Dragon Lands - Temple Of The Burned Monk

[Vutall]

Temple Of The Burned Monk
In Nanashi Mura, the village of rōnin on the border of the Dragon lands, warriors with unresolved inner turmoil sometimes test their fortitude and discipline by meditating overnight at the ruined Moeta Shūdō-Shi no Jiin—the Temple of the Burned Monk. Ages ago, a monk refused to surrender to some bandits, so they burned him along with the temple. The monk, sitting calmly, uttered not a sound as the temple turned to cinders. The bandits, their bloodlust sated, rode away without harming the rest of the village. When the villagers came out to clean up the wreckage, they thought they found the monk alive, covered in soot. The site smelled of flowers rather than smoke. The moment someone touched him, a beatific smile on his face, he collapsed to ash, or so the villagers say

The story spread, and a rōnin decided that she could be just as brave as the monk, inadvertently beginning a new tradition among the lordless in Nanashi Mura. When a warrior needs to show that they have the discipline to serve or the self-control to follow orders, they meditate for a night on the temple grounds. Most rōnin encounter nothing during their meditations, but find their tempers calmed. Some engage the ghost of the monk and rededicate themselves to Enlightenment. A few run away screaming and disgraced, never to be seen again. The rōnin mentioned earlier emerged from the temple with a new purpose in life. She renamed herself Hasu, shaved her head, and wandered the land fighting bandits and spirits, giving assistance to the powerless and downtrodden

From the outside, the temple’s plot of land looks quite bare. A few support beams remain standing with the telltale scoring. The villagers have surrounded the plot of land with some stones, both as a sign of respect and to help assure that the temple’s spirit doesn’t disturb the rest of the village. Sometimes, the villagers leave a stool or a kneeling mat in the center of the plot, but most often, they don’t have the nerve to traverse the stone boundary, citing the choking scent of burnt wood, ominous chanting, whispers that reflect their greatest fears, or visions of darkness and fire.

The leaders of the Dragon Clan have mixed feelings about this ruined temple. One good bushi has disappeared, but another, upon completing the night unscarred, inspired a band of rōnin to swear loyalty to the Dragon. While discussions about the ruins, and of Nanashi Mura in general, range from razing the village to the ground to officially bringing the land under the Dragon’s banner, the Dragon’s deadlocked leadership means it has no plans to purify, rebuild, or raze the temple grounds