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Vangelor
Learned Scribe
USA
183 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Mar 2008 : 18:17:47
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Here's a little thread necromancy for you, to take this on from a slightly different angle.
It is our habit to see the word "college" and think "school", but this is not necessarily what it means. The word is from the same root at "collection" and "colleague" - hence its use in the name of such real-world bodies as the Electoral College, the Royal College of Surgeons and the College of Cardinals.
Bards do more than entertain. In pre-literate societies they retained lore - including things like lineages of families, boundaries of property, contracts, treaties and even travel directions - in memory. Rhythm, meter, rhyme, alliteration and melody were originally employed as mnemonic devices to help with this. In a barbarian society, your bards would still be doing these things.
Elves especially like to retain lore in song, even though the Tel'Quessir are a highly literate society with many sophisticated methods of conserving information. Living voice and living memory are still esteemed.
Bards travel and carry news. Where they congregate, the exchange news. Yes, bardic colleges are clearinghouses for information, and can function like spy rings - even to the extent of planting false rumors where it would be useful, though too much of that sort of thing will bring a bardic college into disrepute. A carefully maintained reputation for honesty and neutrality would probably go further.
In Faerun, the old bardic colleges mostly fell into disuse during the time of the Harpstar Wars, a point of frustration with one former Harper agent, a half-elf named Iriador. The tale of her insanity and revenge are told in Eliane Cunningham's novel, Elfsong. This did, however, provide an impetus for the revival of formal centers of bardcraft across western Faerun.
Current bardic colleges are likely still aspiring to the stature of their famous (and defunct) forbears. Plenty of room for diversity, and for shaping the bardic organization in your home campaign to suit your particular needs. |
Edited by - Vangelor on 19 Mar 2008 18:20:23 |
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Bardic Colleges?
