To have Quickness is to be twice as fast as your peers, in more ways than one.

Quickened units:

• Have double their usual Combat Speed.
• Make melee attacks twice as fast. Note that this does NOT include ranged weapons.
  • Since fatigue gain from encumbrance is tied to attacks, this also means quickened units gain fatigue twice as quickly.
• Gain +2/+2 to Attack and Defence skill.
• Age twice as fast (or, well, 100% faster).

Quickness is not to be confused with Swiftness, which only affects Combat Speed. However, the CS bonuses of Quickness and Swiftness do stack; to be specific, the added bonus from Swiftness is applied before the multiplier from Quickness.

Quickness is a Water Buff:

• The Bless gives it to you, though that requires 10 and at least 1 on your Pretender.
• Three alarmingly cheap but low-AOE Alteration spells give it to you for combat; Quicken Self at Research Level 2, Quickness (AOE 1) at Level 4, and Quickening (AOE 9+) at Level 8. The first one requires 1, the second requires 2, and the third one requires 2 and 1.
• Several Items, notably all of the (unmodded) Arena prizes, provide Quickness.
• Those who enter the Hall of Fame may receive Heroic Quickness.

Temporary Quickness is generally preferred over permanent Quickness, due to the doubled rate of Aging. Permanent Quickness is also not that easy to obtain, and is usually controllable (e.g. by not sending people to the Arena). Quickness does not boost the rate of spellcasting - boosting that requires specially-made Items.