Bardic Colleges

Something for Everyone...

Danya eyed the painting, trying to hide her longing, her desperation. She listened to the bard's words carefully.
"Lady Maldover, this is the latest from an up and coming protege. It depicts a glen seen during Expedition Demeter's time in The Freehold of Cordais. See how she used such finesse in blending the greens to make it appear as if the greenery is moving in the wind?" The man said.
"Yes, and who is that?" Danya asked, pointing to a figure on a hill in the background of the painting.
"I believe that is The Cartographer, Lady Sia," he began, turning to make sure he saw exactly where Danya was pointing. ",the Lartasian clothing would suggest as much. I'm told she has a habit of painting in her down time."
"Lovely," Danya mused. She had to have it. her eyes scaled the picture's elegant, golden frame and rested on drops of crimson stains that marked the lower half of the landscape."And the blood?"
"Ah," the man stuttered. Lady Maldover, my apologies. It's quite the story if I'm being honest," the man waved his hands about, as if conducting the orchestra that produces his lyrical tone. "The painter was in the middle of an engagement with highwaymen that sought to extort money from the expedition."
He paused and stepped closer, lowering his voice but still talking excitedly, as if he's waited all day just to tell his tale.
"Our talented painter," he began, "simply walked out onto the road, set up her easel, and began painting as a response."
He stopped and pointed to the road that weaved through the center of the painting and disappeared in the distance. "She refused to paint the highwaymen. Before the banter ended between Lord Gray and the bandits, they simply vanished in a burst of red dust and pink mist." He giggled in short bursts , trying to stifle his amusement. "My apologies, Lady Maldover. If it ruins the painting for you, I'm so sorry to hear it."
"Not at all," she said, nearly screaming the words as if insulted. "I'll take it."
"That's relieving to hear, my lady, but this one is on bid and House Trohmin is leading, hence the large price." the man dipped his head, trying not to look her in the eye.
"Double it and you can deliver it to my estate." Danya smiled and the man's eyes went wide as she snapped her fingers and a house guard produced a heavy bag of coins.
"Right away, my lady."

Bardic colleges are two things: They are places of learning where alumni of a Bardic University can go for further learning and specialization. They are also a place of business, where the philosophies and preferences on high concepts of culture, aesthetic, and bardic lore can be bought and sold.

Each bardic college offers spells, equipment, and traits that are unique to them. Bards can learn from as many colleges as they are able, though bards often have a favorite that they choose to master fully. Colleges allow for the jack-of-all-trades mentality that tends to be attributed to bards. They produce many compositions and all manner of artistic mediums.

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Bardic Colleges

All bardic colleges come with three key elements.

• Theme: Every college has a theme. this theme is usually expressed in the name and serves to give is accurate image of what powers, knowledge, and ideals the college maintains. It also gives an expectation of the commissions the college tanks and the composition that are created by their members. The theme serves to bolster the image of the college and is a matter of pride and advertisement to alumni as well as potential patrons.


• Syllabus: the syllabus is a detailed list of teachings that bars can learn from a specific college. Anything a bard can learn that increases their power or allows them to operate bardic lore in particular ways is considered part of the syllabus. Syllabus is also where the conceptual teachings and philosophical ideas are expressed in the college. It is often just as important to learn what drives the college's unique spells as it is to learn those spells. The heart must be just as willing as the mind for the spells to work.
  


• The Vault:Every college has a reliquary and a library. It is here that the most iconic pieces of work and the most powerful artifacts in the minds of the college's membership are kept, maintained, and distributed. Having your work placed in a college's library or reliquary is one of the highest honors one can receive as a bard. Not only is it an acknowledgement that you fully understand what the College stands for and have mastered its techniques, but it is also a statement that you have come to exemplify them in the works of yours that have been accepted.

Finding Work

For bards fresh out of the University, finding work can be exceptionally difficult. Bardic colleges offer a way of bridging the gap between a bard and their audience. The highest-ranking members maintain close relationships with potential patrons, especially if those patrons make routine donations to the college.

Not only do they advertise their member's work, but they also publish and distribute their work. Colleges act as agents, securing commissions for its membership and ensuring that each commission reaches the bard that is best suited to complete it.

Colleges routinely open themselves up to the public, allowing their member's work to be seen by fresh new eyes. Of course all of this effort is not for free. The college secures a percentage of the profit. This percentage varies as bards become more renowned but in general they enforce a strict 15% policy.

Portfolios

A bard's work is not always handled from on high. Some people wander into a college during a gallery showcase and want to commission a work due to the work they see. Portfolios are a requirement for members. Every member must provide what they deem as their best work.

They must showcase their finest achievements and greatest finds. This portfolio is on public display at all times, and during a showcase it takes center stage. There is a rotation on whose portfolio is featured for each showcase, the members taking turns in the spotlight to ensure a flow of commissions.

Joining A Bardic College

The requirements for joining a bardic college varies heavily from college to college. These requirements and limits are listed on each college article but there are two common elements between them.

• Every petitioner must be an alumnus of a bardic university, of which there are only 4 in the world.

• Every petitioner Must provide a portfolio.

Once joined, they begin to learn the more specialized elements of the college. This includes spells and insight into key elements of their craft. The opportunity to find work is easier, as is accumulating wealth from that work. A bard could spend months to years focusing on producing work to add to the college.

Some colleges have strict limitations on who can join based on their memberships to other colleges. Bardic colleges have come to blows regarding the preservation of great works and artifacts that one college sees as essential to preserve while the other believes it needs to be destroyed. This is a very rare occurrence as most bards value great works in all their forms.

Fun Fact: The Storm of Summer

Usually violent encounters between colleges are due to the machinations of others, such as a noble who finances the college or even founded the college. This was the case for the infamous Storm Of Summer. The College of Summer and the College of Winter went to war with each other at the behest of their founders, two nobles of Cordais who each sought to bring ruin on the other.

This resulted in the destruction of each college's vault and the subsequent destruction of hundreds and maybe thousands of paintings, books, artifacts, and other great works. The loss experienced led to both colleges leaving Cordais for Estoya on the trans cordasian caravan. The colleges do not have good relations in the present and they will never accept a member if they are also a member of the other college.

The tragedy of The Storm of Summer had a profound effect on bards in the present day as well. Those who are accustomed to warfare will notice that every bardic college in Estoya hides the vault in the most defensible location in the college, actively building up choke points around them.

Bardic colleges in Game

Game Mechanics WIP

These rules are optional, though the portfolio is required. You do not have to go into this much depth if you do not want to.
In the game, bardic colleges offer a source of income, as well as a source of further power. The following tables are used when determining how much money a commission or composition will gain. Many bardic spells are compositions and the finished product can act I asked a commission or in addition to the portfolio of the bard in a relevant college they so choose.
Throughout the player's journey they will produce many works, and can send it those words back for publication in distribution as well as advertising. Other places the bard visits will have bardic colleges as well which can be used for the same goal.

The portfolio

Every player must maintain a portfolio of the work they create, cultural items they discover, and other elements that are relevant to their bardic status. This can be as simple as a name of the work and a brief description, and can be as complex as an actual rendition of a work of art in the world. The portfolio also acts as a way of tracking experience gained from compositions. Every complete a composition will give a certain amount of experience based on this formula.

Furthermore, the bard may use this set of tables to randomly generate a composition. This table is also used for commissions the bard will routinely get in the field and from messages from the university. Everybody College comes with their own version of the table.

When a commission or composition is completed and submitted to a college, roll a D20. If the result is a 17 18 19 or 20, the work is inducted into the reliquary or Library depending on the kind of work. This can give numerous benefits. The following table is a good guide on what benefits it gives. To the right of the table is a chart to calculate the amount of money the college takes based on the amount of work that are inducted into their vault.

Items and artifacts recovered by bards and sent it to a relevant College can also being used for this chart as they will be placed in the reliquary. If these items are usable in the confines of an rpg, they can be retained and used by the bards whenever they so choose, since they are the technical owners if it by finding it.