Bard

Bards are a group of secretive musicians trained in a range of skills from history to close quarters combat to espionage. They are descendants of the storyteller traditions of the nomadic peoples who invaded Athvrea and claim Kaponet is responsible for their magic. For this reason, the tradition proliferated globally. Musical academies exist within most nations, ran at least in part by bards. Not all of these students will become bards, only those who display special aptitude outside music are chosen.

In Athvrea, such academies have been outlawed for 200 years. Within Athvrea, the tradition survives via a master-apprentice system. While technically considered an illegal organization under Athvrean law, the bards are tolerated as they have proven useful to the Clergy of Cyridia and especially the Golden Hand. There is significant tension within the bards of Athvrea as well as with the Clergy as many do not feel their number should cooperate with the church. These bards walk a fine line as even something as minor as protecting and distributing banned texts could have repercussions for every bard on the Archipelago.

More than performers, although many bard do make their living performing, bards are jacks of all trades who participate in espionage, sabotage, assassination, sensitive deliveries, and other tasks better suited to an individual than a military unit. This has made the bards vital in the intelligence services of a number of countries. Bards are often hired to perform jobs that the client simply does not want traced back to them. Bards also act as preservationists. While ethical creeds are diverse among bards, destroying art, literature, and music is a grave offense. Naturally, this greatly upsets the Clergy.

Contrary to the popular image of a singer with a lute, bards may play any number of instruments, dance, or engage in visual art. All of these are acceptable mediums for the use of their magical school. Bards discuss their magical tradition in metaphors and allegories; the true mechanisms have not been well investigated and the majority of bards don't care to research it. As bards understand it, their magic works by using their focuses to generate magical resonances at specific frequencies that constructively and destructivily interfere to create the desired effect. For this reason, magic must be performed using just intontation, a dance style idiosyncratic to bards, and specific pigments for music, dance, and art respectively. Bardic magic is diverse, ranging from illusions to psychological manipulation to elemental blasts.

The constructive and destructive interference associated with bardic magic causes sickness when used. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, vertigo, and lightheadedness. Users build up a tolerance to this effect as they continue to train, allowing them to work stronger and stronger magic.

Aside from magic and art, bards are trained in history, the natural sciences, rhetoric, and etiquette. Bardic training also focuses on weapons training. Traditionally, training consisted of use of the knife, short sword, and bow. The bow has fallen out of favor and been replaced with the crossbow. With the advent of guns, training is often incorporated but most bards stress the silence of the crossbow and still force students to train with it. The short sword likewise has fallen into a more ceremonial role although its use is still taught. Knife fighting remains a strong component of every bard's training. This core curriculum may be expanded depending on the academy or master. Common additions include alchemy, stealth, forgery, lockpicking, pickpocketing, medicine, wilderness survival, sea and land navigation, and horsemanship to name a few.

With this extensive curriculum, bards often begin training in adolescence and become full fledged members in their early 20s. At academies, the ceremony is intricate with long speeches and performances of all varieties by both mentors and the new bard before the oath is administered. In Athvrea, the ceremony is often just the oath. Once a bard finishes training, they're gifted a ceremonial knife.

O bard of joy and sorrow, love and war, do you solemnly swear:
To uphold the ways bestowed upon us by Kaponet;
To liberate emotions with every performance;
To prove that ink and words can shatter stone and steel;
To protect the beauty the strong would destroy;
To preserve the history the weak would lose;
To stand beside those who walk our path.