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Monastic Orders: Way of the Kirin (Way of the Astral Self for 5e Monk variant)

by Marc Saindon

(Monk: Way of the Astral Self)

This subclass is taken as is and just transplanted into Ochalea and given a bit of lore. The Monks dwell in the Mountains of Ice in South Ochalea (see map) are your typical Tibetan buddhist monks from the 80s classic, The Golden Child, and wise mentors like Yoda. They live ascetic lives, meditating, trying to unlock the secrets of astral projection and the manipulation of psychic energy they call Tulpas (what the book calls "astral self"). They also train in shaolin kung fu. And they all shave their heads. Dreams and their interpretations are important. Ephemeral artwork also is, with Monks practicing sand painting, water calligraphy and other non-sensical tasks that produce creativity rather than a tangible result.

The Kirin part is that more experienced Sifu will try to locate the auspicious animal on the Astral Plane, a rather rare achievement. Most spend their lives never seeing it, sometimes it doesn't show up for a few generations, with the Sifu rationalizing it as "the journey is better than the destination" (although knowing themselves this is bs) to keep morale up. Having a young Monk, like a PC, witness the Kirin on his first vision quest can be a plot device, one which can anger older, wiser, but flawed masters (who prompty dismiss the character in a quest, far away, to not upset the establishment). A positive version of the Kirin sighting might encourage the monastery to embrace the world rather than live apart from it, and send the new recruits to teach and help the population. Or the sighting might never happen at all in the campaign, and the lesson is the dorky "to always keep hope in your heart it will happen".

Naturally, these people tend to be Lawful Good, which provides them with enemies from "team evil" (again, see The Golden Child for ideas).

As an alternative, you might place these Monks in the mountainous borders of Ethengar (maybe using Mako in his Akiro the Wizard role as a model for a NPC). Or maybe the Order is prosperous enough to have spread through several regions, thus keeping Ochalea along with Ethengar, and even have some monasteries in Sind.

Map: Ochalea, 8 miles per hex

Notes:
Qilin
Tulpa
Ki-rin


(Image from: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/aYn4oX)