The Aesthetic Order of Cluodesa was founded by Miilrun. The exact circumstances aren’t known. The most popular theory outside the Order is that Miilrun was not very good at spelling, and after founding the order, when questioned about the name he let the pride get the better of him, and rather than admit he’d spelled Ascetic wrong he created a set of tenets around his word choice. An alternative, and far more cynical theory put forth by at least one actually ascetic order is that Miilrun was a rich and lazy nobleman who used the founding of the order to escape some political unpleasantness while still maintaining his extravagant lifestyle.
The primary concern of the order is appreciating beauty and art. Over time this has extended to food and spirits as well as the more passive art which can only be viewed, and the more physical martial arts. It was a fairly early logical extension that in order to appreciate the finer things you also must be familiar with the less so, and thus all of the initiates of the order must seek out not only the most beautiful and profound, but the basest and ugly so as to be better able to contrast. They must taste the cheapest ale as well as the finest wines, simple fare and extravagant dishes. Clumsy music on a cheap instruments and the finest melodies played on masterwork instruments. Crude bare knuckle boxing to intricate swordplay.
Every initiate is required to spend several years training at a Dojo to learn some form of martial arts, not only to appreciate the beauty of the physicality of the art, but also to ensure they can maintain their own safety for the final task of their initiation, which is to go out into the world and experience as many things as possible. Each is given a logbook which has a listing of many locations of art and beauty, and how many monks have previously viewed them. Often each will have a brief description. The fledgling monks aspire to find and appreciate as many instances as possible, but rarely and new have a value over quantity.
For the first few centuries the Order was fairly secretive, and it’s only been in recent years, due largely to an initiate’s “holy logbook” being stolen that word of the order has gotten out. This has lead to initiates having to be a bit more creative when “appreciating” meals since much like modern day food critics, if the proprietor knows they are serving a monk from Cluodesa they’re likely to spend extra effort and give a higher quality meal.
Dael is one such monk, and has chosen to make his initiation in Basingstock. Dael’s Adventures Start here