I'm building a homebrew setting and one of the writers wants to have monks

I'm building a homebrew setting and one of the writers wants to have monks.

Its a low magic setting (think Robert E Howard , Rothfuss or RR Martin) and I am looking at ways to put them in as to not make them obnoxious.

Did it not occur to you that real life is no magic, and has monks in many different flavors?

You could try just copypasting historic monks into your setting and tweaking them slightly

I can't believe I am saying this, but look at Avatar and remove the bending

/thread

Seriously user, what are martial arts.

Doesn't Kingkiller Chronicles already have a group of ascetic warriors in it? Look at those, maybe?

And are we talking Ricky Ticky Punch and Kicky Monks, or something a bit more historically common like sohei?

>Kingkiller Chronicles already have a group of ascetic warriors in it?
Yeah, I'd rather avoid the whole "feminist sex ninja" thing they had going on

>Ricky Ticky Punch and Kicky Monks, or something a bit more historically common like sohei?
Different monastic orders will have both martial monks and more spiritual leader monks

>Yeah, I'd rather avoid the whole "feminist sex ninja" thing they had going on

Ha, I'd forgotten about that part. It's been years.

Still the basic chasis of extreme discipline and inculcation from an early age seems relevant.

>Different monastic orders will have both martial monks and more spiritual leader monks

I wonder if historically such parrallel structures lasted for very long. The guys with weapons and martial training tend to end up with undue influence, unless the spiritual leaders are very convincing about their role in the spiritual order of things.

>The guys with weapons and martial training tend to end up with undue influence, unless the spiritual leaders are very convincing about their role in the spiritual order of things.
The monks are a secondary power within the region. They exist inside the borders of a larger powerful nation that basically lets them operate within their borders due to cultural reasons

In essence the monastic orders are allowed to exist and pull shenanigans between themselves, but if they cause to much of a problem the local lord will come knocking with an army at their back.

See if you can make them less weeb and more MMA.

this

Use assassins or bodyguards who mastered pankration and boxing skills to kill or defend people in situations where no weapons are allowed. At high levels, most of them indulge in various rituals to empower themselves beyond the human limits.

>MMA is a worthwhile way to fight

If it's low magic, you can justify the Ki Energy related stuff they do as a minor/alternate form of accessing magic that isn't straight out wizardy.

Christian monks = best monks.

Useless when you're fighting someone with an actual weapon.

But low magic means all magic has to be edgy, just like in Game of Thrones!

I'm sure you say that based on decades of fighting experience and study, right?

Using acupuncture, special massages, and strict training and dietary regimens for years to be 5% better than a peak human is edgy enough.

The simple answer is to determine why the people in your setting need a school of unarmed combat.

Martial arts grow out of the culture that creates them. Europe had numerous fencing schools because dueling nobles favored the sword. A lot of crazy eastern weaponry originates from the ban on real weapons, so martial arts concentrated on unarmed combat or peasant tools like sickles and threshers turned into weapon styles.

So consider your setting, and find a reason that unarmed combat could actually be useful.

Is there a ban on weaponry for lower classes? Then the weapon of the peasant is going to be the fist and the walking stick.

Are there certain areas (capital city, hallowed ground, etc) where weapons are never allowed, but sometimes violence happens? Then bodyguards and guards will focus on unarmed combat.

Are the materials for weapons rare, or just shitty? Then unarmed combat may be favorable compared to a balsa wood and copper spear.

Is there some supernatural entity that can't be slain by weapons? Yes, it's a low magic setting, but it's still possible.

Is there a major cultural push for unarmed combat as sport? Wrestling remained popular even when swords and pistols were the go-to dueling weapons in Europe.

Look at the culture you are creating, and find a time and a place where unarmed combat would be important. It doesn't have to be the most effective weapon in the world, but it needs a plausible reason to exist within that culture and setting.

>implying many martial arts do not teach multiple ways of defeating armed and armored opponents.

user pls...

A-tier worldbuilding post. You receive the /wbg/ stamp of approval.

It sorta-kinda works for duels, martial arts is garbage on a larger scale. Your hands are free--if martial arts was even close to the best way to fight people would have focused on that.

What is a monk? You've got to figure out what your writer friend wants before we can meaningfully incorporate it.