Stranger Than Fiction: Ascetics

It’s taken as a platitude that truth is stranger than fiction, but we have to remind ourselves constantly, lest our games be more ordinary than everyday life.

Consider the historical example of Simeon Stylites. Was the strangest holy man in your game as strange as this real-world one? Certainly players would not soon forget such an NPC encounter. I would guess that most games have too few strange religious outcasts, and very few have too many.

In the interest of moving money to the mouth zone, a random table.

Why is the fervent ascetic you encounter on your journey locally famous?

1. A repentant former soldier. They have worked thousands of swords and other weapons into a massive modern art sculpture. Will evangelically attempt to convince armed PCs to donate their weapons to the project. A little too interested in swords for it to be healthy (possibly a Gladio worshiper?) 
2. A wizened pilgrim from a far-off land. They attribute their longevity to fasting, prayer, rigorous calisthenics, and a diet of salt scorpions (only available locally!) Searching their modest yurt will reveal pigments, dyes, and tinctures they use to fake this elderly appearance; in reality they’re not a day over 30.
3. A hairless farmer who has forsaken the plow. They now dwell inside a huge, hollow brass statue near the forgotten lord’s road. The statue amplifies their voice, and they can often be heard singing, crying, or proselytizing in the early morning hours. Local tax sheriffs pay them a grudging tithe to keep them from quiet during winter’s thaws, when their vocalizations could trigger dangerous avalanches. 
4. An impoverished fisherman who has found their true calling. Their shrine holds thousands of small clay statues, which they lovingly care for, cleaning them and making tiny sacrifices to “feed” them. For a modest donation, they can dedicate one such statue to you, as a temporary receptacle for your soul, in case of your untimely death. It will be safe in their care until such time as your relatives can retrieve it and return you to your homeland for burial.
5. A flockless sheep herder who was just sick of “the politics.” They can read the future in sacrificial entrails, but their prognostications are uniformly negative. The superstitious local towns pay them to not use this reputed ability, in a kind of backwards protection racket. The local hetmen would like nothing more than to get rid of this annoyance, but they’re worried the seer will see it coming.
6. A fearless young runaway, ready to usher in a new age. By some combination of dumb luck and divine providence, they single-handedly killed six soldiers from the King-in-Repose’s Army, and now a dangerously hangry mob of pitchfork-shaperners has gathered around their hilltop altar, ready to march on the capital at their divine leader’s sign.