Far to the wintry north, in a chain of mountains known to the locals as Doragon-ha exists a series of small city-states. Vicious wars frequently erupt between these city-states over control of the scarce arable land in the valleys while brigands rule as despots the treacherous mountain passes, terrorizing merchants and peasants alike as the attention of the surrounding city-states are preoccupied with each other. Here, where death by natural causes was the rare exception, many turned to the gods for help, realizing that there was no mortal help for them. It was the hope of these individuals that perhaps their earthly devotion would help them in their inevitably soon departure from this world to the next. In remote areas, they gathered together, coming together for mutual support and protection, they established monasteries where they could worship their chosen gods for their brief and painful lives. There would be no hope of justice, peace, and happiness in this realm. Or so they thought. One, however, did not share this belief. And like most who differ in thinking from the majority, in his lifetime he was declared a lunatic. Unlike most, however, such was the strength of this mans will that he made it impossible to ignore him, even after his death. Hero, Brigand, Son of God, Demon, Enlightened One, Delusional One. History has assigned him many, often contradictory, names. Those who lived with him, who knew him best, however, called him most often simply Gyoja.
Gyoja got up from his hunched position, raises his arms towards the heavens, hearing aching muscles creak and pop as he stretched them out. Across from him, his friend Masurao leaned on his hoe, grateful for the moments respite from the hard work of coaxing food from the rocky grounds. Here and there pitifully small greenery poked out of the ground. This year was shaping up to be another lean year, like the year before that, and the year before that, back as far as Gyoja could care to remember. Gyoja couldnt complain, however, his life, while lean, was at least life, not death. Enryakuji, the monastery that he lived and worked in, was located on Mt. Hiei, far from the valleys the city-states fought over and so remote and poor that even the brigands who terrorized the mountains did not bother it.
Gyojas thoughts were interrupted by a commotion near the gate of the temple compound. Letting his hoe fall to the ground, he hurried over to investigate the cause of the commotion. Arriving he found one of his fellow monks carrying the limp body of a young boy. If the heavy breathing and pale face didnt immediately signal that something was wrong with the boy, the fact that his long black hair was matted to his head would have. Masurao, who had followed Gyoja, went up to the boy and felt for a pulse. What happened? he asked.
We found him slumped against the gate. Im thinking bandits.
As the group hurried to the infirmary Gyoja lagged behind. Bandits? So close? This isnt good.
Masurao shrugged. Bandits are all over. I doubt theyll attack us though. We dont have enough to make it worth it and large enough to deter the merely curious.
Gyoja rubbed his chin. Yes, but arent we being selfish? We may be safe, for now, but what about others? What about that little boy? Doesnt he deserve peace?
Masurao shrugged. What can we do? Live in the valley and be killed in the wars of greedy despots, live in the mountains and be killed by greedy bandits. Theres no other options for ones such as us.
Yes, agreed Gyoja pausing as a wild new thought hit him. But what if we all joined together? How many monasteries are there with how many monks? If we could all combine our forces? We would have enough men to defeat the bandits. Then what if we joined forces with the men in the valleys? The city-states cant fight their wars without an army.
Masurao laughed bitterly. Nice dream Gyoja. Only two problems, were monks, not warriors, and the valleys will never stop fighting each other.
Why? How much injustice can people take before they start to fight back? Who would the people rather fight for? Wars that only benefit greedy lords or to protect their own families? All they need is an example. All they need is hope. All they need to see is a vision of peace.
Masurao snorted. Well all we need is to get back to hoeing. Dreams may be nice, but they dont feed us.
Gyoja nodded. Yes, I suppose your right. Back to work for us.
Does not compute
Of course, the other possibility is that I get into an order frenzy writing Pms after Pms of orders 
