Enchante Journals, Volume 5 (book)

A Chronicle of Music and Magic

By Elesigis Arilafrei

Introduction

Bards are the storytellers and lorekeepers of the land, but too often we have forgotten the truths of our own past. There are fascinating tales behind the music and magic that so defines what and who we are as Bards; tales largely unknown. For that reason, my companions and I have taken it upon ourselves to create these chronicles, what we have called the "Enchante Journals."

In this endeavor, this vast undertaking, I have been aided by the following noble Bards: Hildart Sverul, craftsman of Hibarnhvidar and master of the Dwarven epics; Nereeth Gethaelt, wandering singer and performer and entertainer of children; Endirek Chydaku, of the Order of Kalodi. In this volume of our chronicles, we look at the Bardic tradition of the Prydaen race, and the Rage of the Clans.

Volume V

While there is much we in Kermoria do not know or understand about Prydaen culture and everyday life, we do know that Bards played a very significant role in their society.

The Prydaen were largely a mobile and migratory people. Central locations -- villages, to use a term likely more familiar to our readers -- called Hubs served as a gathering place for the various groups among the very clannish Prydaen race. The Hub was the home to which they returned after their hunts. Thus most of the clans would, at all times, be out on the hunt... seeking prey to serve as food, for one matter, but for another because the hunt is equated with life and living itself among their culture.

In this vein, a visitor to a Hub would find it lacking young adults, adults, and even the middle- aged. What they would find instead would largely be the elderly and the children -- those either too old or too young to join in the hunt. They would also find the Prydaen Bards.

For the Prydaen, it was life to be in the hunt. And yet still, it was an even greater honor to serve as a Bard. The Bards were the protectors of the Hub -- the protectors of the old and of the children, keeping safe the homes and family of the Prydaen people while they were away. They kept the traditions and beliefs of their people safe and alive as well, and they served as teachers and instructors to the youths of the Hub -- they would train them in their ways, the ways of the Prydaen, so when it came time for the child to pass through the rites of adulthood, he could become a true Prydaen Hunter, like his kin. But serving as protection was the primary task, the most important role, of the Bard.

In this, their magic was, if you will forgive the play on words, truly instrumental. It was this act of guardianship which led to the creation of the enchante called "Demriss' Resolve."

It is an ancient enchante that the Prydaen Bards have been utilizing for many centuries. So we cannot name its exact history or origins for certain, although several legends I have heard from my Prydaen Bardic brethren suggest it may have been devised by the fabled Bard Soundwraith.

(At this juncture, I must make a gentle correction of my late colleague Willem van Thorne of Asemath Academy, author of the book "A Brief History of Alchemy," for he mistakenly refers to Soundwraith as an Elf. She was not.)

Now, Soundwraith was a Bard as well known in the Prydaen homelands as she is here in Kermoria -- for, as the tales go, she grew weary of her Hub-bound life, developing something we know all too well, wanderlust. And she wanted to see things never before seen, explore the world around her. She evidently made the journey all the way here to Kermoria, where she became renowned in our lands. This journey, of course, is the same that would later be taken by her people en masse as they escaped their Necromantic pursuers. Soundwraith was blinded during this journey, forever altering her life and making her unable to ever return to her homelands to become an elderly protectorate of the Hubs -- nevertheless, her grievous injury aside, that she alone was able to make so challenging and perilous a journey, one that claimed so many of her people's lives, is a remarkable feat.

In any event, some Prydaen attribute the creation of the Resolve to the adventurous Soundwraith, and I can neither confirm nor deny that this attribution is historically accurate or factual.

But even for our lack of knowledge regarding its origins, we know its value and the role it played. The Resolve is an enchante that utilizes musical imagery, enhanced by elemental magic, to create a truly fearsome vision for its listeners. The enchante, when used by these guardian Bards, served ably in driving would-be invaders away from the Hubs in terror.

Another significant role the Bards of the Prydaen played amongst their people was that of one who aided their peoples' escape from the West. With the enchante "Eu's Respite," they gave strength, vitality, rest, and determination to the fleeing Prydaen.

It is interesting to note that their enchante "Eu's Respite" is, in almost all ways, identical to our "Hodierna's Lilt" enchante -- in all ways magical, at least, in that it creates very similar matrices, accomplishing similar effects. The music, likewise, is very much alike in sound, which has provided a plethora of evidence suggesting a very strong link to the music itself and the end result of the enchante matrix.

The most glaring exception to the similarities between our Lilt and their Respite is that "Eu's Respite" is almost always sung! We have never performed the Lilt in such a manner, so it is clear our cultures -- and the Bards in each -- have much to learn from each other.

The history of the enchante "The Rage of the Clans" is not much of a mystery, for the title alone gives away much of its origins. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to elaborate upon its stories, so as not to leave an incomplete feel to our enchante chronicles.

The Rage was initially an enchante used to aid in small hunting parties. It was created when some Bards attempted to create an effect similar to the bloodthirsty ferocity demonstrated by Barbarians in their more berserk state -- in essence, to create the rage and the power of the berserk, but without the loss of control. Unsurprisingly, this effect was most closely mimicked largely by relying upon the element of Fire, which the enchante uses as a significant part of its elemental matrix.

It was powerful, though, a truly great weapon that would heighten the strength of any force. And so when the Clans went to war -- a war from which eventually emerged a victorious and conquering Akroeg -- the Bards of each side were called upon to use their magics to strengthen the clan armies and bring victory and new land. With joy, they did exactly that.

However, the Rage was not such a refined thing in those days, and lacked some of the finesse we possess with it now -- then, they were willing to sacrifice most control of the enchante's powers in order to drastically increase the ferocity the enchante generates.

And so, in battle after battle, the Rage would bring each side to a bloody and breathtaking end that left few survivors. In each battle, a carnage-strewn field was often all that remained.

"Rage of the Clans" was not the original name of this enchante, but after witnessing the blood it spilled, that's the name it was given by the observers of the war.

The lessons Bards learned in those days should be taken to heed now -- our magic is possessed of great power, but we must not use it carelessly or with dark intent, but we can create true devastation in that manner.

Our chronicles of Bardic magic are continued in the next volume.

By my hand,
Elesigis Arilafrei