The Guild of Bardic Knowledge

Once they were considered vagrants, and scoundrels. Innkeepers and barkeeps tolerated them, because people enjoy music, and people who are enjoying themselves spend more. But Bards have served a more useful purpose to Iskitaan than just entertaining people. While most of them were scoundrels and vagrants, they are the ones who composed the songs, kept history alive during the dark times after the Fall of Enshalla.

But stories change over the years, and for every event that spawned a song, a dozen variations of that song arose. So the history of Iskitaan after the fall is mostly documented in songs, but the songs themselves number so many, no one can be sure which version is the truth. And since most bards sang simply for their supper, they only worried about what song would win them their next meal and warm bed.

Rafnielen of Destry changed all that. Now renowned as the Bard of the Brotherhood, that band of adventurer's who overthrew the first dark emperor, Rafnielen played a more important role afterwards. He recognized that no one really knew what the real stories behind the songs were, and vowed to make sure that the songs that spoke of the Brotherhood told the real story. While others before Rafnielen had formed Bardic Guilds, they did so with the intent of keeping their members fed and housed.

To Rafnielen, that was the secondary purpose of his Guild. The Primary purpose of the Guild of Bardic Knowledge was to teach the history behind the songs, as well as help it's members expand their musical knowledge. The guild grew quickly, because it demanded little of it's members, other than the pursuit of knowledge. Before long, the Guild of Bardic Knowledge absorbed most of the other bardic guilds, and is now known simply as the Bard's Guild.

Rafnielen's primary mission for the bard is threefold.

One, teach the history of the songs that bards sing.

Two, help bards record the history of Iskitaan into song, and pass their songs on.

Three, help all Bard's become more proficient in all forms of music and song. To this day, that vision has stuck. Not all bards are Guild Bards, many are still simply vagrants and vagabonds looking to trade a song for a meal.