Questing

Questings are metaphysical, semi-spiritual journeys into alternate realms. The purposes for doing so are varied, but mostly involve learning truths, getting artifacts of power, or merely for thrillseeking.

The Knights of the Round are the prime developers and practitioners of this practice, through the guidance of the King of Spades and his learnings with an ancient order. It was formalized and refined into the current system, 'game', by the King of Derps, who now remains as one of the foremost Game Methodists as a result.

History of Questings in Ayepeessee
Travel into alternate realms, even as a disembodied entity, still proves to be a dangerous venture. There are so much dangers that cannot be fathomed to most non-practitioners, and the rewards aren't all that great. Being a disembodied entity, you can't exactly bring anything back. The truths of other places aren't necessarily useful back here. That's why very few try - it's a waste of time.

The King of Derps was not any of those people. He had knowledge of various ancient methodologies: systems of Questing created by others from outside the lands of Masalwawas. He too, created his own systems and slowly introduced them to the Knights of round, as part of his own experiments at enlightenment and power. This discovery and acceptance of what is now known amongst Knights as 'Games' or 'Campaigns' led to its proliferation.

However, Questing is still seen as a pointless exercise amongst the majority of Ayepeessee. Only the Knights and the denizens of Sauh practice it from time to time.

Others use Questings for sport, or to settle disputes. Mirrorsages from the other orders are particularly fond of using premade battle realms they learned from The Internets or from discovered Disc-Tomes. An alternative means can be performed with Familiars.

The Method : 'Game'
The original method involved the expertise of a wizard known as the 'Destiny Machinist', a term which is now obsolete. The proper term would be to use 'Game Methodist', who leads the interested parties on their Questings. The 'GM' first scries into the whirling void of possible realities, scouting for the desired setting upon which the questing takes place. Then he informs the Questors of the dangers, and the expected outcome of such Quests.

The next step is what differentiates the Game method from other questings. The Questors then undergo a ritual in which they create and design a 'Character', an entity that can exist according to the scopes and limitations of the Questing. The knight then 'wears' this character, becoming the character as a result. It is via these characters that the body, mind and soul are protected by the dangers of the journey. The Knight can sever the connection/take off the skin at any time, (Automatically if the Character is destroyed or killed) and instantly return back to his reality. The vice versa is also true - if the character can still move or exist, the questor can 'jump back in'.

However, all of the above can only be achieved with the guidance of the Game Methodist. Without the Game Methodist, the questors may never arrive at their desired setting, can never find their 'character', or never escape from their Questing! The 'GM' acts as the guide who leads the expeditions, altering and sometimes outright creating the settings upon which the 'players' find themselves in. The GM must also be capable of using multiple characters to manipulate the Questing into the desired 'shape' or 'experience'.

With these methods, The Knights have acquired knowledge and powers that could not be achieved otherwise. Another perk from this methodology is that the 'characters' they utilize can be refined and used outside questings for various purposes.

However, the method above is still not yet perfect. For one thing, artifacts still can't be brought back from other realms - only the methodologies to create them (knowledge), but that may not apply to Ayepeessee's laws of reality. One way around this is the evocation of characters, but their effects are limited according to the 'refinement' of such characters, and how far the laws of reality can be stretched.

Character Evocation has a lot of similarities to the study of Causepray. Many can argue that Character evocation is but a small part of causepraying, while Questors argue that Causepray is just but one manifestation of character evocation.