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A question of Monks and Monasteries
I am curious which faiths and religions in the Inner Sea region are likely to have monasteries and monks who are keepers and illuminators of divine texts and other lore, knowledge, history, music, law, magic spells, etc. While I might imagine followers of Abadar to keep codices of law, followers of Sheylin to keep plays poems paintings plays and opera, Nethys to keep magical spells and theory etc.
What do you all think?
Are their published examples of monasteries and monastic orders and monks who are the custodians of lore?
I am not interested in martial artists who live monastically.
Thank you
Actually, I think most of the people whom you mention wouldn't be monks in Golarion. Most large faiths - other than, I'd say, Irori - don't have the monasticism mindset, where you remove yourself from the world to reach enlightenment and exercise your faith. For most faithful people in Golarion, working for your faith involves doing things where they can be seen and used by other people.
Instead, the people whom you describe would imo be a part of the clergy or the support staff of the various cults. I imagine they would be low to mid-ranking experts, adepts or aristocrats (eventually maybe with PC levels) who work for the temples - either at the temples itself or in the city, but not in seclusion.
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A question of Monks and Monasteries
I am curious which faiths and religions in the Inner Sea region are likely to have monasteries and monks who are keepers and illuminators of divine texts and other lore, knowledge, history, music, law, magic spells, etc. While I might imagine followers of Abadar to keep codices of law, followers of Sheylin to keep plays poems paintings plays and opera, Nethys to keep magical spells and theory etc.
What do you all think?
Are their published examples of monasteries and monastic orders and monks who are the custodians of lore?
I am not interested in martial artists who live monastically.
Thank you
I believe that there are several faiths of Golarion that would have monasteries and treat ascetism as a value worth promoting. Here are the ones I use most often:
Aroden--A dead god of humanity at the zenith, one whose monasteries truly do work to isolate themselves from the loss of faith in the broader world. These human-only enclaves would definitely pursue the monk/sage path.
Abadar--The lawkeepers of Abadar have monasteries in the deepest delves far from prying eyes where they carve the greatest secrets into stone.
Asmodeus--The Lord of the Nine would have to have monasteries all over Cheliax, focused on churning out torturers and masters of infernal arts. It might also be that Asmodeus turns over any aspiring diabolists to these monasteries for their initiation and possible transportation to Hell.
Nethys--His monasteries, especially prominent in Garund, would double as magical academies but seek always to uncover deeper unions between magic and mortal.
Irori--of course, but they would be concentrated in the East and likely only travelling monks would be found in Avistan and Garund.
Sarenrae--Mystic fakirs and faith healers, the monasteries of Sarenrae pursue healing in the brightness of life with focus and flair. Music and healthful wines emanate from the monasteries of Sarenrae in Qadira and Garund.
Lissala--the last of the gods to have a strong monastic tradition in my Golarion, this long-lost god of Thassilon exalted service above all and so the three remaining monasteries of Lissala work tirelessly to perform the labors necessary to see their communities survive in the harsh desert of northern Garund.
In short, being a big fan of monks and the flavor they give Pathfinder games (Name of the Rose not Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), I have found as much use for them as I have for the gods they serve.
Zon-Kuthon--sponsoring monasteries of nightmarish evil, Zon-Kuthon welcomes those grieving their lost loves and twists them into cruel hard things of inhuman brutality.