Alignment Languages, the Scarlet Brotherhood, and Flutes

JB of B/X Blackrazor has been meditating how to go “Advanced” from his usual B/X D&Ding. As seems always necessary in such endeavors is the long, hard struggle with Alignment.

I myself have waxed poetic about the subject many, many times.

The thing that interested me about JB’s post has almost nothing to do with JB’s near abandonment of the system. D&D has several mechanics that depend upon Alignment and therefore one must deal with those mechanics on some level if any major changes are to be made with Alignment (like getting rid of it entirely). One such mechanic in AD&D is the much maligned Alignment Languages.

Back when I got into blogging, one of the bigger blogs was James Maliszewski’s Grognardia. At the time he was trying to wrestle with OD&D as written using the axiom that the rules were always right and therefore he needed to find a way to make them work. The results were often surprising and fun. It is a principle that I enjoy applying to various editions of the game for that very reason — I often come up with ideas that wouldn’t exist otherwise.

With that in mind, here is what Gygax has to say about Alignment Languages on pg. 24 of the DMG:

Alignment language is a handy game tool which is not unjustifiable in real terms. Thieves did employ a special cant. Secret organizations and societies did and do have certain recognition signs, signals, and recognition phrases — possibly special languages (of limited extent) as well. Consider also the medieval Catholic Church which used Latin as a common recognition and communication base to cut across national boundaries. In AD&D. alignment languages are the special set of signs, signals, gestures, and words which intelligent creatures use to inform other intelligent creatures of the same alignment of their fellowship and common ethos. Alignment languages are NEVER flaunted in public. They are not used as salutations or interrogatives if the speaker is uncertain of the alignment of those addressed. Furthermore, alignment languages are of limited vocabulary and deal with the ethos of the alignment in general, so lengthy discussion of varying subjects cannot be conducted in such tongues.

This largely harkens back to the 0e version of Alignment, where it was about which side of the larger conflict are you willing to fight with rather than a code of behavior. It also introduces the idea of secret(ive) societies that use various means of communication that those outside their clique cannot understand.

Which brings me to my favorite love/hate political entity within the Greyhawk campaign world. I love the idea of a bunch of racist monks working in secret to further their political agenda, but I hated the idea of there being a country on the map called The Scarlet Brotherhood. I always wished that they were a secretive society that were the real power behind several different throwns and were always looking out for a way to whisper sweet nothings into the ears of the rich and powerful.

Here is an organization that would definitely have something akin to an Alignment Language as Gygax describes. There is even an historical template on which to build this vision of both the Scarlet Brotherhood and Alignment Languages: the Fuke monks.

As I noted in my last post, many Shoguns took advantage of the Fuke monk’s anonymity and mobility to create spy networks. One simple way to identify oneself, in an Alignment Language kinda way, would be the music a monk would play on their flute.

This also suggests why characters lose the use of an Alignment Language once their alignment changes. Secret symbols and signs are in constant flux in order to keep them secret. Think about pitching symbols in baseball or sideline play signals in football. The form is almost always the same, but their meaning is in constant flux because other teams are constantly trying to steal signals. Once a character leaves and organization, they lose the ability to update the current meaning of the signals being given or to recognize if a signal is being given at all.

The exciting thing about the idea of Alignment Languages is the world-building implications: secret societies abound in a political climate that is cutthroat and in constant flux. That sounds like a really fun atmosphere to throw a bunch of Player Characters at.

Death by Flute

I just ran across the story of the Fuke sect of Buddhism in Japan. The sect showed up during the Shogunate period. They were characterized by baskets that covered their faces and bamboo flutes called shakuhachi. The flutes were used to practice breathing meditation and to gain attention as they begged for food.

While the image of a flute-playing monk with a basket over his head is interesting enough, the story gets better. Travel in Shogunate Japan was illegal. In order to gain permission to travel from place to place, they forged a bunch of documents demonstrating a long provenance of master flute players. Despite the fiction, the forgeries were accepted as authentic and the Fuke monks had official permission to wander the entire country.

The real reason that the forgeries were accepted, however, probably had more to do with spy craft than with how authentic the tales of great flautists seemed. No one questions a monk who covers their face with a basket because it was an earnest attempt to erase the individuality of the monk — a necessary step on the way to Nirvana. No one questions a shakuhachi with a larger than normal end on it because these had, again, religious significance and use.

A covered face and a bamboo instrument that can double as a mace makes for a perfect cover for a spy. So much so, that in the repertoire of shakuhachi music are things called Test Pieces. They were extremely difficult songs that various entities used to test whether or not a Fuke monk was a spy or not. If you can’t play the piece, you are probably a spy. Additionally, both the sect and the instrument were banned by the Meiji Restoration for fear that the remnants of the Shogunate could spy their way back into power.

Not only is this fascinating stuff, but it makes me want to actually play two of my least favorite classes: the bard and the assassin just so I can have a character sketch like this:

...and the satisfaction of taking out monsters with a flute.

Holmes & Cook: Monk Redux (Saintly Saturday)

Today is the Feast of St. Quadratus of Nicomedia. He was from a rich family and spared no expense helping fellow Christians imprisoned for their faith during the reign of Emperor Decius (A.D. 249-251). When Decius sent his proconsul Perennius to persecute the Christians in Nicomedia, Quadrates voluntarily appeared before him. The saint wanted to encourage those in prison by demonstrating his courage in the face of certain torture and death.

These, of course, followed. In the end, a fire was lit under an iron grate in order to burn Quadratus to death. After the iron was red hot, the saint voluntarily laid down as if he were crawling into bed, unharmed by the heat and fire. Out of sheer frustration, the proconsul had the saint beheaded.

This past week I posted about a possible “Western” version of the monk for my Holmes + Cook thought experiment using the Turning mechanic as a means of fitting the concept into the idea of a cleric subclass. It produced some really interesting comments.

One theme was to make the monk a “buffing” class and the bard was cited as an example. While I think this is quite an excellent idea, my Holmes + Cook thought experiment already has a buff-type class. My suggested version of the Paladin is as a leader-type that has a floating bonus that can be added to various party members. Thus, to have the monk do the same through Turning would be to blur the lines between the two.

That being said, the story of St. Quadratus is a clear example of the type of miracles that inspired the cleric spell Resist Fire and suggests that JB’s idea that the monk be an “inward channeling” character might be a very interesting way to go. In other words, instead of buffing others (like my Holmesian Paladin), the monk uses faith to push himself beyond normal physical boundaries.

Here is a list of cleric spells from Cook that could possibly fit the bill:

• Cure Light Wounds (1st level)
• Remove Fear (1st level)
• Resist Cold (1st level)
• Resist Fire (2nd level)
• Silence 15’r (2nd level) — in a nod to the idea of Cadfael and Friar Tuck having thief skills
• Cure Disease (3rd level)
• Remove Curse (3rd level)
• Striking (3rd level)

As I have pointed out before, both Holmes and Cook have eight different types of targets for a cleric’s Turn Undead ability. Above is a list of eight special effects. The question is, what order of difficulty should each of these effects have in terms of the Turning mechanic?

If one were to duplicate the Turn Table exactly as it appears in Cook and replace each undead type with a spell effect from the above list, I would propose the following (from easiest to most difficult):

1. Remove Fear
2. Resist Cold
3. Cure Light Wounds
4. Silence
5. Resist Fire
6. Striking
7. Cure Disease
8. Remove Curse

This way all the first level spell effects are available immediately, with the most useful/powerful (Cure Light Wounds) being the hardest to accomplish. The most powerful 3rd level spell (Remove Curse, in my opinion) would be available at 5th level (approximately when 3rd and 4th level spells become available to a cleric at 6th level).

I would place some kind of limit on how many times each of these abilities can to used over the course of an adventure. Once per encounter? A set number of times per day/ per adventure?
Otherwise, a monk at 11+ level would be able to do all of these abilities at will and that seems way too much to me.

Since these Turning abilities are spell-like abilities, I would remove the spell-casting abilities of the monk, but leave their fighting ability alone.

Thoughts?

Holmes & Cook: Monk

The last subclass that I have to muse about in my Holmes & Cook thought experiment is the monk. Holmes categorizes the monk as a subclass of the cleric. Given my reasoning behind using the Turning mechanism to re-skin the druid, this leads me down the path of trying to marry the mechanic with the concept of “monk.”

This is where I will be departing quite radically from the traditional view of the monk as wuxia in D&D. When one uses the word monk, there are two archetypes that stand above all others: Shaolin and Benedictine. Understandably, D&D opted for the former because the latter, being a non-martial contemplative, doesn’t really fit with the whole dungeon delving schtick of Dungeons and Dragons. While it isn’t a perfect fit, at least a Shaolin is trained to fight.

Given my own proclivities, however, and the concept of the cleric being so heavily influenced by Christian archetypes in earlier versions of D&D such as Holmes, I have a hard time seeing a Shaolin monk as a subclass of the Christian-influenced cleric. Indeed, when AD&D was published, the monk was completely divorced from the cleric class. My friends and I always classified it as a subclass of the thief. Thus, I am much more inclined to lean toward a fantasy version of the Benedictine.

The first thing to decide is what effect a western-style monk might have access to. If one breaks down the Benedictine Rule to its fundamentals they are work and pray. The first deals with the mundane while the second asks for the miraculous. One thing I know that monks are praying for all the time is health. Therefore, I am going to explore the possibility of healing as the basis of a monk' s Turning mechanic.

In Cook there are six healing-type spells: Cure Light Wounds, Cure Disease, Remove Curse, Cure Serious Wounds, Neutralize Poison and Raise Dead. Since tying healing to Turning is going to be quite powerful, I am willing to eliminate Raise Dead with the justification that a monk’s Turning ability only works on the living. This leaves us with five special effects.

Both Holmes and Cook have eight target types in their Turn Tables. Thus, there needs to be an additional three healing effects. Since Cure Light Wounds uses a d8, the three other categories can use small die types: d2, d4 and d6.

Thus the Turning categories of the monk might look like this:

• Cure 1d2 hp
• Cure 1d4 hp
• Cure 1d6 hp
• Cure 1d8 hp
• Cure Disease
• Remove Curse
• Cure 2d8
• Neutralize Poison

Once per encounter, a monk could attempt to effect 2d6 targets with a Turn. A success means affecting all targets with the effect. A ’T’ means an automatic success and a ‘D’ means a maximum effect.

As I stated before, this is quite powerful, much more so than being able to Turn undead. Thus, a monk would have to give up some other mechanic(s) to balance out the class. There are two that are obviously available: combat ability and spell-casting.

Thus, we have four options:

1. Monks fight as Magic-users (no armor, limited weapons)
2. Monks cast as fighters (no spell casting)
3. Monks fight as thieves (leather armor and limited weapons) AND cast as fighters
4. Monks fight as Magic-users AND cast as fighters

I think Option 4 would make this class largely unplayable. Basically, the class would be a heal-bot that could offer nothing much else during an adventure, especially during combat. Option 1 would blur the line between magic-user and cleric in an interesting way, but I think it would be too powerful. This leaves us with deciding on the fighting ability of the monk: fight like a cleric or like a thief.

I am sore tempted to go with Option 2 for playability reasons. With no spells, the monk becomes a glorified medic. Limiting their ability to jump into combat in a meaningful way would make me think twice about playing it, whereas being a legitimate second-line fighter that allows clerics to freely use utility spells without worrying about healing sounds like a lot of fun.

Thoughts?

The Green Monk and Green Sword Classes for ACKS

I find myself in an interesting situation with the ACKS custom class system. I am struggling to find a way to differentiate the Blue Mage (see the comments) from what I came up with for the White Mage in ACKS; however, ACKS gives me I the means to actually bring to life some flavor text about the Green Monks that I posted almost two years ago — something that I have never really been able to flesh out otherwise.

Thus, until such time that I find inspiration for doing something for the Blue Mage, I give you the Green Monk and the Green Sword:

The Green Monk and Green Sword Classes for ACKS

Prime Requisite: STR and WIS
Requirements: Must be Lawful
Hit Dice: 1d6
Maximum Level: 14
Green Monks are an eremitic monastic order who primarily live in the wilderness as hermits. They are known for their green robes, which are dyed with the same plants that they use to make green elixirs, for which they are well known. They shave their heads and take various vows of silence.

Green Swords are the military arm of the order. These soldiers are famous for their unarmed fighting techniques.

A player must choose at character creation whether or not their character is a Green Monk or a Green Sword. This choice cannot be changed.

Both classes fight and save as Fighters, can wear Leather armor or lighter and use any swords, daggers, spears, pole arms and all missile weapons. They can fight with either weapon and shield or two-handed fighting styles. Both build Sanctums using the Castle rules for a stronghold at 9th level.

Both Green Monks and Green Swords have the following Custom Powers:

• Attunement to Nature: Since they spend most of their life living alone in the wilderness, Green Monks and Green Swords have a +1 to surprise rolls when in the wilderness.
• Nose for Potions: Both Green Monks and Green Swords can make a proficiency throw of 11+ to determine the magical properties of potions or oils. At 5th level, they master the skill of brewing potions (all with their trade-mark green hue) as if a mage of their class level.
• Combat Awareness: Both Green Monks and Green Swords gain a +1 bonus to AC if wearing leather armor or less and able to move freely. This bonus increases to +2 at 7th level and +3 at 13th. This power stacks with Swashbuckling. [This is the same as the Blade Dancing custom power].

Green Monks can cast Divine Spells as a Cleric of half their level. Though they cannot Turn Undead they do have the following additional Custom Powers:

• Lay on Hands: At 2nd level, the Green Monk can restore 2 hit points per experience level once per day by laying on hands. Proficiency slots can be used to gain additional uses of this power per day.
• Longevity: At 12th level, the Green Monk learns to completely rely upon God for sustenance. They have a lifespan 3 times longer than normal and become immune to ghoul paralysis.

Green Swords have the following additional Custom Power:

• Unarmed Fighting Routine: Green Swords are trained to fight unarmed. In melee combat they may attack with this routine, attacking three times for 1d3-1/1d3-1/1d6-1 damage. [This is the same as the Fangs and Claws custom power].

Proficiency List: Alchemy, Alertness, Beast Friendship, Blind Fighting, Combat Reflexes, Combat Trickery (force back, incapacitate, overrun, sunder), Command, Diplomacy, Divine Blessing, Endurance, Fighting Style, Healing, Illusion Resistance, Knowledge (history), Laying on Hands, Leadership, Manual of Arms, Martial Training, Military Strategy, Mystic Aura, Naturalism, Riding, Running, Theology, Weapon Focus

XP Progression looks like this [Green Swords are in brackets]:

• Level 2: 2,350 [2,300]
• Level 3: 4,700 [4,600]
• Level 4: 9,400 [9,200]
• Level 5: 18,800 [18,400]
• Level 6: 37,600 [36,800]
• Level 7: 75,200 [73,600]
• Level 8: 150,400 [147,200]
• Level 9: 270,400 [267,200]
• Level 10: 390,400 [387,200]
• Level 11: 510,400 [507,200]
• Level 12: 630,400 [627,200]
• Level 13: 750,400 [747,200]
• Level 14: 870,400 [867,200]

Saintly Saturday: St. Thomas

Today is the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle. Of the Twelve, St. Thomas may very well be my personal favorite. While he is most popularly known by the moniker “Doubting Thomas,” I believe this is a bit unfair. While he does declare that he would not believe in the resurrection before he put his hand in the mark of nails and in the Lord’s side, note his words upon seeing the resurrected Christ:

My Lord and my God! — John 20:28

This is not only a tremendous statement of faith, but St. Thomas is the only person in any of the four Gospel accounts to explicitly call Christ God.

This faith also led Thomas to go to similar extremes as St. Paul to preach the Gospel. According to tradition, he founded churches in Palestine, Mesopotamia, Parthia, Ethiopia and India. It was in the latter where he was martyred in the city of Meliapur when he was pierced by five spears.

Today, there is still a Christian presence on the southwest coast of India in the state of Kerala. Therein is enough inspiration for an entire campaign far removed from a lot of our normal FRPG tropes.

The region of Kerala provides a fantastic geography, quite similar to that found in the classic Known World map of the Expert Edition. It is a plain surrounded by mountains with a couple valleys that connect it to the rest of the world. There is an ancient paleolithic culture that has left ruins. There is religious diversity — predominately Hindu with sizable Islamic and Christian minorities. With the hagiography of St. Thomas, there is also a tie-in for five major relics — the spears that martyred the saint.

Possibly the most attractive aspect of this camping setting, however, is the fact that Kerala is the home to Kalaripayattu — a native martial art style. It comes in a variety of flavors and there is even a version practiced by Christians. In other words, not only is there is a perfectly legitimate reason for monks and other martial artists to be a base character class, but entire factions within the campaign world can be built around a particular style.

Another intriguing aspect of this setting is the weapons associated with both Kalaripayattu and the region. Some are typical D&D weapons:

• Val = Sword
• Shareervadi = Staff
• Kuntham = Spear
• Gada = Mace
• Churika = Short Sword
• Kattari = Dagger

However, there are a couple of atypical weapons:

• Maduvu = deer-horn dagger
• Otta = curved stick
• Kuruvadi = short stick
• Urumi = flexible sword

It is this last that most intrigues me, and would beg for variable weapon damage so that it could do less damage than a normal sword, but be able to ignore shields.

Finally, it would give an excuse for using this alphabet:

It is called Malayalam for those who are interested. Beautiful, isn’t it?

Holmes & Cook: The Monk

I have been contemplating the Holmsian suggestion that the monk is a subclass of cleric. Given that the early iterations of the cleric class were psuedo-Christian, this strongly suggests that when Holmes mentions the monk, he is thinking of the western (Christian) monastic tradition rather than the Eastern (Asian) monastic tradition which eventually formed the basis of the D&D monk class.

The question then becomes what mechanics present in Holmes & Cook can be used to present a class that is similar to the cleric, but sufficiently different as to be a subclass while having at least a passing resemblance to the Christian monastic tradition. It is here that I have to give credit to Talysman and his work on what he calls the Cleric-without-spells. He divorces the class from Vancian magic by embracing the one mechanic that truly belongs to the cleric — Turning. It is from here that I will begin.

If one actually spends time at a monastery or reading the services that monks do on a daily basis, it becomes obvious that the primary vocation is not only prayer, but prayer for other people. This suggests that a Holmesian monk class should buff other characters through the Turning mechanic.

Thus, a monk would have a floating bonus that she can attempt to attach to any number of characters (for playability, this would include the monk herself). This bonus depends upon the monk's level:

• 1st-3rd = +1
• 4th-6th = +2
• 7th-9th = +3
• 10th+ = +4

The number of characters that the monk can attempt to affect and the chance of success is based upon the Turn Undead Table, where the Skeleton category of undead is one character and each progressive category increases that number by one. For example, a 1st level monk can affect one character on a 7 or more, two on a 9 or more, or three on an 11 or more. This bonus then lasts for 2d6 rounds. A ‘T’ indicates an automatic success and a ‘D’ indicates that the bonus will last for the maximum 12 rounds.

Here is a tentative list for the bonus categories a monk can choose:

• To Hit Melee
• To Hit Ranged
• Damage
• Armor Class
• Saving Throw
• Initiative

Any one category may only be attempted once per combat.

In addition, the monk can perform minor healing. Once per combat per character, the monk can heal their bonus in hit points. For example, a 7th level monk can heal a character for 3hp.

With the exception of spell casting, the monk functions as a cleric.

Crosses

One of my favorite things in the world is heraldry. I love how it tries to communicate ideas through simple graphic cues and how variations in those cues can be a wealth of information. Thus, when I started thinking about the various monastic orders I posted the other day, I also began thinking about what crosses these orders would use and why. Here is a rough draft:

The flowery Green Cross in comparison to the simple and austere White Cross implies a counter-intuitive logic of prayer vs. work. One might think that Green Monks would prefer something like the White Cross, being that they are such an austere order; however, prayer is an elaborate and beautiful endeavor. Thus, they wear an elaborate and beautiful cross. The Black Cross, with the four squares surrounding it visually suggest their quest for balance between prayer and work.

The Canon's Crosses add a visual variation suggestive of a chalice — a symbol of the priestly function of preparing and distributing communion. Likewise, the Sword's Crosses have a variation suggestive of a blade — both in concert with their name and their occupation as soldiers.

Monastic Orders

In the wake of the creative onslaught that assaulted my brain after reading The Beast of Averoigne by CAS, I have been brushing up on Western monasticism in order to be able to piece together an appropriate ecclesial structure for a campaign set in a fantasy version of southern France. In order to do this, one actually has to start in the east.

Christianity has from the very beginning had a monastic character. Though he was certainly not the first monk, St. Anthony is considered the grandfather of Christian monasticism. He was a hermit of the Egyptian desert in the late 3rd century and early 4th. His life was record by St. Athansius the Great. This was translated into several languages and became an extremely popular book. It inspired an entire generation (and continues to inspire, I might add).

With the advent of Christianity not only being tolerated by the Roman Empire, but being the preferred religion of emperors, the first great era of martyrdom came to a close. Facing a world where there was no possibility of following in the footsteps of the great Christian heroes into martyrdom and inspired by the Life of St. Anthony, an entire generation went into the desert.

There, two basic styles of monasticism developed: cenobitic (communal) and eremitic (hermit-like). St. Basil the Great is seen in Orthodoxy as a founding monastic legislator, whose rules are still used by Orthodox monks today. St. Benedict, using St. Basil's rules as a model, wrote his own Rule which became the model for Western monasticism.

During the period of approx. A.D. 1100-1350 there were at least three orders within France that could be used as inspiration for a fantasy setting:

• Benedictines: (mentioned in The Beast of Averoigne), also known as black monks (because of their black/dark robes) who are followers of the Rule of St. Benedict. It is a cenobitic order.
• Cistercians: also known as white monks (because of their undyed robes). They also follow the Rule of St. Benedict, which they attempt to follow in exactness. They emphasize field-work and are famous for their agriculture (they introduced a lot of agricultural technology to Europe) and as horse breeders. The only income they accepted was from this field-work (no gifts, no tithes, etc.). It is a cenobitic order. The Knights Templar were Cistercians.
• Carthusians: also known as charterhouse monks. This is the most austere of the orders. They shaved their heads, wore horse hair shirts and took a vow of silence. They lived as hermits, gathered together only for services and ate together only on Sundays. It is an eremitic order. In more modern times, they made famous a green liquor known as chartreuse, from which the pale green color gets its name.

For the purposes of using these three orders to inspire monastic orders for a fantasy world, I am going to adopt the names black monks, white monks and green monks. These primarily refer to the color of the robes that they wear.

One of the basic credos of the Rule of Benedict is the simple phrase Pray and Work. White monks emphasize work, being excellent farmers and horse breeders. They live in communities in rural and wilderness environments. Green monks emphasize prayer. They are famous for their elixirs (derived from the same plants that they use to dye their robes) and live primarily as hermits in the wilderness. Black monks seek to find a balance between work and prayer. They tend to live in communities in or near urban centers.

Besides their robes, the three orders can also be distinguished by their form of tonsure. White monks wear the classic "bald spot" tonsure we all associate with medieval monastics. Green monks shave their heads. Black monks do not cut their hair or beards at all. Therefore, they are also sometimes known as Nazirites (see Numbers 6:5). [This latter style has two sources of inspiration. Orthodox monks normally do not cut their hair nor shave and the Merovingian Kings of France were known as the "long-haired kings" because not only did they wear their hair long, but if their hair were cut, they would be unworthy of ruling.]

In addition to monks, each order would have two sub-orders: Canons and Swords. Canons are those ordained priests who have taken monastic vows. Interestingly, the Eastern Orthodox practice of allowing marriage prior to ordination was still in use in Western Christendom at this time, though frowned upon. I like the idea that cleric characters don't necessarily have to start out as ordained clergy, but would have to be ordained in order to receive 3rd level spells or higher — thus marriage is a possibility for those inclined. Swords are the military arm of the order. These would be the Knights Templar or the Hospitallers of this fantasy world.

To summarize:

Black Monks

Cenobitic order whose abbeys are primarily in or near urban centers. They seek to find a balance between prayer and work. Known for their black/dark robes and their uncut hair and beards. Also known as Nazirites.

Black Canons

Ordained priests who have taken a monastic vow with the Black Monks.

Black Swords

The military arm of the order. They have served extensively in the East, explaining the heavy eastern influence on the order.

White Monks

Cenobitic order who emphasize field-work. They are especially gifted farmers and horse breeders. Known for their undyed robes and their "bald spot" tonsures. Their abbeys are primarily in rural or wilderness areas.

White Canons

Ordained priests who have taken a monastic vow with the White Monks.

White Swords

The military arm of the order. While they also have served in the east, they have had more influence in the West. There are rumors of corruption, hidden treasures and even sorcery among its members.

Green Monks

Eremitic order who primarily live in the wilderness. Emphasizing prayer, they are known for their green robes, which are dyed with the same plants that they use to make their green elixirs. They shave their heads and take various vows of silence.

Green Canons

Ordained priests who have taken a monastic vow with the Green Monks.

Green Swords

The military arm of the order. The smallest of the three military orders, these soldiers are famous for their unarmed fighting techniques.

Meditating on Monks

I have to admit that I really like monks — both the class and that arm of the Church that choses to take the monastic tonsure. This has to do both with the awe and wonder that I remember having when I was first introduced to the wonderful cinematic madness that comes out of Hong Kong as well as a deep seeded need for the ascetic disciplines of prayer that monastics are privileged to live out on a daily basis.

There is a strain of gamer that gnashes their teeth at the idea of the Hong-Kong-movie-influenced monk class crashing the medieval European party represented by the three core classes of D&D. I am not one of them. In fact, I have come to relish in an amalgam of the monk class and the monk who endeavors to follow St. Paul's dictum to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17).

Let me begin with a documentary that changed my mind about how we traditionally see and understand martial arts. It is called Reclaiming the Blade. Ostensibly, it is a documentary that examines role the sword plays in cinema; however, in doing so it reveals that the systematic martial arts that we normally only associate with Asia also existed in Europe. The difference is how these two cultures used gun powder. Whereas the East declined and even outlawed most military applications, the West embraced gun power as a way of making war. These two different approaches resulted in the continued use and lionization of martial hand-to-hand combat in the East and its increasing irrelevance in the West. Consequently, the Western martial arts were almost entirely lost.

Lest we forget, this Western tradition is ancient. The Greeks had the systemized unarmed combat style we know as Pankration. Alexander the Great took this with him as he conquered India. Shaolin Kung Fu is generally credited to an Indian Bhuddist monk often known as Boddhidharma. Thus, there is a link, though tenuous, between Western and Eastern martial arts.

In addition, if one reads the Life of St. Antony, we see the man who many consider to be the exemplar of monastics wrestling demons:

Thus tightening his hold upon himself, Antony departed to the tombs, which happened to be at a distance from the village; and having bid one of his acquaintances to bring him bread at intervals of many days, he entered one of the tombs, and the other having shut the door on him, he remained within alone. And when the enemy could not endure it . . . coming one night with a multitude of demons, he so cut him with stripes that he lay on the ground speechless from the excessive pain. For he affirmed that the torture had been so excessive that no blows inflicted by man could ever have caused him such torment . . . The next day his acquaintance came bringing him the loaves. And having opened the door and seeing him lying on the ground as though dead, he lifted him up and carried him to the church in the village, and laid him upon the ground. And many of his kinsfolk and the villagers sat around Antony as round a corpse. But about midnight he came to himself and arose, and when be saw them all asleep and his comrade alone watching, he motioned with his head for him to approach, and asked him to carry him again to the tombs without waking anybody.

In a fantasy world where sin is personified and monsters roam the wilderness, it is not a big leap to imagine that monastics (who live in and wander through the wilderness) would learn to use what God had given them — their body — as a primary weapon against these foes.

Thus, I happily populate my own Euro-inspired medieval fantasy world with monks and delight as they pray and punch their way through the wilderness making life safe for civilization.