(11-01-2016, 03:38 AM)Koen Wrote: and poking someone like Sounsyy or Ave (the main Monk RPer I know of, and she's got a pretty solid understanding of the lore and how Monk skills work imo).
I was summoned. Now give me a moment to edit to this post, and I will throw some useful information towards you!
As for lore sources, screenshots and general useful information regarding Monks:
General Ala Mhigan Lore Post By Sounsyy
General Monk Lore by Sounsyy
Monks & MP by Sounsyy
German Monk Quests Translated
Extra German Monk + Ala Mhigan Lore
Monk Lorebook Page 1
Monk Lorebook Page 2
Ala Mhigo Lorebook Page 1
Ala Mhigo Lorebook Page 2
Screenshots 30 Monk Quest
Screenshots Post 50 Monk Quest
Screenshots Post 50 Monk Quest (Shadow & Light sect)
Screenshots Post 50 Monk Quest (Level 60)
Now, let me point out right here that I'm not here to tell you how to roleplay your character, but as Koen pointed out, to be a Fist of Rhalgr, well... it is a group of religious fighters who devoted themselves to Rhalgr, who have very few of them left*.
Koen was also so kind to give your work around with these. Yes, sadly enough if you wish to be young AND well trained, you have to go for the Luke Skywalker approach. Personally I'm not a fan, because it feels like a cheap cop out to me due to being an exception and not so much the norm but others may feel differently about this. I feel this concept works for NPCs, not so much for PCs.
Then there is, yeah, just be a Fist of Rhalgr student. There is a lot of mixed roleplay to be found for this as well. There's all sorts of Fist of Rhalgr roleplayers around who roleplay Monks of various ages, lore compliance, headcanons, religiousness, realism, pace of training ect. So there is quite a few direction you could go with this, if you decide to rolepay a Fist of Rhalgr apprentice, and wanted a PC to be his master. NPCs are always an option as well, but I felt it was worth mentioning there is a flourishing community for this. Really, you can find anything when it comes down to this. I could even point you towards directions of what type of roleplay you're interested in when it comes down to Monk roleplay.
Not exclusively Fists, but this LS may interest you to get in contact with Monk roleplayers and other martial artists.
As for the third commonly seen option. Older Fists. Not people who made it out of the main temple, because as far as we know there's quite a few other temples left. So your Monk could have either fled the main temple before things started to become too tense, or simply lived in another temple and survived that way. This in my opinion is probably the most solid one to be a 'legit' Fist. Your character will have the age and experience below their belt. The downsides? We don't really know how those temples were, or Ala Mhigo. Yes, the expansion is coming up, but it is still quite a bit of 'lets not mention this' or a 'I need to wing this' type of situation. Also if you have a dislike for roleplaying older character, because you'd probably have to be in your mid forties to be a decently trained Monk from the temples before the Fists shattered. But that's once more totally up to you! Some people simply don't like roleplay older characters, and that's fine. Just in the case of roleplaying a Fist of Rhalgr, to be the real deal who's been trained properly within their community, you have to be older. Also, your character would need to be Ala Mhigan! But that's no problem as being a Miqo'te. In the odd chance you decide to go for an Ala Mhigan character, guess what? We got a Linkshell for that as well.
That said, I can rant on about Monk lore for hours on end, so if you want to know something in specific, just let me know and I will try to do my best to answer any question.
That said, Pugilist are awesome as well. They still throw Aether around in their attacks, so please don't think you need to be a Fist to being the typical fantasy punch wizard, Pugilists can do this as well!
*There might be a possibility of a lot more Monks living still in Gyr Abania due it being the main temple who was purged, and the shadow sect been hidden for a long time, so there's a huge possibility there might be Fist of Rhalgr communities quietly living out their days somewhere. But probably not in non-Gyr Abania regions.
