New Olamn College of Music and Art

New College of Olamn, popularly known as New Olamn, is a traditional bard college in Waterdeep and prominent center of education and bardcraft in the North. It was formed as a successor to the old College of Ollamh (pronounced: AL-lam), also known as just Olamn.

Membership

Bards travel from around Faerûn to study there. Full Fellow Tuition is based on a year of study, and including boarding, and a meal plan comes to 1250 gp a year. Merit-based scholarships are available.  Citizens may also participate in classes on an individual basis for 

Organization

Current President: Cadence Majarra 
Students of New Olamn are trained in their chosen instruments and undergo a rigorous study of ancient history and memorization of ancient songs and sagas. Most bards of New Olamn study the College of Lore and practice its methods.
Master bards (those generally acknowledged to have finished their studies elsewhere) who studied at New Olamn and completed their studies there were conferred the degree of Magnus Alumna.

Base of Operations

The old Olamn college stood on the site later occupied by the House of Song in the Trades Ward. (A popular local story held that Olamn had stood on the site of Halambar Lutes & Harps, but this was false.)
The New Olamn college is located in two villas, Heroes' Rest and Stormwatch, in the Castle Ward. They stand on the Cliffride, a gravel path that ran up the northern side of Mount Waterdeep, overlooking the sea near Waterdeep.
The Cliffride was used to bring supplies to the college, but most visitors and students used the underground tunnel that had been bored through the mountain to improve access.

Colleges of Study

New Olamn offers many general Bardic classes including Orchestral Music, Tales through History, Music Theory, and Pratical Barding. In addition to these general courses, students are encouraged to select a college to narrow down their academic interests during their time at the Academy. 

College of Swords

The College of Swords teaches the art of the deul, leaning into light armor and finesse weapons and adding a splash of Battle Master to the mix. Thematically similar to College of Valor, College of Swords places more emphasis on offense than College of Valor, offering access to Fighting Style and some interesting tactical options via Blade Flourish.

College of Valor

A martially-minded Bard may prefer College of Valor. By improving the Bard’s ability to wade into melee safely, the Bard can fill nearly every role in a party.  Bards of Valor sing of great deeds in battle.

College of Spirits

The College of Spirits teaches students to commune with those long past, and tell their stories through a spiritual focus. Many students in this college pick a specific specialty, like tea leaf reading, tarot cards, crystal pendulums, and even puppetry. 

College of Glamour

Bards in the College of Glamour study art and culture, focusing in Fashion, Charismatic arts, and history of the Fey.

College of Whispers

@Nox The College of Whispers focuses on the use of a common resource: secrets and fear. Learn the ways of persuasion, insight, and diversion and study classical horror in College of Whispers classes.

College of Creation

The College of Creation studies the physical tools and objects used in Bardic endeavors, including visual art, the engineering of instruments, and Creation magic.

College of Eloquence

Faculty

Moriah Vanderwoodsen  The College of Eloquence values the study of Rhetoric, Charisma, Vocabulary, and Debate, as the pen is mightier than the sword.

College of Lore

College of Lore focuses on amassing knowledge and the collection of lore from diverse sources, in an endless pursuit of beauty and truth.  Bardic magic and history are focuses within this college.

Purpose / Function

To educate Bards of the Sword Coast on matters of art, history, music, and magic.

History

The original College of Ollamh was one of the seven elder bardic colleges, dating back to the legendary bard Falataer who established it as the final level of his bardic college.
 The Ollamh harp, one of the Instruments of the Bards, was named after this college. It had been created by Falataer to test and reward his students who achieved mastery of the Ollamh level of skill. Following this tradition, bards studying to obtain the rank of Magna Alumnae attended all seven colleges, and Ollamh was traditionally the last. However, this practice was abandoned once the original colleges declined, with Olamn falling out of use centuries before the mid–1300s DR. Following the disgruntled bard Iriador "Garnet" Wintermist's attacks in the Year of the Wave, 1364 DR, Danilo Thann saw a need to re-establish a bardic college in Waterdeep. Working with Kriios Halambar, master of the musician's guild, he developed a plan to re-found such institutions, beginning with one in Waterdeep. Led by Halambar, the Council of Musicians, Instrument-Makers, & Choristers threw their weight behind the proposal, and it was backed by wealthy patrons of the Crommor, Estelmer, Majarra, Melshimber, and Thann noble families. Lord Kelthul Majarra and Lady Hlanta Melshimber even donated the Stormwatch and Heroes' Rest villas to serve as the college's new home. In the Year of the Staff, 1366 DR, the college was reopened with the name of New Olamn.
Within a few years, New Olamn made a name for itself as a quality source of education and a premier storehouse of lore. Bards traveled from around Faerûn to study there.
When Kriios Halambar died in the early 1370s DR, with an election for his replacement as guildmaster not scheduled until the Year of the Haunting, 1377 DR, leading guild musicians began to jostle for influence and position. This provoked thinly veiled tensions between leading Waterdhavian musicians, both in the Council and in New Olamn's leadership.

Tourism

New Olamn holds a moderately sized amphitheater, where many musicians (particularly members of the Council of Musicians, Instrument-Makers, & Choristers) perform their own works. It also features operas, which are attended by wealthy citizens.
A common Waterdeep Bucket list item is to visit the Mount Melody walk, a tunnel illuminated by magical glowing gems; these brighten and change their hue in response to nearby sounds. The tunnel is continuously resounding with an ongoing concert known as the Neverending String of Pearls performed by bardic students in a small alcove in the tunnel.

Type

College / Academy