Bards

The humble musician is not a bard, he only playacts as one. The singer in the shop on the corner is not a bard just because her voice is pretty. A thief is not a bard simply because they wear a ruffled shirt. A bard is both the loud and the soft, all at once.

Musician, diplomat, word in the ear of the powerful and smart. How can you be both seen every day and such a skilled spy? The trick is in the law of permissibles and the art of not getting caught. While thieves and assassins must hide in their anonymity, there is almost a deliberate shroud that passes over the community when a bard is in town - and the shroud says, things illegal will happen, but they are necessary and someone above your station has deemed them 'ok'.

Career

Qualifications

The most common qualification of a bard is apprenticeship under another bard. Since the difference between a bard and a musician or songstress is not obvious (the term bard being more commonly and incorrectly used for both the other two by the layperson), a bard in training may come across several of the latter before they discover a true bard. And this is part of the process too, for not all bards or musicians know all instruments, and a good bard knows more than one - or has a team they regularly play within.

A bard also knows history - if just how to break it, how to break into a location, common dangers and spells to look out for and the politics of the area they are within. They soon learn of Cogsiliare, and fences and the paths of smugglers and neverdowells. Thus naturally many bards come from the academies that dot the realm.

Career Progression

The path of a bard tends to go thusly - and like all professions, bards can get stopped anywhere along the path.

Apprentice:

The bard gets her toes wet in the craft, learns instruments and spycraft and how to get in and out of danger.

Wandering bard:

The bard seeks out their peers when the lessons from their mentors reach a plateau. This also allows the bard to practice their craft with the ability to skip town should they stuff up a mission or attract too much suspicion or anger the wrong person. It is here that a bard develops a relationship withb a fence or smuggler - someone to help get rid of anything that during the course of a mission needs to be onsold, or removed from a bard's possession.

Local bard:

Many of the larger towns have a few of these, which unlike the wandering bard run more off reputation than spontinaity. While you might ask a wandering bard to steal something from a Grandmother, the local bard is more likely to leave a note in the stationer's abode that one of the locals Know he is doing something uncouth with the local mage's mate.

Town bard:

The town bard recieves a stippand from those in charge to do the questionable acts those in power need done, but don't need traced back to them. This might require the bard to travel, but often it is about inforcing the law through unlawful acts.

Payment & Reimbursement

Payment for their music often comes in trade while their spycraft often means favours and suggestions on how to remove things that are good for trade.

Perception

Purpose

While witches and seers are useful, they also have their own agendas, so those in power or wanting to be often use mundane means of collecting information. With magic being so ubiquitous, martial combat on an army level was never really a thing within Levis and so those in power resort to the Honey and the Dagger to depose their rivals. Bards are skilled in both.

Operations

Tools

While having no unique magic of their own, bard can use their instruments to carry circuit spells and nothing stops them from learning magery.

Alternative Names

Songsters, fame××××ers.

Type

Political

Demand

A profession designed to be needed in communities, while still being a luxuary

Famous in the Field

• Deluna Vesperine

Used By

• Guild of Sigils and Designs
• House of the Arcane
• Solaris Royal Court