The Monsoon Ghats - 1. The Faith of Colors & Early Notes

The Lord of the Universe ignited the twin suns of soul and sacrament, illuminating the endless tapestry of night. All His manifold dreams coalesced into all that exists, in all possible forms and in the illusory stardust between those forms. Joy and emotion clouded the supreme truth of the Lord of the Universe, and in the light of the twin suns be birthed the world illusory. 

Granting His raw blissful emotion a place in the mist and smoke, the water and sky, and for a time He watched. He watched His virtues and vices, His ideals and emotions, and all the sins He thought Himself too majestic to possess. 

And then He heard a Voice, which granted Him purpose; for it was not of His creation. It spurred something new, His curiosity...

>*<

The Monsoon Ghats are the southern coastal mountains of the Land of Triumph, where the Lord of the Universe found joy and sorrow and was wounded by mortal man in a war betwixt the illusory nature of existence and the supreme truth of the cosmos. 

It is a borderland of the lush, with the ocean side of the ghats locking deep black soils and rich sinewy trees. Civilization holds itself here, bound by doctrine of the Daeva and the Asura; The Faith of Colors, honored still despite the warring nature of these celestial tribes. The common folk cling to moralities that might allow them to change their stars, often in lock-step with atrocities committed at the behest of their masters towards those who will not bow as deeply. The Faith of Colors was a thing of splendor before the celestial tribes suffered their schism, now the vestiges of once was engage in petty skirmishes for supplication. 

Many in the Ghats hold themselves to but four colors, forsaking all others. They festoon their banners and houses with that they were born to, hoping with power and time to ascend to the next.

Many are weaker for sake of these petty ambitions. 

A dog's age since a brahmin was born of deepest indigo and void-knowing. Most are conformed to mortal colors and mortal aspiration;, dominance, power, wealth and joy. Illusory items that weigh heavily upon their karma and might sink them completely to serpent-shriven underworlds if not for deeds done in ages past. 

The Faith of Colors is not diminished in its majesty, though it is fractured and as such tested. Those who once served it have been forsaken in man's pursuit of supremacy and comforts. 

The Raksha demand fealty for their service in the War of Wounding. Few are willing to pay, fewer still willing to admit the atrocities forced upon them. Some were concepts, illusory sins bound with purpose to slay perfidious river naga; others were of mortal tribes bent to the will of cruel words and made monsterful to fill the hosts of the supreme truth. They are a horror to behold, blackened like ash without an ember to stoke their soul. The Faith broke them, and now they play the villain for hope of promises to be honored and old shames apologized for. 

The Vanara are of equal pain, forced now to live in a world without blissful ignorance and the frivolity of a war-time's simple morality. Virtue forced into the framework of ignorant animal can make good deeds bestial and make a simple atavist contemplate too darkly the nature of their soul. These are not the heroes of ancient deeds, their temples and statues are forlorn. Most think of them as thieves and fools, undeserving of respect within the hierarchy. The Faith has left them to the wayside, they're characters for children's stories now.

The Bangla, the bear-people, have never held the Faith of Colors in any high regard, they wish only to fight and appease their Mountain at the roof of the world. Those within the Ghats are sell-swords and monster hunters, looking to drink deep the honey of the earth before they return to the stone from which they were born. Upon the fur of their chest is a pattern still, a rank held in the ancient armies, they feel contempt for those who do not recognize the mark. They claim to hear the dreams of the Lord of the Universe echoing out from the Mountain, though man does not entertain this blasphemy.

The Naga-Malla are perhaps all that remain truly devout to the Faith of Colors, and they view humanity as holding it in poor regard. The elephants existed since the first thrumming sound emitted when the Lord of the Universe ignited the twin suns. They know truth and revile in the illusory world which grows stronger with each passing age. They feel great doom, each cycle reborn with less of the world being as it should be. They would remake the Faith of Colors, but too quickly would man tarnish it in their petty grasp for power.

>*<

At a Glance
The Monsoon Ghats is a setting which makes use of a mash-up of B/X & Knave rulings, and it is constructed for sake of being a toolbox setting book akin to Yoon-Suin. Attention and research is paid for sake of representing religious and ethnic groups in a fantastical world without (hopefully) dishonoring their real world counterparts. Symbols and influences are meant to be present, but no group should be a 1-for-1 translation. I've been told to aim for that which I find interesting by my readers, and as such the Monsoon Ghats are designed for tiers of play which will eventually see characters involved more in warfare and politics than mere dungeon-delving. This is not a game of superheroic divinely powered characters, it is by design intended to come across as a vaguely pre-Vedic India which is dealing with other religions and socio-political factors that would not have cropped up in said era.

Notes in Broad Strokes

In meta-contextual notes; the Faith of Colors is the stand-in for Hinduism within the broader setting. It is, for the bulk of those who reside within the Monsoon Ghats, the truth of creation. It is henotheistic for the most part, though the Lord of the Universe's exact status is open to debate. He may be all that is, and thus beyond reaching; he may be only remnants and vestiges in the form of the Asura and Daeva, his sins and virtues and all of humanity is but a continued test to see if illusory desires or supreme truths will have a true victor.

I realize much of what is here doesn't present greater context to the religion, and that's...noted. I have more written but I'd rather not just lore-dump, especially for homebrew. I can bang it out to a good four pages altogether explaining the current socio-political-religious situation of the world, but I'd rather get further work done before that. Things change. My two sensitivity reader pals, one Hindu one Muslim, are both of the mind that I'm doing all right; but I'm a religious parasite who has never found that perfect fit while at the same time appreciating all the imagery. So it will be a situation. I also don't want the Faith of Colors to come across as Hinduism with the numbers filed off, because that's boring and offensive and I'll make note of that further down the page for those still reading. 

The Lord of the Universe, is for sake of my own interests, based more on the Jagannath by way of Vaishnavite origin. Though for my purposes he is re-purposed as an entity of flaws and virtues; who upon finding something beyond his own creation (perhaps this alone is a deception, an illusion, a falsehood) allowed himself to descend to the world he'd created and be subsequently maimed and wounded by aspects of himself he dared not accept. He is, for my purposes, much like a young lover who in his own inability to accept and work on his weaknesses, is undone by them. 

This is not a setting of Good and Evil, Law and Chaos; it is one of Virtue and Illusion by which ones karma is judged. Those who adhere to positive actions in their life will face many tests and will, hopefully, rise to the occasion stronger for it. Those who dwell in the illusory world of temporary mortal joys will be given chance to deny such things, and many may yet fail. Karma, as a statistic, is  on a 1-100 rating with thresholds. It is primarily rolled when you wish for someone to believe in you or to appeal to their better nature. It is used by Holy-men to reveal the wicked and weak of moral fiber. It has no stronger power than that and in translation between other faiths beyond the Faith of Colors, things are often lost. 

I like personally, the idea of demi-humanity within the setting being leftovers from a powerful ancient conflict. The Vanara are without guidance or grand heroism to participate in, as such they are without purpose in these "modern" times. The Raksha are either illusory spirits forced into a truism, a "Cruel-but-Certain" or "Spiteful-but-Honest" type of situation; or they are made from human beings who in seeking their own grasp on the world were converted against their will. I always found it interesting how certain groups in Hinduism were demonized while still being very much real-world ethnic group stand-ins. I like the Raksha as being strange spiritual ogre-esque horrors who by all accounts deserve praise and thanks but are not given any; I think this can lead to a tragic narrative and purpose for adventuring.

The Bangla are based upon Jambavan, and in theory they are meant to represent those who religion has left behind, the larger than life heroes whose own traditional way is discarded in favor of what is palatable and easier as a societal control mechanism. I also like the idea of blue sun bear/sloth bear monster hunters, that's cool. They mirror well against the Naga-Malla, whose traditional view on the Faith of Colors is that humanity has perverted it and things are only getting worse; they're literal Opener of Ways and Remover of Obstacles type elephant demi-gods. 

I like the idea of a starting party consisting of various humans from differing varna, who function in society on different levels but in the eyes of any demi-humanity character are all the same. I personally view the "caste" system as a control mechanism, especially in our modern day where its subtle strings are things I have to deal with as a fully Americanized/Colonized brown person. That all being said, I do of course have massive respect for Hinduism as a religious grouping. It is beautiful and intriguing. 

Which leads to my next note.

No Kali in Fantasylands

Not a fan of putting real world religions 100% into fantasy worlds, it just doesn't do me right. While it is already presumptuous to state a religion to be an absolute truth in fantasy, it is even more harmful to do so while misrepresenting it egregiously. There is no Kali or Hanuman or Ganesh in the Monsoon Ghats, what there is would be Daeva or Asura; the benevolent and baleful faces of the shining supreme beings who represent those sorts of powers. 

Hopefully by Friday, though I make no promises, I'll have my proper Daeva/Asura Generator for the Monsoon Ghats up. It is made for determining lesser house/personal deities, larger deities, and the stories associated with them. Each figure has multiple stories depending on their domains (they are tied to the Holy-man class, after all), as well as notes for items like should one become a decapitated god, or should one become an amalgamated deity. 

The Monsoon Ghats is meant to have more to it than just Hinduism. Jainism (under the framework auspices of the specific belief that it existed prior to Hinduism), Sikhism, Buddhism, Islam, and certain more interesting forms of Shaktism will see parallels; none of which are intended to be 1-for-1s, and all of which may have some degree of commentary upon them while at the same attempting to respect and pay kindness to their beauty. Which is to say that if I am to go into this specific set of randomizations for not!Hinduism, the same sort of care and consideration for randomizers would also need to be applicable to other faiths in the game. 

Current play-testing sees a Holy-woman of the Bel Shahih (the pseudo-Islam of the setting), and that's going well, or at least is capturing the spirit of what I'm working towards so sayeth one of my readers. I would say it is going well to the point that even if I end up being an imperfect creator for this project, I will hopefully at least provide material enough to not misrepresent and to also allow for someone to use said material as tools to do a much better job in the future. 

Yoon-Suin Homebrew: Dwarves of Sangmenzhang

https://www.deviantart.com/afuchan

The Dwarves of Sangmenzhang are a people fallen into ruin and wandering, undone by a myriad of atrocities inflicted upon them by the Gods for their hubris in seeking the void lotus and the Un-Godself. Wasting diseases, betrayals between clans, heavenly madness and the very Mountains of the Moon turned against the dwarven people. Thousands of years ago they were princelings and lords, with blades of moonlight and gilded garb. Now they wander, merely a shadow of their once proud culture.

Dwarves of Sangmenzhang as a class serve as a foreign, exotic adventurer who drape themselves in the vestiges of their lost legacy to survive an increasingly uncertain world.

The Dwarves of Sangmenzhang

Requirements: None.

Prime Requisite: Wisdom.

Hit Dice: d6.

Dwarves of Sangmenzhang
Level	Breath Attacks	Poison or Death	Petrify or Paralyze	Wands	Spells or Spell-like Devices
1-3	12	13	16	12	14
4-6	9	11	14	10	12
7-9	7	9	12	8	10
10	4	7	8	6	8

The Dwarves of Sangmenzhang
Level	Experience	Hit Dice (d6)
1	0	1
2	1,200	2
3	2,400	3
4	4,800	4
5	9,600	5
6	20,000	6
7	40,000	7
8	80,000	8
9	160,000	9
10	280,000+	2+ HP Only

Equipment: Dwarves of Sangmenzhang can make use of weapon or armor, though they will not wield swords that are not of either dwarven make or masterwork quality.

Blessed Swords: Dwarves of Sangmenzhang who make use of masterwork or ancient swords increase the damage dice of such weapons by one degree (d6 to d8, d8 to d10). If ever their sword is broken, the Dwarf loses their Fearless ability until they are able to find a suitable replacement weapon or they kill the entity that broke their weapon.

Fearless: The Dwarves know well the horrors of the world and the alien realms beyond it. A Dwarf of Sangmenzhang is immune to all kinds of fear, be it magical or mundane. Only through loss of a Blessed Sword can a Dwarf of Sangmenzhang feel fear. Such fear is one of the greatest pains a Dwarf may ever know.

Know Ruins: Dwarves of Sangmenzhang possess knowledge of the Purple Land, handed down to them for generations. When within a ruin or dungeon, a Dwarf may make a Wisdom Save. Upon a success, they may discern how old the ruins are, what race or culture built them, and if any stonework has been defaced or greatly manipulated by something outside that cultural group.

Legacy of Sangmenzhang: The Dwarves of Sangmenzhang come from a powerful and storied history, and though their empire is broken now, those who carry their ancestral blood, carry forward the legacy of their people. As a Dwarf of Sangmenzhang adventures, they are able to better tap into the might of their ancestors. The night after a Dwarf of Sangmenzhang advances in level they suffer a terrible nightmare and past life regression.

At first level and every odd level after that the Dwarf of Sangmenzhang becomes more attuned to the latent powers of their ancestral blood, granting them access to a talent as determined below. If a dwarf rolls the same legacy talent more than once, they gain an additional effect, after which a similar result should be re-rolled.

d8	Legacy Talent
1	Seeker of the Void - Your ancestors sought to free themselves from the shackles of existence. You possess the ability to clear your mind to a void state, reducing the duration of any mind-altering spells and abilities by a number of turns equal to your level. If you gain this talent again, you deal 1d4 damage to entities which use psionic powers against you.
2	Dweller in Mists - Your ancestors once hunted the Yak-men of the Mountains of the Moon, stealing from them all they held precious. You move an additional 30’ when the weather is storming, raining, or foggy. If you are not heavily encumbered, movement through these weathers is made in as though you move in complete silence. If you gain this talent again, mountain spirits, wind elementals, and ghosts of the mountains will be neutral to you until you act against them.
3	Adherent of the Mara - Your ancestors controlled demons of foulest temptation, devouring them and controlling their mantles of power. You may make your garments appear as you wish, though at a touch the illusion vanishes. You may, as you choose, make your face appear as though it is a paragon of beauty and attractiveness. This too, is lost upon a touch. If you receive this talent again, you may cast the charm spell, once per day.
4	Slaver of Mountains - Your ancestors shackled the earth to their wills, only to be undone by their slaves when Sangmenzhang fell. You may cobble together a tiny slave out of a small pile of stones, mud, dirt, and a small bit of your blood. This slave will spy on your enemies, polish your weapons, and act utterly subservient. It has HD 1, AC 9, #ATT 1, DMG 1d3-1, MV 60, and Saves equivalent to yourself. It can hide as a pile of its base material with a success rate of 5-in-6. If you receive this talent again, all creatures composed of earth or stone have their morale reduced by 2 in your presence. If such a creature does not usually have morale, it does now.
5	Moonless One - Your ancestors made compacts and waged wars against the alien entities of the Mountains of the Moon. Your damage dice against creatures from other planes of existence is increased by a degree (d6 to d8, d8 to d10). You can tell when such a creature is in another form due to them appearing as though illuminated in faint moonlight; though this can be hidden or obfuscated easily. If you receive this talent again, you may at night summon into your hand a hidden blade of moonlight. This blade functions as a dagger, though it is unseen save for a shimmering glint. It may damage spectral entities.
6	Malign Jeweller - Your ancestors bound the souls of lesser oni and weak-willed men into gems and precious stones. You may wield a gemstone as a holy icon, turning wicked spirits and craven mortals away as though you were a cleric of half your level (minimum of Level 1). A gem used in this way crumbles to ash after 1d3 turns. You cannot destroy such entities with a gem. If you roll this talent again, you may “destroy” such entities as a cleric of half your level, but the destroyed entity is instead trapped within the gem as though they were subjected to a soul jar spell. If the gem is ever out of your possession, the entity can make a Save vs Spells to return to the physical world.
7	The Ungodded - Your ancestors achieved the void state and denied the Gods their souls. You may, each day, choose whether or not you will be subject to divine spells such as those cast by clerics and holy-men. If you choose to be subjected, you may receive the benefits of their spells, as well as the maluses of those cast against you. If you refuse, you cannot receive the benefits of divine spells, but you gain a +1 to your Saves and damage from enemy divine spells is reduced by a dice degree (d8 to d6, d6 to d4, et cetera). If you receive this talent again, upon dying your soul detonates, dealing a number of d6 equal to your level in damages to any beings which hold the Gods as their masters. Planar, spiritual, and otherworldly entities lose all their supernatural abilities for a number of hours equal to the damage taken.
8	Eater of the Void Lotus - Your ancestors, indulgent in profane hedonistic rites, glimpsed a sight beyond sights. Upon consuming opium, tea, lotus, or being poisoned, you are able to detect magic for the duration of your intoxication. While intoxicated you do not suffer harm from blinding effects and everything appears to you as though it is made of swirling colors and starlight. If you receive this talent again, you are able to meditate while imbibing opium, tea, lotus, or other intoxicants. During this time you may scry upon any distant location you have been to, or upon any being whose name and face you know. Spiritual entities can sense they are being spied upon, but they will not recognize you, instead feeling an emptiness is gazing upon them.

Additional Generators

d6	Backgrounds
1	Wandering Clan - Your people, your family, your clan are deeply scattered. You grew up wandering throughout the Purple Lands, suffering at the hands of depraved humanity, wicked slug-men, and foul beasts. You know your homeland is gone and has been gone for many ages.
2	Blessed Swordsmen Clan - Your clan would be the blessed honor guard, the holy assassins, the greatest of warriors---if Sangmenzhang was not in ruins. Though your people cling to their rites and honor, you know there is no glory in selling your skill to the hedonistic nobles of the Purple Lands. In that there is only money enough to survive.
3	Ancient Royalty - Your family believes that they once were princelings, once were mountain lords and void-seeking gurus. In ancient scrolls, in tongues undecipherable save to scholars, they claim the blood of royalty. If this is to be true, you have right to reclaim the homeland. Pity you must serve and toil to gain the power and wealth to do such a campaign.
4	Jewelmonger Clan - Your family, always bombastic in the marketplace and jovial to the private client, whispered terrible truths within their own homes. Your clan had powers, witching powers of sorts; and they always sought to invest in mines and pearls so they might be prepared against the “craven, unclean masses.” You know there is power in gems, beyond the coin they are worth.
5	Ascetic Clan - Your clan existed within a temple, in which they sought an ancient truth long believed forgotten in the ruins of Sangmenzhang. As a child you imbibed all forms of lotus poison, suffered beatings when materialism gripped you, and only upon your first dream of an ancient legacy did you come to know your purpose.
6	Wayward Cult - You were part of a degenerate cult, a lost dwarf among many other wayward souls, bent at the knee in worship to foul daeva and feckless Gods. Your offerings and sacrifices always delighted the spirits, and only upon your recognition of your legacy did you come to realize you’d shackled yourself to the ancient enemies of your people. You are free now, but the Purple Lands are filled with many such cults and fouler beings who’d see you break.

d8	Appearance Part 1	Appearance Part 2
1	Your body is tattooed to appear as though skinless. Muscles and bones.	Your teeth are sharp, fanged, like a rakshasa.
2	Your body is tattooed blue, with scripture of the Ungod scarified upon it in keloid.	Your eyes are sunken, like deep shimmering gold at the bottom of a well.
3	You have the fur and bones of yak-men braided into your hair.	Your incisors have been replaced with curved, golden teeth. Like tusks on a div.
4	Your flesh is tattooed in lotus patterns, when you imbibe such dread flora the markings glisten.	Your hands are tattooed red as blood, and upon each palm is a hamsa eye to ward off spirits.
5	You keep a sash of fine blue silk bound round one hand, trailing to the hilt of your blade. With a snap, it is in your hand.	A gemstone is embedded in your forehead, on moonless nights you can hear insane weeping from within.
6	Demonic faces, agonized in torment, are scarified upon your body. They appear to shift positions each morning.	You wear shackles of stone as though they were bangles, upon which are engraved the names of ancient traitors.
7	Your hair is billowing and pale, shifting in color to dark greys and blacks when rain is to come.	Your hands are black as night, seemingly made of obsidian. Each finger ends in a long, draconic talon.
8	Your face is tattooed in a stylized skull, said to be the visage of an ancestor who was denied their purpose.	Your eyes are black as night, and only when making direct eye contact can a shimmer of white light be seen within.