The three Monastic Orders are very different in their approaches to the world, but all three place great value on personal growth and mastery over their bodies. This mastery is represented by the titles a monk has earned and anybody falsely claiming a title is likely to, at best, be stripped of all held titles and exiled from their monastic tradition.
Way of the Open Hand-
These monks seek to improve the world around them, helping those in need through public works and driving out those who would do them harm. Their titles represent each individual’s growth but work to build the community by connecting each monk to previous ones through the Brick Pilgrimage in which monks work together to build a shrine in a remote, difficult to reach location, using bricks from each monk’s history. Once the monk reaches the shrine they will discover their title and give one to the next monk who arrives. A second pilgrimage is made to take apart a previous shrine and spread it throughout the land for public works. These traditions represent life and death, purpose and placing others over oneself.
Their monasteries are often places of community and labor, producing food and necessities for local populations. They are often placed in accessible locations near small towns with good land to farm. Lone monks may travel town to town, helping during harvests and planting seasons, training during their downtime.
Way of the Shadow-
Monks who follow the Way of the Shadow seek to change the world through subterfuge and prove their path to be the mightiest. Shadow monks don’t earn titles the same way as the other orders, instead they take titles from other monks after defeating them in combat. In this way they are hunters, proving their dominance over the other Ways through cunning and strength, collecting titles as one would heads. A monk who has lost their title to a Shadow monk can only reclaim it by defeating that monk and taking it back and until then is considered Titless by their order. To prevent themselves from being hunted by their former victims, most Shadow monks tend to kill whoever they take down.
Their monasteries are usually secreted away deep in caves or beneath cities, accessible by those who wish to purchase their services but difficult to find by those who’d seek to obstruct them. Lone monks are common, often acting as assassins or mercenaries for whoever can afford them.
Way of the Four Elements
Monks who follow the Way of the Four Elements seek to harness the raw powers of nature within themselves. They often ignore society, seeking to attain self-perfection through rigorous training in remote lands. They earn titles in a very specific way, and each monk’s title can tell you a lot about who they are and how they train to those who know the conventions.
Their monasteries are often very difficult to reach and built where they can be close to the elements they teach. Craggy mountaintops, secluded valleys, islands in the middle of lakes, underground near volcanoes, etc. They like to be left alone to focus on themselves and only get involved in politics when it directly affects them. Monasteries tend to focus on one specific element and attract students interested in that focus. Monks seeking a variety of powers are often loners, flitting from one isolated location to another as they see fit to further their training, sometimes stopping at focused monasteries to exchange knowledge. Lone hermits who specialize in one aspect are also known, living out a solitary existence far from distraction.
Monastic Traditions:
Way of the Open Hand
Level 3: Open Hand Technique
Defeat 2 foes with shoves.
Level 6: Wholeness of Body
Make a pilgrimage to a Brick Shrine of the Open Hand and bring a brick that was used in your monastery or from somewhere you trained to add to it. On this brick-prior to starting your pilgrimage-you must scribe a title for the next monk to place a brick, and when you place yours you will read the title given to you by the previous monk. It is in bad taste to give titles similar to those of the Way of the Four Elements. Titles tend to be cryptic such as “The Yellow Omen”
Single Title
Level 11: Tranquility
You must build something as part of a public works project, such as an orphanage or school. You must take a brick from a previously completed Brick Shrine and use it in the construction. The title written on it will be added to your current one.
Dual Title
Level 17: Quivering Palm
Complete the Final Pilgrimage to the First Monastery to receive your final title.
Tri-Title
Way of the Shadow
Level 3: Shadow Arts
In a single combat land 4 strikes on opponents who have not yet taken an action
Level 6: Shadow Step
Earn your first title. Defeat a monk with at least a single title of their own.
Level 11: Cloak of Shadows
Earn a dual title by defeating a monk with at least a dual title of their own.
Level 17: Opportunist
Earn a tri-title by defeating a monk with at least a tri-title of their own.
Way of the Four Elements
Level 3: Must defeat 2 enemies with fire, water, earth, or air (or the lack thereof)
Level 6: Must make a pilgrimage to a monastery of the appropriate element
Single Title
Level 11: Must retrieve a sacred tome from an elemental plane related to the element you are trying to learn.
Dual Title
Level 17: Must complete a Task of the Four Elements, given from the Monastery of the Planes
Tri-Title
Titles: unlocked with each new power after your first, you may pick from your first 2 powers as to what noun you will use.
For example: if you learned Fangs of the Fire Snake at level 3, Gong of the Summit at 6th, Eternal Mountain Defense at level 11, and Breath of Winter at level 17, your title could be “Colossal Adder, The Emotionless” or “The Emotionless Towering Vulture”
If you change a known ability just replace that one with where it falls in the order.
If you learned Fangs of the Fire Snake at level 6 but changed it to Shape the Flowing River when you learned Fist of Unbroken Air at level 11 your title would change from something like “Boa” to something like “Howling Typhoon”
