Tesseralia

Tesseralia is one of the oldest civilizations on the 30th world encountered by the Red Robes during The Stolen Century.

History
Warfare between nations is a thing of the past in this world and dozens of civilizations, thriving cities, and nations now co-exist in harmony. In the absence of strife, the world flourished culturally and cooking is now a huge cultural element.

The First Monastery
The First Monastery is a spiritual organization that is almost solely responsible for the peace and prosperity of this world. This peace was achieved and maintained through Parley, a special technique developed by the Monastery. Parley allows an individual to create an extradimensional space and then summon an entity of their choosing into it. In order to do this, the instigator must perform an act of absolute humility and leave themself fully exposed to the summoned entity (in the metaphysical sense, nudity is optional). At any time the summoned entity may harm or kill them but the instigator cannot harm the summoned entity in any way. This space can then be used for discussion, negotiation and to gain a greater mutual understanding.

At the time of the Red Robes' visit, the Monastery is in possession of the Light of Creation and is led by the Abbess Oriana. She is willing to relinquish the Light of Creation to them if one of them can prove that they are able to handle the tremendous responsibility of possessing the light. She chooses Merle to join the Monastery and train with them for the year. During this time she teaches him how to perform Parley and his final test is to use it to make peace with a rival.

Rebound
Rebound is a sport that resembles a cross between football and basketball. Two teams compete to dunk a ball through hoops and they are allowed to hold and run with the ball. Tackling is only allowed within strict anti-violence rules and the players don't wear protective headwear.