Post by lvsphinx on Nov 22, 2024 0:05:12 GMT
Far on the outskirts of Low Town, built next to a rocky beach, there rested an old Buddhist temple built back in the early 1700s, during the late period of the Golden Age of Piracy. The overly idealistic monks who remained after building the temple soon abandoned Madripoor due the rampant violence and sinful living conditions, and over the decades, the temple became an occasional base for gangs, pirates, rebels, cults, and even foreign military. Today, however, only one man claimed the temple as his territory, having thoroughly beaten and ejected its previous inhabitants, a cell of the the internationally-operating Intergang. Not that their banner or organization mattered to Ryutan, or differed from any other of their kind.
The temple itself was derelict, left broken down after decades of fighting and neglect. Wild grass and weed overran the once perfectly tended gardens of the grounds. Inside the inner hall, Ryutan sat in lotus position, deep in meditation, in front of a 3-meter tall stone Buddha statue. It was still early in the day, which meant no need for candles, though light incense still burned.
Ryutan did not celebrate a birthday. For one, he did not know the date, his parents having died before he could form memories of celebrating a birthday, and the monks who took him in having little idea when he was born either. However, in truth, it was because of his philosophy that one's conscious self constantly dies and is reborn in each passing moment that he didn't celebrate the passing change of birth. To him, celebrating birth was like celebrating the wind. Perhaps beautiful in meaning, but inherently unnecessary. At yet, here he was, his seated meditation becoming an exercise on how to avoid the distraction of the question of what to get a friend for their birthday. Perhaps a difficult question for one who didn't celebrate them.
The friend was technically also Ryutan's boss at a beachside bar in Low Town, one that hired Ryutan as a bouncer and security. Being the only candidate without a criminal background certainly helped him during the hiring process. Despite the reputation of Low Town and her typical resident, the bar was relatively peaceful, perhaps of Ryutan's growing reputation of a quiet monk who brought people next to death, but only next to, the few times he intervened.
Ryutan had been in Madripoor for only three months, at a loss on what to do after finishing a speaking circuit in India. Returning to the Shaolin Monastery was still out of the question, with that temple being monitored by the Great Ten simply because of Ryutan himself. It was during some beachside walking that he found this remote, out of the way temple, planting ideas of starting a new monastery elsewhere in Ryutan's head. However, if he were to establish a new monastic order somewhere, where would it be? Here? The temple was already here, inhabited inly by himself, and Low Town could certainly use a countervailing presence to the crime and disorder plaguing her streets. But Ryutan wasn't a disruptive figure either, and knew reestablishing the temple here would only stir trouble in the short term.
The temple itself was derelict, left broken down after decades of fighting and neglect. Wild grass and weed overran the once perfectly tended gardens of the grounds. Inside the inner hall, Ryutan sat in lotus position, deep in meditation, in front of a 3-meter tall stone Buddha statue. It was still early in the day, which meant no need for candles, though light incense still burned.
Ryutan did not celebrate a birthday. For one, he did not know the date, his parents having died before he could form memories of celebrating a birthday, and the monks who took him in having little idea when he was born either. However, in truth, it was because of his philosophy that one's conscious self constantly dies and is reborn in each passing moment that he didn't celebrate the passing change of birth. To him, celebrating birth was like celebrating the wind. Perhaps beautiful in meaning, but inherently unnecessary. At yet, here he was, his seated meditation becoming an exercise on how to avoid the distraction of the question of what to get a friend for their birthday. Perhaps a difficult question for one who didn't celebrate them.
The friend was technically also Ryutan's boss at a beachside bar in Low Town, one that hired Ryutan as a bouncer and security. Being the only candidate without a criminal background certainly helped him during the hiring process. Despite the reputation of Low Town and her typical resident, the bar was relatively peaceful, perhaps of Ryutan's growing reputation of a quiet monk who brought people next to death, but only next to, the few times he intervened.
Ryutan had been in Madripoor for only three months, at a loss on what to do after finishing a speaking circuit in India. Returning to the Shaolin Monastery was still out of the question, with that temple being monitored by the Great Ten simply because of Ryutan himself. It was during some beachside walking that he found this remote, out of the way temple, planting ideas of starting a new monastery elsewhere in Ryutan's head. However, if he were to establish a new monastic order somewhere, where would it be? Here? The temple was already here, inhabited inly by himself, and Low Town could certainly use a countervailing presence to the crime and disorder plaguing her streets. But Ryutan wasn't a disruptive figure either, and knew reestablishing the temple here would only stir trouble in the short term.
