In Underlight, Teachers are very powerful. Technically, a Teacher is a character who is able to "train" other characters in arts. Upon achieving Teacher status, characters can wear "halos" colored for their focus to help others identify them as Teachers. Because students seek Teachers for training, they have the power to demand from their students anything they please, and can develop powerful alliances with their students. With this power come many responsibilities.

Teachers are selected by the Game Masters retained as staff by Lyra Studios. There are also mechanisms in place to monitor the activities of Teachers with regards to the use of Train. All successful uses of Train are logged, and these logs forwarded to the Game Master Team for review on a regular basis. Those who do not follow Lyra rules for teaching: mainly that there be a task that follows the three laws of Underlight, and a worthy endeavor, will risk loss of their teaching privileges.

Training another character hinges on completion of a task or quest. Tasks and quests are loosely defined by various "oaths" that characters agree to during Ordainment. Simply put, a task is an assignment one character will formally give to another at a time before training. From a game mechanics standpoint, tasks and quests are designed to promote in-game role-playing, learning of the history and workings of the dream. Given game balance implications, tasks or quests are a necessary part of training, and game management will investigate and penalize offenders where this is abused.

There are many different kinds of tasks and quests. Some Teachers design tasks to assist their students in learning the technical aspects of Underlight. A task of this type might involve the extensive study of an art or talisman.

Other tasks force creativity in "learning and discovering" geographical or social aspects of the Dream, including character and game history. This type of task encourages a player to participate in the role-playing atmosphere. Related to the aforementioned is a "role-playing" quest, though calling this task a "role-playing" quest in-game is decidedly out-of-character. This task serves to encourage the student to take initiative role-playing in Underlight, but the Teacher must approach this from an In-Character perspective. An example of this type of task might be: "Seek out Asmodan's essence. Three weeks hence you must discard it in the rifts. The effects of the essence on your soul may be perilous, forcing you to seek the help of others. After three weeks, if you can return to me three witnesses, you will prove yourself worthy of third sphere."

Teaching need not only benefit the student. It is perfectly acceptable for a Teacher to have selfish reasons for tasks. Examples of this are tasks demanding some degree of servitude from the student, or collection tasks requesting a list of items. The tasking system can be used to a dishonorable character's advantage so long as the student in question receives an education or performs a worthy endeavor. For example, a Teacher may not send out a student on a task to collect ten high-level chakrams for her personal use unless she also requires her student to discover the correlation between chakram colors and functions (or something of the like). It is also reasonable to assume that Houses will require essences or other "proofs" of loyalty in tasking. Again, a task researching a house symbol may be appended with a request for X number of nightmare essences. But always remember: characters will role-play different reactions to these different methods of tasking, and for everything there is an In-Character consequence.

Lastly, be sure that any tasks your character distributes are In-Character tasks. Tasks that are blatantly Out-of-Character can be considered contradictions of the Third Law of Underlight and penalized accordingly (eg: Organize a Dreamer's version of "Hollywood Squares"). Also remember that webpages, forums, ICQ, IRC and email are considered Out-of-Character, so avoid employing any of these in tasking. Offering, accepting, and reporting on tasks should ideally occur completely within the game world. This both helps ensure the separation of player and character, and serves as evidence that the tasking process took place. For more detailed information and comparison of In-Character and Out-of-Character, please see the Roleplaying Guide. The most important thing to remember when you accept the responsibilities of Teacher: you must always precede training with a task of some sort, that task must result in the student achieving some degree of learning or performing a worthy endeavor, and that task cannot break any of the three laws of Underlight.

If every Teacher in the game offered the exact same tasks for different arts, both teaching and task completion would become very tedious. It is a real challenge for a Teacher to continue offering new, original and imaginative tasks that may benefit both herself and her students. Here are a few guidelines your character can use in forming creative tasks.

• Remember that being a "Teacher" is a state of mind.
  Teachers shape the minds of their students and the Dream, and the formal art of "Train" is not necessary to do this. Ideally, students will also help shape their Teachers. Underlight is a vast and interesting place that holds an infinite amount of knowledge, and a Teacher is anyone who thirsts to discover that knowledge and impart her wisdom on others. First and foremost, a Teacher is always a student.
  
  
• Consider the art level being tasked.
  The higher the art level, the more difficult the task. Spend some time reflecting on the difficulty of the task before beginning to formulate the task.
  
  
• Spend some time learning about the student, her interests, goals and philosophies. Knowing the student will identify her weaknesses and strengths. Keep in mind the student's familiarity with the game. This will help tailor a task to the individual.
  
  
• Identify your character's needs.
  How can the student be useful to your character? How can the student fit into your current role-play?
  
  
• Try to keep up with in-game current events.
  What are some ways the student can serve house or game in the current political climate? (Or alternatively, what are some ways the student can create conflict and confusion in the game?) Communicating with other Teachers can help inspire task ideas. Your character can ask other Teachers about borrowing their ideas.
  
  
• One valid type of task is an open-ended task.
  This task can be as simple as: "Change the Dream." Onus is placed on the student to complete the task in any way that student feels is appropriate, and ultimately your character will measure her success. With open-ended tasks students have freedom to create their own quests.
  
  
• Have fun!
  Don't be afraid to offer a fun (In-Character) task. A student may enjoy hosting a pushing competition. At times it is necessary to seek the lighter side of Teaching.