A monk turns her eyes inward, seeking to use strict discipline, intense meditation, and focusing exercises to perfectly purify her spirit (or ki) and, through it, her flesh. Monasteries dedicated to this pursuit are nestled in the exotic realms of Rokushima Taiyoo and Sri Raji. In the latter domain, the monks (called fakirs in the Rajian tongue) test their inner strength by inflicting sometimes-grotesque physical punishments on themselves, such as piercing their flesh with iron skewers and hooks. The monk tradition also exists in the lonesome city of Paridon, where the local adherents have melded it with occult lodge traditions to create the "theological philosophy" they call the Divinity of Mankind.
Monks are slightly more common in Hazlan than in the rest of the Core domains, but still quite rare; Hazlani monks subscribe to an odd mix of Lawgiver theology and arcane mysticism.
The monastic Kunduktørs (“Guardians”) have the holy duty of watching over the deceased faithful, acting as caretakers of the fanes’ tombs and graveyards. Kunduktørs take vows of silence so as not to disturb their charges. When not directly watching over the dead, they study the nature of death itself, seeking to understand the hidden truths of this most final judgment and universal law. Hazlani Kunduktørs originated the heresy that the Lawgiver died in the Great Upheaval, leaving nothing but an empty shell of dictates and titles.
I am curious, monastic orders as in the western type that was seen durring the middle ages. Would any of them exist? Perhaps in the Church of Ezra.
The Lawgiver is a native of Ravenloft Relgion, so they would still be bound by it. heh.
Anyways, thanks for the info EO. I am curious if there is any more information on western style monks in Ravenloft. Could a western style monk exist in say the church of Ezra?
In Barovia there is as well the Order of the Contemplative Power. They guard the knowledge of Psi.
There is a huge monastery up the mountain. Sun Soul as I recall. Empty apparently of any beings. No NPC characters...Its not empty just looks that way.
Yes, the Monastery of the Silver Threads was a western style monastery dedicated to Andral
That would be so cool to have a running Monastery with monks there :) My Wuxia type fighter would really love spending time there and study together with monks.
I'd like to revive this interesting topic. Starting with the question....even if there are no canon orders devoted to a particular ravenloft native deity (ML Ezra etc etc.) If a monk role fit the cause, can it still be applicable to make a PC? I'd like to think it does, if you follow the practices of the Divinity of Mankind (meditation contemplation exercise and so on) But just put that devotion in another religions name, wouldnt you get similar results?
A monk turns her eyes inward, seeking to use strict discipline, intense meditation, and focusing exercises to perfectly purify her spirit (or ki) and, through it, her flesh. Monasteries dedicated to this pursuit are nestled in the exotic realms of Rokushima Taiyoo and Sri Raji. In the latter domain, the monks (called fakirs in the Rajian tongue) test their inner strength by inflicting sometimes-grotesque physical punishments on themselves, such as piercing their flesh with iron skewers and hooks.
Are players free to make someone from the order of the guardians? And what would that RP even be like I wonder. Also, I was trying to hint at that to take the actual monk class you don't need to be part of an actual order or monastery, more just adopt the practices, right? I.e. a person who prays on Ezra's teaching, meditates on his role in them, and contemplates how to live their life out, then lets say exercises and workouts out to sort of dedicate a healthy body to said deity, is essentially a monk in terms of the class, although there's no canon Ezra monk order. The RP makes sense and sort of opens up the limited prospect of playing the class, in my opinion at least
Are players free to make someone from the order of the guardians? And what would that RP even be like I wonder.You can't start out as a member of that particular order, no. They're a secret society and don't just let anyone in.
Generally the monk class is limited geographically. Not all Monastic Orders, even in other settings, are dedicated to a particular power, they just have a belief or system.
In Ravenloft, the "native" monks come from:
Paridon (Which you know of)
Hazlan - These guys are not any named order, but they dedicate themselves to mixtures of Lawgiver Theology (ie, they're probably not part of the Church itself) and arcane mysticism.
There is also a group, known as the 'Order of the Guardian' who I think may be completely secretive or quasi secretive, I need to check the lore, but they invite good aligned priests and have their own order of monks dedicated to getting evil artifacts out of the hands of evil folks and preventing evil power / magic from spreading across the realm.
What about the other monastery, of the Overseer. Aren't the followers of the Overseer mostly monks?Mostly they seem to be all ghosts, they were all wiped out i think ?
What about the other monastery, of the Overseer. Aren't the followers of the Overseer mostly monks?Mostly they seem to be all ghosts, they were all wiped out i think ?
I wanted to revive this to see if anyone knew of any other possibilities. I was potentially considering making a Ravenloft native monk and I'm not really into the martial arts kung fu style role of monks, I much better like the Divinity of Mankind style esoteric sort of class, but the problem being I'm not really interested in the overt racism tones of the Divinity of Mankind since I'm playing another extremely intolerant character currently. Are there any other sort of ideologies that support monks similar to the Divinity?
Just curious how did you interact socially with demi-humans considering the base alignment of the Divinity views them as little more than intelligent animals?
Just curious how did you interact socially with demi-humans considering the base alignment of the Divinity views them as little more than intelligent animals?
Hazlani monks subscribe to an odd mix of Lawgiver theology and arcane mysticism.
There is nothing definitive per say on the subject. Although still rare, Gazetteer II does mention that monks are slightly more numerous in Hazlan than anywhere else in the Core, so a monastic order dedicated to the Lawgiver is definitively a possibility. So long as it holds to the core principles of the Lawgiver church, you are free to define the practices of the monastery you'd come from as you would like. I'd start by finding a cool Vaasi name for the fighting style.
Could someone role-play being a Ravenloft native disciple of a monk outlander?