EP3: THE HERAN FOLK MONASTERY

Today I’ll be talking about the Heran Folks Monastery and a few ways I try make it feel both fantastic to the players but also believable

So lets start with you outside the old stone gates of the monastery, these gates are carved with the history of the monastery, showing their relationship with the spirits of the land and how the monastery had almost become a rescue shelter for the tortured spirits trapped in the corrupted swamp. Some of these grateful spirits have since became guardians for the monastery, infused into totems made of wood and stone.

Make your way through the doors into the main chamber and you will see it holds but a handful of monks, a small number compared to the vastness of the chamber. Indeed, there are many alcoves in the walls but only a few hold bedding. Most are empty. It seems the monks numbers are dwindling.

If you are honored enough to gain access to the next room, the hall of echoes you will always find a few monks here, deep in meditation and intoning a long soothing chant. The walls here are lined with shelves holding an assortment of jars. If you look closer you may see wisp like movement coming from within them. Here the monks try to bring peace to the feral souls rescued from the torments found deep in the swamp.

Maybe you get further - into the Chamber of masters, perhaps meeting the mysterious Mistress Whispering Wind, or the amiable Master Heavy Rain, or the powerful Master Weave and the many spirits that follow him.

Or you might come across Grandmaster Grin himself, deep in conversation with his old friend and advisor, Olo, a monkey like totem infused with the noble spirit of an elder druid who fell a century ago when the darkness usurped his beloved swamp.

These spirit infused totems have become commonplace in the monastery and the village of Roost, and if you have watched my YouTube novel Whisp Tales you will recognise the similar totems found in the city of Yore, though these little fellows are used by wizards in the underground fighting tournament of Whisp.

The totems of The Heron Folk however have loftier goals, such as helping the monks rescue their kindred spirits still trapped by the heavy misery of the swamp, or by guarding the village or by protecting the far ranging fisherfolk as they travel the wetlands.

It is at this humble monastery where the adventurers find themselves, perhaps for noble purposes, looking to help the beleaguered monks turn back the expanding tide of the corrupted swamp, or perhaps they are fortune seekers, looking to be at the forefront of a soul rush where the monastery pays well for recovered spirits.

Either way, who knows, maybe the next carving on the monastery doors will depict a band of brave heroes who have defeated the dark forces and finally brought peace to a tortured land.

So that's a brief look at the Monastery, a small corner of a fantasy world that introduces several new ideas to the party of heroes, notably tortured spirits that can be calmed over decades of chanting to become willing guardians that infuse totems of various sizes so they can aid the monks in the physical world.

I’m going to go over two techniques I use to quickly make these concepts believable and accepted by the party

The first is to make sure the locals take their world for granted, like we do with our own world. If you take a local from your fantasy world and drop them in earth 2024, they will have their minds blown - even as we all walk by in a hurry, wishing that idiot would get out of the way and stop pointing at cars.

So the monks treat their totems much the same way, surprised if the adventurers take special interest in the strange creatures. The heron folk have grown up with these totems their whole lives and they have become a part of the general landscape. You will find that the party will look to the locals to figure out what is normal, and quickly accept what they accept. When something does upset the locals or cause fear among them the party will quickly realize this is outside the norms of their new world.

That's why I really enjoy the art of Jakub Rozalski and Simon Stalenhag. They always do amazing scenes of locals existing comfortably in their crazy worlds, hardly batting an eyelid as some huge construction wanders by in the background.

Art by Jakub Rozalski

Also, do not feel the need to over explain stuff - most of the locals don't know how things work, they just take it for granted. The same way most of us don't know how an engine works. I once made a working 3d model of an engine for an online tutorial on how engines work - and I still don't know how engines work.

Maybe you can have the info ready for curious players - but they need to find the rare experts to explain it - and it still might go over their heads, like a scientist explaining quantum mechanics - I've tried to watch those YouTubes and am more confused than ever.

And the 2nd way to make the world believable, something a concept artist always tries to do - is provide things the player can relate to, hooks from this world that can provide a base for them to build off, so they quickly figure out what something represents and they only have to grasp a few new concepts built on top of that. - like I've got a monastery - players know what that is, mediation, players know that, even concepts like spirits and possessing a new form are known lore. The new concepts are just layers to add on to these familiar building blocks.

So there's a few ideas to get your players quickly accepting your world and not investigating every new strange thing you mention. I’m getting close to starting on the first areas of the swamp but might need to do a few more passes on Roost and the monastery.