Ron Forester: Upbringing
Ron Howard Forester III was born on 2 October 997 in Daylram, Kingdom of the Great North, to middle class parents.
His mother, Marya Robb Forester, worked as a Loan and Grant Officer for the Edoran Royal Treasury. She was not a follower of the Alconist faith and was furthermore interested in scientific research. The Great North, though tied with the Edoran Church, was tolerant of differences in religious belief even at that time, so long as said citizens did not propagate their differences. Thus Marya was soft-spoken on the matter except to Ron's father, Ron Forester Jr. Marya was also discouraged by her parents from pursuing a career in scientific experimentation over concerns that she would not be so successful in that field as she would be in the finance industry. And so she had pursued finance while making it a hobby to venture into the Public Library of Daylram and read books containing scientific studies and research.
The father, Ron Forester Jr., worked as a Certified Accountant for the Edoran Royal Treasury, which was a lower rank than the mother's position. However, he was also a member of the Edoran Church of Daylram Clergy. He was described by many as "spiritually aware," though he was not an evangelist. And he was not as well-versed in scientific text as his wife, but took great interest in what she had to say. He engaged in such talks with her and sought to connect what he heard with his religious beliefs. Ron Forester Jr. was also passionate about travel and spreading his beliefs; therefore, before Ron Forester III was born, the father completed a missionary trip between Canticula and Tandeiyah.
Ron Forester III was observed by his father to take interest in science, just like his mother. He also sided with his mother on her religious beliefs. However, Ron Forester Jr. noted another one of his son's key interests: the desire to travel the world. Ron Forester Jr. capitalized upon this interest and got Ron Forester III to join the Clergy in 1015, despite his questioning religious beliefs. The young Ron Forester passed through the rigorous curriculum and received his Confirmation of Membership in 1017. And then between 1018 and 1021, Ron Forester III went with a group of Clergy on a joint missionary trip to the Canticulan city of Cenofan.
Ron Forester: Young Adulthood
In 1022, Ron Forester III enrolled in the College of Daylram to pursue a degree in the study of astronomy, a degree he would earn in 1026. He then tried to obtain professorships and paid observation commissions but by 1028, it became apparent that the market in that field would never sustain a secure income for him. So Ron Forester III, at the urging of his parents, turned to the field of finance. Nevertheless, his time and commitment in the field of astronomy led him to speculate on the existence of the Universe, primarily on what was "outside" of the Universe and where the Universe came from.
Marya Robb Forester retired from her position in 1023 and Ron Forester Jr. from his in 1021, both receiving a comfortable pension afterward. They were therefore able to support Ron Forester III as he attended the College of Daylram again from 1029 to 1032, earning a degree, this time, in finance. Immediately afterward, he would land a job as a Certified Accountant in the Edoran Royal Treasury. And though this was a far cry from his interests in astronomy, Ron Forester III was promised a promotion in the future. He also remained committed to the Clergy at the urging of his father, who insisted that this would translate well for his finance career.
In 1033, Ron Forester Jr. passed on. Marya Forester slipped into a depression in the wake of this, but Ron Forester III talked her into finding happiness and salvation by joining the Clergy. The mother agreed to this. However, she, herself, would pass in the year 1037; and Ron Forester III would blame the Clergy for contributing to her death, alleging that they pressured her into making too many commitments despite her declining health. Furthermore, the Edoran Treasury disregarded Ron Forester III's commitment to the Clergy, passing him over for a promotion. In light of all this, Ron Forester III began rejecting Alconist beliefs and unjoined the Edoran Church Clergy.
Ron Forester: Interim Years
Between 1037 and 1054, Ron Forester III considered himself an atheist. He was still a Certified Accountant but was just doing only what was required of him in his present role. On the side, he continued, like his mother used to, venturing to the Daylram Public Library to read astronomy books. During this time, his pondering of the Universe revolved around two questions: "What is outside the Universe?" and "What was before, and what will be after, the Universe?"
In 1041, as an act of consolation, the Edoran Royal Treasury transferred Ron Forester III to the main branch in Edora proper. Though he would maintain the same position title, Ron Forester III would nonetheless see an increase in pay as well as an improvement in his already-comfortable living standards. He furthermore became acquainted with who would become two very close friends: Eric Ferris and Kylan Thomas. The three friends would come to gather at Forester's place on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis to discuss the two questions regarding the Universe. These were dry and scientific conversations at first, but over the years, the they began exploring increasingly outlandish theories. By the 1050s, they had constructed in the living room of Ron Forester's residence a table covered in cryptic engravings filled with incense. They would light the incense, which would leave markings of ash that the friends would interpret as signs of communication from ancestors and the recently-deceased.
The Dream and The Vision: Imperfect Divinity
In October 1054, Ron Forester III had a dream in which a mysterious divine being came to him and told him to "travel to a high place in order to be in the presence of vapors of a burning bark, during which a message from the divine would be conferred." Upon waking, Forester deliberated with himself that if the divine being was real, it had nothing to do with the Alconist faith. He convened with Ferris and Thomas on the matter at the incense table where they determined through interpretation that they had to travel to Mount Carris during the following spring and summer. Ferris knew that the three friends could confer with the Nebaya Guild in Ecnedivelc to take a boat to Wannonia where guides could take them to Mount Carris. In the meantime, Forester made a fake alias of himself under a different name and secured a loan from the Edoran Royal Treasury to pay for the expedition.
And so in the spring of 1055, Forester, Ferris, and Thomas traveled to Mount Carris, where on their third evening camped at the summit, a great pine tree was struck by lightning, thus forming the Great Broken Tree. According to Forester's account, the divine being from his dreams re-emerged and told him of the Great Author and the Multi-verse.
According to belief, the Universe is actually a Multi-verse, made of multiple dymensions like pages in a book in terms of place and the flow of time. And the said Multi-verse was created by a Great Author, whose identity is unknown to humankind. Each dymension potentially is home to those capable of creating sub-dymensions of their own using methods like dymensional plane-crafting. And each sub-dymension is potentially home to those who can create further sub-dymensions. And such division and hierarchy is infinite. And from the Great Author flows the Conscience Thread of Greater Humanity, which branches off to serve as the conscience of each person in each dymension and sub-dymension.
As aforementioned, some people, accordingly, have the potential to create sub-dymensions each containing a set of multiple people on its own; and the Conscience Thread branches off accordingly. It is possible that the Conscience Thread of an individual who is deceased re-integrates back to the Parent Thread from which it branched, while it is also possible that the very same Thread of the deceased persists in the form of its Child Threads. It is also possible that there are those individuals capable of transcending laterally between sub-dymensions of the same Parent Thread. Either all or some of these possibilities may be true; however, what is certain is that the Conscience Thread of Humanity ebbs and flows through the Multi-verse so that the Multi-verse may carry on in a state of peace and balance.
Council of the Great Author
After word spread of Forester's long absence and the aforementioned loan from the Edoran Treasury was unable to be paid back, Forester came under suspicion of the authorities. However, they were unable to prove Forester's association with the fake identity in a court of law, and so Forester was acquitted of any charges. Nonetheless, publicity spread regarding Forester, Ferris, and Thomas, whose incense table sessions gained a false reputation for being satanic in nature. Later in 1055, Forester, Ferris, and Thomas fled the hostility in Edora proper and relocated to "the Docks," present-day South Masonia, where they established the Council of the Great Author.
Just before his death on 3 October 1071, Ron Forester III made a revelation to his followers, of which there were many at this point, that the Conscience Thread of Greater Humanity and the Multi-verse were imperfect in nature, and that the Thread was beginning to disintegrate in certain sub-dymensions, a culmination of something known as the Anomaly. And the Anomaly was symptomatic through certain persons in certain sub-dymensions falling mad with episodes of perceiving multiple dymensions at once in the form of hallucinations. The force behind the Anomaly, accordingly, is mysterious but may have been caused by an error on behalf of one of the Authors. Left unchecked, the Anomaly, according to Forester, would eventually lead all Conscience Threads to fray and disintegrate, thus leading humanity and even the Multi-verse to cease to exist.
Also accordingly, there exists in the Multi-verse a Master Pagewriter, leading all other Pagewriters in the Multi-verse into building sub-dymensions to help preserve the Conscience Thread through the Child Threads. Meanwhile, there is also a Master Pageturner, leading all other Pageturners in navigating existing dymensions doing tasks in order to preserve the Conscience Thread through the integration of Child Threads with their Parent Threads and so forth up the hierarchy. It is either the Master Pagewriter or the Master Pageturner whose deed is slowing and eradicating the destructive Anomaly while the other is wrong in their judgement and is in fact hastening the Anomaly.
Forester passed on, having informed his followers this, and that there was no answer as to whether the Master Pagewriter or the Master Pageturner was correct in their judgement.
And so in the wake of Forester's death emerged a great schism within the Great Author Council, as it split into the Pagewriter Guild and the Pageturner Guild.
The Pagewriter Guild vs. The Pageturner Guild
The Pagewriter Guild, since its establishment has stood by the belief that the Anomaly can be stopped by branching off the Thread of Conscience thus preserving the Thread after the death of the individual holding the Parent Thread, as well as the belief that the Pageturners hasten the Anomaly because integrating Child Threads with Parent Threads is an act that can lead to less Threads for the Anomaly to fray. In contrast, the Pageturner Guild since its establishment has stood by the belief that Child Threads do not cease to exist just because they integrate with Parent Threads, thus the resulting bond strengthens the Threads against the Anomaly. The Pageturners furthermore believe that the Pagewriter deed of branching off Parent Threads into Child Threads is an act that would remove said bonds thus making the Threads weaker against the Anomaly.
Despite this, both Guilds have held the common belief that there is a bold Master Pagewriter and a bold Master Pageturner out in the Multi-verse, and that while one is correct in their judgement, the other, though not evil in nature, is nonetheless incorrect in their judgement and therefore dangerous in their deeds. Both the Master Pagewriter and the Master Pageturner believe the other is wrong, and each is trying to further their cause while trying to stop that of the other.
Following the schism, the Pagewriters and Pageturners left "the Docks" and went their separate ways. The Pagewriter Guild set down its roots in Pasiek, present-day Jestopole, in December 1071. Dymensional planecrafting had long been a practice for TableQuest sessions up to this point. However, the Pagewriter Guild, by de facto terms, began to standardize this craft. They played a role, going forward, in hosting many TableQuest sessions, though that was not the Guild's primary agenda. The primary agenda of the Pagewriter Guild has been for its members to create dymensional planes populated with avatars in their own image and to craft those creations as close as possible to perfection, thus fulfilling the role of protecting the Threads against the Anomaly. The Pagewriter Guild has followed a strategy to advertise themselves publicly and to provide an "open-door" to prospective members who wish to join.
The Pageturner Guild set down its roots in present-day Northmoor, Combria in December 1071, and carried out an agenda to have its members communicate with either the Parent Author or the Great Author through incense tables similar to the one in Forester's residence. Members have interpreted outcomes from these sessions as calls by the said Author to carry out certain deeds that are believed to make one's soul virtuous and brought closer to that of the Author, thus facilitating Thread integration to stand against the Anomaly. Contrary to the Pagewriters, the Pageturners Guild has engaged in a recruitment strategy involving approaching individuals, sometimes in a door-to-door fashion, and presenting them with opportunities to join as well as to sign statements to keep their memberships private or secret.
Every member of each Guild has been charged a yearly due of the currency equivalent of 1.00 Remikran Credit.
The Pagewriter Guild would establish a new Chapter in Daylram in 1075, while the Pageturner Guild would establish a new Chapter of its own in Cotts in 1077. This was followed by the establishment of a Pagewriter Chapter in Yelcreb in 1080, a Pageturner Chapter in Tandeiyah in 1084, a Pagewriter Chapter in Cenofan in 1087, and a Pageturner Chapter in the very same city of Cenofan in 1090. Both Guilds would establish thousands of local Chapters throughout Circlaria between 1090 and 1140, with more established in various other places at various points in time in the years since.
With their strong beliefs, each Guild has historically seen the other as a threat. Both Guilds share guilt in nefarious acts such as assassinations, abductions, and ransoms. For example, in 1077, Robert Kernan of the Pageturner Guild shot and killed Pagewriter William March at a TableQuest session in Daylram. In 1097, Kylan Tormie of the Pagewriter Guild shot and killed Pageturner Alex Whittinger at an Interpretation session in Cotts. Rickard Alexander Stevenson, a turn-cloak from the Pagewriter Guild to the Pageturner Guild, failed to assassinate James Lawrence Kontacet I of the Pagewriter Guild at a TableQuest session in Jestopole in March 1086. In 1127, Frederick Martin of the Pagewriter Guild attempted to assassinate Arthur Chadwick, part of the Pageturner Guild, at his residence in Skanbraif. However, Chadwick resisted and shot the man dead. In retaliation, Chadwick attempted to murder Martin's daughter, Sylia Martin, but she fought him off. Since the Martin family was well-known, Chadwick fled prosecution and moved to Combria seeking a new start with a political career. He would later be barred by Combria President William Jeson from taking any office per Chadwick's suspicious involvements in Skanbraif.
Pagewriter Catherine Hommond went missing in Hasphitat during the year 1201 after writing a scathing letter about the local Pageturner Chapter established the previous year. An anonymous group from the Pagewriter Guild abducted Robert Borr of the Pageturner Guild in 1227 and held him for a ransom pay of ten-thousand Remikran Credits, later paid by a hidden figure from the Bank of Cenofan. And in 1372, Alex Kind of the Pagewriter Guild was kidnapped and successfully coerced into turning to the Pageturner Guild.
Overall, the Pageturner Guild has been slightly more aggressive than the Pagewriter Guild in terms of these nefarious acts.
Legality of the existence of the two Guilds varies from nation to nation. For instance, both are completely legal in the ICSR but are considered terrorist organizations in Krylandia. Both also have their external alliances. Though they never agreed with each other completely in terms of religious belief, the Pageturner Guild and the Edoran Church entered into a pact of mutual assistance in 1101 against the Pagewriter Guild. The network has been a bit looser with the Pagewriter Guild, who was said to secretly help the Third Level Society through important figures like Ivella Ogden. The Third Level Society and the Pagewriter Guild entered into a similar pact of mutual assistance in 1323, in the wake of the Peter Quora incident.
To this day, there still stands debate over the occurrence of events involving Rickard Alexander Stevenson as well as those of Peter Quora and Sophia Qalmers. Investigating Stevenson was a mysterious figure named Voi Phlan, who supposedly disappeared from the public since the 1460s; though it is said that Phlan may possibly be somewhere in the Circlarian colony on Planet Nephina.
The great debate between the Pagewriter Guild and the Pageturner Guild remains unresolved to this very day. There have recently emerged theories going into depth to disprove both sides of the debate. Also, rivalries between the two Guilds are, on the most part, calmer than they were in the past. However, there is still tension, primarily in the form of espionage and system infiltration.