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El Magnifico Uno
Learned Scribe
113 Posts |
 Posted - 15 Oct 2005 : 00:22:22
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Well we know that bard colleges exist... And we know that the existing bard colleges have been around for a long long time... But what exactly does a bard college do??... The brief paragraph in Magic of Faerun says they're more focused on being a hang-out for bards than actually institutions of learning... Right. So they're supposed to be REAL OLD social clubs?... Seems a bit far-fetched... How do they stay in business? They'd need to provide a necessary service of some sort in order to continue functioning for so long... Catering to adventurers as a research center for Quest#451 doesn't pay the bills... Neither does working as a music institution for well-off families. No wealthy family patriarch in their right mind is going to send their kid off to a college to learn to be a bard!... A priest? Yes. A bureaucrat? Yes. A merchant? Hell yes!!... A scruffy smarmy bard? No... Now I've been tossing around a few other ideas trying to rationalize colleges Ex: Bard know lots of people and tidbits of knowledge, colleges would act as a sort of loose fantasy-realm version of a newsmedia / consulting company, etc... Still kinda far-fetched though... Anybody have any ideas or other info?... I'm fishing for ideas here...
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2005 : 00:27:52
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| I disagree that families wouldn't send thier children off to be bards. Musicians, singers, etc, would help that family with prestige and at events where the bardic trained offspring could play, sing, etc. |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
Edited by - Kuje on 15 Oct 2005 01:14:41 |
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ericlboyd
Forgotten Realms Designer
USA
2089 Posts |
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El Magnifico Uno
Learned Scribe
113 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2005 : 01:56:26
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| I'll certainly grant you that families would like having a successful and talented artist amongst their number... But I'd postulate that "bard" and "musical artist" are two very seperate things... I could continue on this line of reasoning (in fact I did but erased it), but it's superfulous to point of this thread - I'm looking for NEW ideas... Creative brainstorming! Not counterpoint disagreement... So you think bard colleges would be effective just teaching. Great!... What else could they do effectively besides that? |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2005 : 02:18:36
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| Gather music and books.... find enchanted instruments.... etc. :) |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31799 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2005 : 02:18:46
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quote:
Originally posted by Kuje
I disagree that families wouldn't send thier children off to be bards. Musicians, singers, etc, would help that family with prestige and at events where the bardic trained offspring could play, sing, etc.
Additionally, there may already be many established musical/bardic traditions among some particular families of note. For example, while it may not be assumed that the offspring of a particularly talented and well known bard will follow in the footsteps of his/her famous parent... there is already a degree of familiarity in the family with regard to the training that comes with learning how to "be a bard".
In fact, several well-to-do families may even take a certain pride in their musical/bardic heritage. And as Kuje suggested above, they would perhaps gain greater prestige on the social scene by fostering that tradition even further with their new children who are keen to learn the ways of a tradition that made their parents famous. So in order to secure that, enrolling your child in a specific bardic college (perhaps one with a history of producing exceptionally talented bards) would seem to be a prudent move.
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4694 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2005 : 02:23:55
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| You do realise that magical services can be offered, composing songs for a fee, private parties catered? There can be the hire out of students as well as part of their training as well as quests set forth a part of training. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36905 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2005 : 02:29:22
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quote:
Originally posted by El Magnifico Uno
So you think bard colleges would be effective just teaching. Great!... What else could they do effectively besides that?
Part of being a bard means traveling to all sorts of places and telling stories and singing songs. Of course, a bard also has to learn more stories and songs... So a bardic college could be a clearinghouse of knowledge.
And there's a lot of roles it could fill as such a clearinghouse. It could be a library, it could be an information exchange (either benign or malign), it could be a spy ring... |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31799 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2005 : 02:32:18
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quote:
Originally posted by El Magnifico Uno
I'll certainly grant you that families would like having a successful and talented artist amongst their number... But I'd postulate that "bard" and "musical artist" are two very seperate things... I could continue on this line of reasoning (in fact I did but erased it), but it's superfulous to point of this thread - I'm looking for NEW ideas... Creative brainstorming! Not counterpoint disagreement... So you think bard colleges would be effective just teaching. Great!... What else could they do effectively besides that?
Some bardic colleges in the Realms likely also double as conservatoriums... places where free-thinking and the discussion of musical theory is regularly made the topic of conversation. Here, you don't just learn music... you also learn about music itself -- new ideas for compositions for example, or the creation of new or improved instruments... musical techniques or the like. Considering that most bards from many of the more diverse lands of the Realms likely all meet at a particular bardic college at some point... the amount of thought and knowledge that is swapped around between bards would be phenomenal.
Also, well established travelling orchestras or chamber music groups probably spend some of their touring time in each bardic college (with the facilities available to accomodate them of course ).
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
Edited by - The Sage on 15 Oct 2005 02:38:18 |
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Thysl
Seeker
USA
64 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2005 : 03:41:07
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quote:
Originally posted by El Magnifico Uno
I'll certainly grant you that families would like having a successful and talented artist amongst their number... But I'd postulate that "bard" and "musical artist" are two very seperate things... I could continue on this line of reasoning (in fact I did but erased it), but it's superfulous to point of this thread - I'm looking for NEW ideas... Creative brainstorming! Not counterpoint disagreement... So you think bard colleges would be effective just teaching. Great!... What else could they do effectively besides that?
An interesting thing that I heard somewhere - but have no real proof of, besides Monty Python's Brave Brave Sir Robin - is that historically a great hero would have a storyteller/ scholar in their entourage. Along the same lines, the Norse Skald made a life's work of entertaining warriors and setting to story their accomplishments.
Using this mold a Bardic College could make a great deal of coin hiring out bards to would be heros. A less contrived possibility would be that a Bardic College would 'scout' up and coming heros for quality traits: Ethos, Pathos, survivability ) and try to get their endorsement, much like a celebrity spokesman of our world.
A Bardic College woulld hedge their bet on a hero, hoping that if all goes well, they will have an epic poem, Ballad, Tragedy... hells if anything else they're bound to get a good tragedy .
Thysl in Silver |
There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.
--Carl Jung |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4694 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2005 : 04:23:54
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quote:
Originally posted by Thysl
An interesting thing that I heard somewhere - but have no real proof of, besides Monty Python's Brave Brave Sir Robin - is that historically a great hero would have a storyteller/ scholar in their entourage.
At least an archtype, though during the dark ages many Nobles that could not read or write acording to some histories and a scribe was needed.quote:
Along the same lines, the Norse Skald made a life's work of entertaining warriors and setting to story their accomplishments.
In more recent history the troops often made their own music (last 200 to 300 years) as one of their hobbies. I suspect the tradition goes back thousands of years. The best might be invited for play to serve a Commander/Noble as a freeman after surviving what ever war they were in. Also armies of the past had camp followers of many kinds. Those that followed clearly thought it was a better deal then not traveling. The reasons clearly would vary. Some the only way to get food, others clearly would be for pay (smiths repairing equipment), others might be there for donations (such as an entertainer).quote:
Using this mold a Bardic College could make a great deal of coin hiring out bards to would be heros. A less contrived possibility would be that a Bardic College would 'scout' up and coming heros for quality traits: Ethos, Pathos, survivability) and try to get their endorsement, much like a celebrity spokesman of our world.
Indded posible, however clearly such events would not be based about the College itself. The assignment could be years or decades something hard to price in advance and something hard to collect on a weekly of monthly base. The Quests are one thing but keeping track of loaned out students is another (far harder to keep track of and get paid for a hero follower).quote:
A Bardic College woulld hedge their bet on a hero, hoping that if all goes well, they will have an epic poem, Ballad, Tragedy... hells if anything else they're bound to get a good tragedy.
Thysl in Silver
It does not answer the question posed well and I do not believe it feasible to impliment in the way you describe. I reserve the right to be in error, just do not see this as a Bardic College function. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
Edited by - Kentinal on 15 Oct 2005 04:31:24 |
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El Magnifico Uno
Learned Scribe
113 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2005 : 04:50:14
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Ketinal! Thankyou! I had actually considered the "selling music services" idea at first, but dismissed it... However, the "catering" comment you had totally makes it work... Party and event planning on a huge scale which would be the backbone of the "school"... Just as many American universities are over-glorified sports factories for major league teams, so a bardic college would be a massive "event coordinator" business that happened to teach it's "employees" on the side... Of course such a school requires a relatively large affluent city that can afford a continuous series of parties and events throughout the year... Fortunately the bard colleges just happen to be located in wealthy cities (Waterdeep / Silverymoon) so that makes sense... Plus event coordinating gives a reason for people to send their kids off to be "bards"... The students make contacts for their family at the events, and possibly gain influence and prestige if they're decent musicians... The people who hire the college get top-notch entertainment and catering... And the school itself gets money to support its faculty, plus the occassional student who actually has enough talent to become a bard and thus justify the school's existence to itself... And the idea works for both a huge college of a thousand of students, and the more likely circumstance of a small school of less than 50...
Thysl - I don't know how financially sound the entourage-for-hire would be.. It kinda relies on a secondary cottage industry of utterly vain, intensely stupid, sociopathic individuals who eagerly wade into the maw of certain death for fun and profit... Mmmm... I see your point... In any case, it's certainly a new and creative idea, which has me pondering down another line of thought. Thanks!... |
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Thysl
Seeker
USA
64 Posts |
Posted - 15 Oct 2005 : 06:05:47
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quote:
I don't know how financially sound the entourage-for-hire would be.. It kinda relies on a secondary cottage industry of utterly vain, intensely stupid, sociopathic individuals who eagerly wade into the maw of certain death for fun and profit
HAHA, have you seen these rappers that are running around nowadays?
quote:
keeping track of loaned out students
I don't think these guys would be students. More like Journeyman, or a Masters student in our educational paradigm.
As for financial success from this service, naaa, things like this would only keep the College's head above water, so to speak, but lets consider the history of secondary schools in our world. They live hand to mouth as well. I know I am drawing alot of real world parallels, but thats all I got.
quote:
which has me pondering down another line of thought. Thanks!...
Sure, that's the idea, but post what you come up with, it's no fun if you don't!!!
Thysl in Silver |
There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.
--Carl Jung |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 16 Oct 2005 : 06:50:41
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quote:
Originally posted by El Magnifico Uno
No wealthy family patriarch in their right mind is going to send their kid off to a college to learn to be a bard!... A priest? Yes. A bureaucrat? Yes. A merchant? Hell yes!!... A scruffy smarmy bard? No...
I love bards, and believe that they can be a variety of personalities, so I don't care much for your description. The bards I've made all wanted to be bards, though (they weren't forced to become bards), and yes, I can buy that people would send their children to bardic colleges. Surely storytellers and lore keepers have a place in society just as priests, merchants, and bureaucrats do.
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"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
Edited by - Rinonalyrna Fathomlin on 16 Oct 2005 06:51:01 |
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Steven Schend
Forgotten Realms Designer & Author
USA
1730 Posts |
Posted - 16 Oct 2005 : 14:59:37
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Maybe my perception/view of bards is off-kilter compared to others, but here's my two bits.
Bard colleges and bards in general are important mainly for their ability to disseminate and distribute news and lore, rather than just for their performing abilities.
Remember this is a world where news only travels by word of mouth 90% of the time, rather than by print or by wizards' spells.
The best bardic colleges should be equivalent to how we view some news organizations. Remember that we have temples to Oghma and libraries for lore of the past. Bards are better for more current events and spreading news of ongoing matters.
The best bards should be considered an intriguing mix of Walter Cronkite (as the last journalist most trusted implicitly as honest) and Bruce Springsteen (or whatever musicians y'all like).
As for why nobles might want a bard in the family, that's easy--Someone's in the know on a lot of things, and knowledge is one way to power. If you hear of things before your competitors, you've a leg up business wise.
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For current projects and general natter, see www.steveneschend.com
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4694 Posts |
Posted - 16 Oct 2005 : 15:41:26
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| Certainly a Bardic college would be a center of knowledge and lore. Just a question of how much it pays. It clearly is posible that the college buys from and sells lore/knowledge with bards as well as selling to outsiders. There can be the selling of cure light wounds, don't need to go to a Cleric and hear about their deity *wink*. There certainly can be the sale of potions. There could be contributions from wealthy bards as well. All of these and more can maintain the college in operation. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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El Magnifico Uno
Learned Scribe
113 Posts |
Posted - 16 Oct 2005 : 20:44:22
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Steven and Kentinal, great ideas! Thanks!
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El Magnifico Uno
Learned Scribe
113 Posts |
Posted - 18 Oct 2005 : 01:03:02
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What exactly does a bard college do??
How do they stay in business? They'd need to provide a necessary service of some sort in order to continue functioning for so long |
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Kajehase
Great Reader
Sweden
2104 Posts |
Posted - 18 Oct 2005 : 15:45:38
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- 1. Give lessons in the bardic arts (playing music, singing, memorising old lore/legends/tales/the ancestry of kings, nobles, merchants and quite possible fairly ordinary folk as well), and not just to those wishing to become an actual bard, it is quite possible that the best teachers are residents at the bardic college, in which case, someone wishing their son/daughter to learn an instrument would most likely try and get them to have their lessons at the bardic college.
- 2. Serve as a gathering point at festivities and the like - after all, a bardic college is very likely to have more than a few of the best performers in the city on the premises.
- 3. Provide travelling bards with a (cheap) place to stay when they're in town - say 1 gp for a room (or whatever is the norm for cheap in your game).
quote:
No wealthy family patriarch in their right mind is going to send their kid off to a college to learn to be a bard!... A priest? Yes. A bureaucrat? Yes. A merchant? Hell yes!!... A scruffy smarmy bard?
A priest? Please, a bunch of proselytising, sycophantic spell-beggars.
A bureaucrat - Underpaid and underappreciated (unless they're corrupt of course).
A merchant? - Are you kidding? A greedy, self-serving, coin-counter. No child of mine I tell you.
A bard? - Hmm...yes, I can see that. A well-respected advisor to a king or great lord. Or perhaps a popular and well-received traveller who lights up the hearts and imaginations of the young whenever he rides into some small, isolated mountain-village in his colourful garb. Always taking the time to help out the locals with his knowledge of the old lore about who married who, or who bought what tract of land from whom 200 years ago. That could work. Now - how much would it cost to have him study at your college you say? |
There is a rumour going around that I have found god. I think is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist.
Terry Pratchett |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 18 Oct 2005 : 20:28:24
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Okay guys,
I asked you earlier to knock it off and since you didn't, then I'm asking the Sage to clean up this thread instead of locking it. Don't continue to bait and troll, thanks. |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
Edited by - Kuje on 18 Oct 2005 20:30:05 |
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Alaundo
Head Moderator
United Kingdom
5696 Posts |
Posted - 18 Oct 2005 : 23:28:11
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quote:
Originally posted by Kuje
Okay guys,
I asked you earlier to knock it off and since you didn't, then I'm asking the Sage to clean up this thread instead of locking it. Don't continue to bait and troll, thanks.
Well met
Indeed. I have removed and edited the latter posts in this scroll. Reading back now, it all appears to be quite an interesting and useful topic... let us keep it that way. Thank ye  |
Alaundo
Candlekeep Forums Head Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
An Introduction to Candlekeep - by Ed Greenwood
The Candlekeep Compendium - Tomes of Realmslore penned by Scribes of Candlekeep
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6680 Posts |
Posted - 19 Oct 2005 : 00:48:35
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Dang. Looks like I missed all the fun. 
-- George Krashos
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"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 19 Oct 2005 : 02:13:59
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Ed has already provided lore about Silverymoon's bardic college, I believe. I recall an long-ago GenCon seminar in which Ed and Gary Gygax were answering questions about college income (selling sheet music, repairing instruments for fees and selling new instruments, providing music for feasts, weddings, funerals, and revels, etc.), and Ed reminded everyone that Gary's original ranking of colleges (in the 1st Edition bard class writeup) MUST mean that different colleges do different things (Gary agreed). So we have built-in variance, from the outset.
love,
THO |
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El Magnifico Uno
Learned Scribe
113 Posts |
Posted - 19 Oct 2005 : 18:46:12
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Thanks THO!.. Is that lore in the Candlekeep forums? I've tried looking thru here, but the Search function is a bit kludgy.. (Alaundo if there is any possible way to have search result give the actual post as oppossed to just the thread, it'd make searching Ed's 70+ page forums a heck of alot easier.)
Aww.. man! A response barbed enough to have an entire thread sanitized (even down to creative descriptions) and I missed it?!.. *grumble* |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 19 Oct 2005 : 21:32:03
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quote:
Originally posted by El Magnifico Uno
Thanks THO!.. Is that lore in the Candlekeep forums? I've tried looking thru here, but the Search function is a bit kludgy.. (Alaundo if there is any possible way to have search result give the actual post as oppossed to just the thread, it'd make searching Ed's 70+ page forums a heck of alot easier.)
Aww.. man! A response barbed enough to have an entire thread sanitized (even down to creative descriptions) and I missed it?!.. *grumble*
Or you could search through my table of contents and then the HTML or PDF's for each year in the So Saith Ed web site here on Candlekeep. :) |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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El Magnifico Uno
Learned Scribe
113 Posts |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 20 Oct 2005 : 00:39:59
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quote:
Originally posted by El Magnifico Uno
Thanks Kuje, found it.. http://www.candlekeep.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1901&whichpage=20 for those of you who are interested...
Well, that's not the web site I was talking about. :)
This is:
http://www.candlekeep.com/library/articles/so_saith_ed.htm |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
Edited by - Kuje on 20 Oct 2005 00:45:44 |
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El Magnifico Uno
Learned Scribe
113 Posts |
Posted - 20 Oct 2005 : 17:18:02
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| Errr... The link I posted is to the actual thread that talks about the bard colleges (that I found via your TOC)... Guess I should have been more clear as to what "it" is... Was kinda taking it for granted that most other people knew where your TOC was... |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4694 Posts |
Posted - 21 Oct 2005 : 02:58:12
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quote:
Originally posted by El Magnifico Uno
Errr... The link I posted is to the actual thread that talks about the bard colleges (that I found via your TOC)... Guess I should have been more clear as to what "it" is... Was kinda taking it for granted that most other people knew where your TOC was...
The difference between the URLs is that noise was removed. Kuje offers and is now hosted at candlekeep the replies to those questions Ed (via THO) has answered. The thread link contains items/opinions and questions posed.
There is much lore here and there are dfferent ways to find it as well.
Back to the topic of what can be done for income, I did compose a post that I though might be useful just to see it disappear. In short Bards can learn any Craft or Profession as a class skill. Thus it follows that some bards would practice such skills where their reside. They might even try to deveolp new ways to do things. Some might have lands seeking to improve farming, others might be concerned with metal work and so on. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
Edited by - Kentinal on 21 Oct 2005 12:40:39 |
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Thysl
Seeker
USA
64 Posts |
Posted - 21 Oct 2005 : 05:42:31
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Something the Sage said about 'conservatorium' got me thinking: Doesn't the Lady's College hold talks on magic theory? There's an idea: because Bardic Colleges are a storehouse for knowledge, one possible way for some revenue would be to host lectures on magic by traveling mages.
Honestly I could see that working for many things: an instrument maker from another realm gives a speach on techniques used in his tradition, Elvish bards guest lecture on proper methods of poetry recital (there's something the nobles would flock to), old dwarven sage travelling the world teaching the methodology for transcribing ancient drum notation...sky's the limit.
Thysl in Silver |
There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.
--Carl Jung |
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Beirnadri Magranth
Senior Scribe
USA
720 Posts |
Posted - 23 Oct 2005 : 18:37:43
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i think bardic colleges would be institutes reflecting a culture's deep traditions. maybe there is a true respect for the bards who turn tales, epics etc into magic. this magic reflects the magic that the culture's myths possess, the blood of the society and civilization. These people would keep history differently than sages, by getting to emotional and concious history of kingdoms etc. the bards would tell the history of how the people felt and emotional undercurrents of ancient societies. Sages would just focus on dates, key people etc.
so maybe bardic colleges would be revered by local populations, or sponsored by philanthropists. |
"You came here to be a martyr in a great big bang of glory... instead you will die with a whimper."
::moussaoui tries to interrupt::
"You will never get a chance to speak again and that's an appropriate ending."
-Judge Brinkema |
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Bardic Colleges?
