, often as a response to their strange unmatched powers. That said, there might also exist sanctioned monasteries with a noble or imperial patron in some places. A monk from the Empires might be an exile fleeing the destruction of his order, a sojourner seeking new challenges by which to test his mettle and thus better himself, or a seeker pursuing some legend of a technique or sublime location that can aid in the achievement of total control over one’s existence.</p><p></p><h4>Monks in the Republic of Makrinos</h4><p>There are a fair number of monks orders of varying degrees of fame in Makrinos, and several of the great heroes of the Republic were monks. Some commoner families have traditions regarding housing and feeding a monk for a night. According to legend, several different monasteries were flashpoints for the resistance against the Celestrune Empire, and later in helping to organize commoners in the movement for the Republic. This makes them popular among common folk as long as they are not too “eccentric” or bring trouble with them. Nonetheless, the monks of Makrinos are not usually involved in electoral politics, and are unpopular when they are (as the general consensus is that monks should be “above” politics—not all monks agree). Some orders have very specific rules against its members running for office or accepting appointed office.</p><p></p><p>Trouble does follow monks of Makrinos and the East, however, as they have a tendency to want to test each other, leading to everything from organized sparring exhibitions to roving battles of monks leaping around a town or city. Some monks have earned titles - such as the “Wrath of the Tranquil Heart” and “the Radiant Palm” - that come with boons that can only be gained by defeating its previous holder. It is because of this that the monks often challenge each other.</p><p></p><p>Among the better known orders in Makrinos are the Sisters of Nyra (who are not limited to just women, despite the name) who have the goddess of war and medicine as a patron and revere several monk/cleric saints from their storied history of mercy and resistance, the Truth of the Sword, a school of sword-saints with a nearly cultish devotion to the rule set down by their ancient master, the Manicheans, who adhere to a strict dualistic view of the Cosmos and see themselves as Agents of Law, and the Cuckoos, an order of monks who wear masks and built their monasteries in remote fortresses that once belonged the Celestrune Emperors.</p></blockquote><p></p>

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