15.6 The Guild of Bards.

History of the Bards

In the halcyon days of Avalon when the first modern mortals trod the
unexplored grasslands and created the first paths which would later become
paved highways and city streets, at the start of the 9th Century aDW, the
mortal Malwen founded the Bards Guild in a dynamic Mercinae, City of Light. As
the only guild residing on the East Bank, the Bards Guild thrived as a world
in microcosm separate from the other guilds and citizens of Mercinae so that
they may explore the full range of their profession and express most fully
their creativity. As a creative enclave, the guild was open to other
citizenships relatively early and within a century, it became controlled and
dominated by Parrians. It was during this age in the early 900s aDW that the
greatest bard who has ever walked the earth dominated the battlefield with
song and mime: Isildur, Prince of Mercinae. Indeed, Isildur was opposed to the
Parrian dominance of Mercinae's Bards and partly through his influence and
partly the idealism of Falstaff, the Minstrels Guild was brought into being.
The Minstrels was originally housed in Mercinae but was soon gifted to
Parrius, as a compromise for the two guilds' membership: the Parrians went
with the Minstrels, to Parrius; the Mercinaens populated the Bards Guild, in
Mercinae. The debate over limitation of guild membership to Mercinae-only or a
more liberal approach (opening apprenticeships to all non-Thakrians) has raged
ever since; with extra significance once the Minstrels Guild closed and the
Bards retained its position as the sole representative of this most excellent
of professions.

The Current Bards Guild

Ever since the Bards Guild chose Cornelius, the god of magic, as their divine
patron (for the first time under guildmastery of Maximillian, one of the
finest bards of his generation), His divine counsel always leaned towards
greater freedoms and wider membership to provide the best environment for the
creatively inclined and compensate for the Bard being the toughest of all
professions. In the late 13th Century aDW, guildmaster Octafino and patron
Cornelius, the god of magic, initiated a new scheme to broaden membership
permanently to all non-Thakrian potentials and expand the Guild into each
acceptible city so that the Bards Guild may harken back to its earliest days
of a diverse, talented membership from Mercinae, Parrius and elsewhere. The
plan was to have a single, powerful, populous guild with politically
autonomous chapters in each city. The encompassing organisation called the
Bards Guild would oversee the smooth function of its satellites and retain the
most vital responsibilities, such as ensuring member quality and arranging the
finest combat training for all.

Following this revolutionary departure from traditionally Mercinaen doctrine,
violent disagreement broke out between the Bards and the City of Mercinae. For
many centuries, the bards felt sidelined and their past city contributions
unreciprocated; its members perceived Mercinaen protest as exactly the kind of
narrow dogma which was strangling the Guild's potential. Conversely, Clara,
Princess of Mercinae, and the City Patron, Aethon, god of the sky, as well as
many citizens, considered the departure of the Bards Guild from its roots in a
purely Mercinaen ethos to be foolish and self-destructive. They demanded the
Guild return to its old form or leave the city walls, for its proposed changes
were irreconcilable with Mercinae's new vision. Cornelius and Octafino pressed
on with the grand design and secured residence elsewhere, by the grace of Don
Tukar, Duchy of Knightswood. Although the Guild moved to Knightswood's neutral
ground, where it is said it will stay forever more, the Bards still respect
and acknowledge their birthplace of Mercinae. The philosophy of showing
gentility and respect to one's fellow man remains at the heart of the Guild's
teachings. However, its philosophy has matured to include much more than its
Mercinaen roots now and the Guild has learned that it must allow the greatest
freedoms if it wishes to best facilitate the growth and cultivation of its
members; they must freely express and explore unfettered the profession's
greatest secrets and subtleties without concern for political doctrine,
religious dogma or personal opinion. Such is the New Age of the Bards Guild.

Philosophy of the Bards

The Bards Guild was founded to bring together altruistic, sometime-peaceful
figures who bear the gifts of the Muse. In this liberal age of the Bards
Guild, the Bard focuses on finding those mortals who are unafraid of death and
keen to achieve the limelight within their respective cities; it cultivates
these young and helps them explore through mortal conflict the most poetic,
the most dramatic, the most exquisite techniques of the battlefield. The
profession of the Bard is the most expressive and creative in combat, with
such a vast range of potential that it beggars belief. The extent of this
power is a life-long pursuit and the bard is forever exploring the nuances of
his profession. Only through meticulous experimentation, practice, creative
application and intelligent analysis of one's mistakes, can the bard ever hope
to be a Master of the Art. The Bard profession encompasses many personalities
appropriate to its world of creativity and genius: you may see him as the city
altruist, the artist or poet expanding his work in silence, the vagabond
pack-laden and hunch-backed exploring the forests and hills of Avalon, or the
intellectual resident barfly expounding advice on mortal combat. However, all
bards are unified by their love of the art of combat, for it is only in combat
that the bard taps most deeply into his Art and partakes in the incredible,
exhilerating clash of wits and mettle that is mortal combat.

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