Bright the Irreverent
Bright Benellan (a.k.a. Bright the Irreverent)
Bright is a bard renowned for his scathing social commentary. In the past few decades, he has become something of a folk hero (see Controversy, below, for why).
Personal History
Bright was born and raised in a small rural town in agricultural Grennire. He was the youngest of four, the darling of his three older sisters. Even when he was young, he loved making up silly songs to pass the time in the fields. He started singing his songs to earn a few extra coins at the tavern, and while the attraction was mostly a case of everyone thinking the capricious eight-year-old and his silly songs were adorable, it became clear fairly quickly that he had some actual talent and charisma. The town scraped together some extra coin, and so, when Bright was ten, he and his mother headed to the imperial capital city to get him some formal musical training.
There was a small school in Imperia, the capital, that primarily catered to the upper class, but Bright could pay so was allowed in. He took slowly to the formal class structure--and to his noble classmates--but did enjoy learning how to play a wide array of instruments. His instructor tried to quell his penchant for "frivolity," which only ended up sharpening his wit and giving him a target. It wasn't long before Bright was singing songs afterhours skewering the instructor to his roaring classmates.
He began traveling around the empire in his late teens, and quickly built a reputation for being a delightful night's entertainment. His most popular works targeted the Three Great Houses, but there was no target safe from him, including the Kaelic Temple and beloved historical figures. Thus, the nickname. He quickly became a favorite among the lower classes, and source of annoyance for the upper (Nothing put a thorn in a landlord's side like hearing their subjects singing their House's verse of "Midsummer's Ball"). Within a few decades, he had managed to get himself outlawed from three provinces for various counts of blasphemy and slander.
There are very few people in the empire who do not know at least a few of his songs, despite the fact that many of them are banned. Now in his fifties, he is currently making rounds around the empire, and he is greeted warmly everywhere he goes, with only minimal chance of being turned in even in the provinces he is technically exiled from.
Though he does make sure never to perform "The Royal Dilemma" in front of an officer of the law. Not after the first time he got caught at it, anyway.
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Forgemight Mary
In 455, Bright was caught violating his exile by Dame "Forgemight" Mary of the Order of Mikel's Sword. She took him into custody and dragged him across Grennire. During this time, he slowly but surely charmed his way into her heart. The brief romance was cut short when she released him at the Lumina border. Mary fell in battle shortly after.
Controversy
Bright prides himself in being exiled from three provinces (Heartland, Lumina, and the Crimson Sands). And for good reason.
The Royal Dilemma
Bright's most controversial song is "The Royal Dilemma," penned in 448 EC.
It's a story song detailing the love affair between the emperor's daughter Josephine and Lady Anya Sheyla, who had been the heir to a rural estate in the far north. It tells of how Josephine brought Anya to the capital city and Josephine's brother Markeidos--heir to the imperial throne--also fell head over heels for her. The song lambasts all three of them as the siblings fought for her affection, implying that they both treated her as a toy while she waffled indecisively between the two. It eventually culminated in a duel between the siblings, which Mark won (the song implies that Josie threw it for Anya's future), and Anya decided to abide by the outcome of the duel (with the implication that she loved Josie more but picked Mark primarily because of the shiny empire he was looking to inherit). Meanwhile, Josie was run out of town by her own brother. It is, all around, not a very flattering song.
And the last straw of the controversy? Bright sang this at Markeidos and Anya's wedding. His name (perhaps shortsightedly) was included among various hired entertainers to perform at the wedding of Prince Markeidos Prismodian, Heir Apparent to the Imperial Throne, and Lady Anya Sheyla. He passed initial screening by performing something mild and harmless, and then wrote "The Royal Dilemma" instead. Bright only got through the second verse before Prince Markeidos demanded his arrest. He continued singing it as he fled the palace, and legend has it that the prince left his own wedding to chase Bright clear out of the empire.
Whatever the truth of it, the incident quickly rocketed him into the position of a folk hero and champion of the downtrodden.
The song itself is flat-out banned from being written or performed anywhere in the Empire, but it's one of those that everyone somehow learns anyway... either through someone performing it when no guards are around, or the lyrics being passed around and tucked into hidden corners of personal libraries. At this point, trying to enforce the ban on the song would be pointless... but still, no one is stupid enough to ever perform it in front of Markeidos--who is now emperor--again.
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