I think their editorial direction was all over the place on that count. The short story "Prying Eyes", the adventure "Provincial Prior Cause", and the novel The Bloody Eye mention Ratik and the Kingdom of Schnai, but the other novels are set in a new land called the Duchy of Koratia.
The characters from the novels appear in other sources with closer ties to Oerth, though, like The Scourge of Worlds.
It's been great reading the multiple threads about monks in and around the Flanaess.
Have any of you developed organizations for demi-human monks? Although 1e precluded this in the PHB, as another poster mentioned, Fiend Folio introduced kuo-toa monitors and githzerai monks, and later editions abolished the only-human requirement.
I ask because I'm developing a 5e campaign (mentioned in various posts these past few months), which will center on the Hold of the Sea Princes, and one of my players has chosen to create a wood elf monk.
As we've presently created, he is from the Dreadwood but was chosen to travel to Celene to train at a monastery therein. We have yet to detail it but are imagining a corollary order to the 2e blade singer kit (and derivatives) and the war dancers of Warhammer Fantasy Role Play.
So, what of it, have any of you created non-human monk orders IYC, or as the editions have changed, have you allowed demi-human monks into your human monk traditions?
Have any of you developed organizations for demi-human monks?
No, but...
Dragon Magazine #122 has an article entitled "Marshalling the Martial Arts" which may be of help to you.
Also, I remember a variant warrior class from a Dungeon Magazine adventure on the Dark Continent. I believe it was the Battle Dancer. It was re-written in the Dragon Compendium, but I can't find the original article. I always thought that class was a variant of the monk class as much as it was a variant on the fighter class. It may provide some inspiration for variant monkish orders in your campaign.
Also, I remember a variant warrior class from a Dungeon Magazine adventure on the Dark Continent. I believe it was the Battle Dancer. It was re-written in the Dragon Compendium, but I can't find the original article. I always thought that class was a variant of the monk class as much as it was a variant on the fighter class. It may provide some inspiration for variant monkish orders in your campaign.
SirXaris
You're thinking of "Rhythm Warriors" in Dragon #159.
Blackmoor deserves mention here!
1) monks were originally introduced in Supplement II.
2) Weining officially established Wastri's cult in Greyhawk's Blackmoor, specifically the Cold Mashes, encouraging the addition of the Temple of the Frog and its monks to Greyhawk.
3) Blackmoor also has the very monkish Docrae halflings worthy of consideration. Adding Docrae to Greyhawk is a good way to break multiple expectations, as Greyhawk's halflings are extremely vanilla and the "exotic" monk class is surprisingly staid and stereotypical.
--
UK4 When a Star Falls also has an order of monks in a remote, very western medieval setting serving a priesthood concerned with celestial bodies. With four of the UK series being officially placed in Greyhawk and no other setting claiming the outliers, UK4 is arguably Greyhawk-lite. I placed it Tenh at the mountainous headwaters of the Zumkend, reasoning the astrological priests were Pholtus worshippers whose obsession with their god's sun and moon concerns led to their banishment from the Theocracy of the Pale. Their monk bodyguards could be a unique development, an alliance with a splinter of Suel monks that followed the Thrillonian migration instead of the Tilvanot, or some other source.
Right The Temple of the Frog exists in every iteration of Greyhawk, and per Supp II and later Blackmoor lore is chock full of Monks.
For some reason people seem to forget that Toads are not Frogs any more than say, zebras are horses or monkeys are apes.
The Temple of the Frog monks have nothing to do with the toad loving Wastri, in fact they very likely hate them because they have an entirely opposite philosophy. Per D&D supplement II, the froggies hate their humanity and believe it to be inferior to amphibian life.
The monks worship the frog god Tsathoggus, engage in the slave trade and attempt to transform people including themselves into frog folk through magic and surgery.
The monks will therefore be in various states of their original human and humanoid selves melded with amphibian features.
Monks of the temple of the Frog are divided into several ranks:
1. Heart of the Frog (High Priest): The leader of the cult wears long loose crimson robes, and posses a staff (of withering) as a badge of office.
2. Fins of the Frog: The inner circle of the priesthood, consisting of class levels 3 and above. There are 10 Keepers, 13 Officers, and a council of 12 Priests. They wear gilt-edged Dark Green hooded cloaks fastened with gold brooches in the shape of a frog holding a small struggling human in its mouth.
3. Teeth of the Frog (Acolytes): The 96 acolytes wear black-edged light green cloaks. The teeth consist of clerics and Magic-users of 1st and 2nd level.
4. Chorus of the frog: The chorus consist of the followers, servants and 0-2 level soldiers obedient to the temple
5. and a magic-user sub order known as "The Keepers" who are in charge of the breeding programs.
This information drawn from all three versions of the Temple of the Frog adventure in addition to the Garbage Pits of Despair adventure. Tsathoggus is first detailed in Supplement IV Gods, Demi-gods and Heroes. _________________ The eternal war between Law and Chaos flared often in Greyhawk... But the laws of Chance will let neither gain full sway. Quag Keep, Chap 1&2
This thread is really interesting but a bit scattered so I thought I would make a cut and paste list of all the orders in official sources mentioned so far (will happily add anything missed):
The Sapphire Brotherhood in the Fate of Istus
The Scarlet Brotherhood.
Order of Nerull Dragon #299 details an order of monks dedicated to Nerull, drawn from the novel Oath of Nerull by T.H. Lain.
Order of the Fire Opal - "Dungeon of the Fire Opal" in Dungeon #84 The monks there once worshiped Wee Jas.
The Twilight Monks - in the Cairn Hills is dedicated to Xan Yae. It's detailed in Age of Worms Overload.
Monks of Zuoken - Three monasteries dedicated to Zuoken. The Falla-nil monastery is in the Ulsprues. The Azor-khem monastery is 60 miles to the south. The Flannae-tel Monastery is in the Cairn Hills) found in Erik Mona's "Baklunish Delights" in Oerth Journal #3
Cannibal Monks - The Savage Tide AP, from Dungeon Magazine, featured a cannabalistic order of monks who had a monastery in Scuttlecove.
The Nacehuel (Na-sG’-wal: “the achieved ones”) - Olman monks in Tamoachan.
The Black Brotherhood, is first mentioned in the 1E adventure I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City a full-fledged vigilante group within the Scarlet Brotherhood dedicated to Tharizdun. Now imagine it - a monk of Tharizdun. Oh yes, quite insanely evil no doubt,
The Kuo Toan Monitors - from D2, Descent into the Depths of the Oerth. Since the monk-classed Monitor is a staple of Kuo Toan society, Blibdoolpoolp must be the source of their abilities.
The Order of the Frog - The Temple of the Frog, Blackmoor/northern Cold Marsh.
New one:
Monks of St. Cuthbert -There is a monastery-fortress of St. Cuthbert in the canton of Clatspurgen, Perrenland. [LGG, 86]
what else? _________________ The eternal war between Law and Chaos flared often in Greyhawk... But the laws of Chance will let neither gain full sway. Quag Keep, Chap 1&2
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