RE: Shiirik pendant
I do use a lot of time on the world building and it is often quite rewarding for the players but also of course for myself. I just showed the first three Star Wars movies for my youngest girl, and one of the things that really make the slightly banal story work is the consistent work with the universe. Each environment has so many details - the Rancor keeper that cries after his beloved monster dies for example.
I have played a small campaign in the universe, but the monk-game would be in another part of the world altogether and I need to gather the all too busy players, so right now I am mostly working on the magic and making some drawings.
The pendant was mostly inspired by Northern pendants, but I agree, the animal head gives it a middle eastern feel.
Yes, world-building is very fulfilling, indeed. I had created my own campaign setting back in the day, for the Nephlim system, and I had spent hours making it up. But the result was so rewarding for me, and I hope for my players too. I still have the notes, there are so many things that I had planned but never had the chance to play, as our groups stopped meeting.
I also showed the STAR WARS original trilogy to my children (aged 7 & 9), but they seemed to know it better than me. They have seen versions of it in SW: Rebels series, Lego toys and video games, they have read the comics, they have seen the animated versions of the films, they know the saga better than myself!