I noticed Raesh in the Moon Mage folder talk about Max Gladstone's Craft series, which is absolutely amazing. I really don't know why you're reading this right now instead of reading one of his books. Go, go read, now.

But anyway Raesh was highlighting how some of the portrays of the Craft (Magic) in the series parallels a lot of thinking about Lunar Magic, particularly planned Trader magic, and also had a teaser about some inspiration for some ideas for Clerics. Cool stuff, check out the series!

Got me to thinking about portrays of Bards in fictional works, books or movies, that help present an image of the Guild.

A number of people in the past have directed me to Alan Gordon's "Fools' Guild" series. It's an organization of Fools, or Bards, that operate as performers and also an international espionage system. Makes a lot of sense. No magic, but a solid combination of the time period (Byzantine Empire during the Crusades) and the lifestyle (performers). Cloak and dagger, or maybe toga and dagger?

I'm a big fan of the "Night Circus," but the magicians are more into what feels like Lunar Magic. Lots of illusions, manipulations of the mind. The tents in the circus reflect that, they seem to either be enchanting illusions or some sort of magically driven artiface.

Other areas where the Bard trope shows up?

If I'm not mistaken, Bards, as I most often hear the term used, were basically those who held the most important stories and histories of a culture in their mind so that it may be shared with the rest of the culture. Bards could be tribal cheiftans, government officals, clerics, medicine-men/women, witches (that is, by what some Christans would call witches), wizards. In a sense, the character Merlin was a Bard. Great Philosophers of the past like, Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Democritus, Kung Fu Tse (aka Confucious), and others can be perceived as Bards. Even Julius Ceasar and King Henry VIII had some bardishness to them. Of course there is also Chaucer and Shakespere who are the more obvious English Bards.

To me Bards have always been more of the spy/thief variety than performers or historians. I guess everyone has their own perspective on this, probably to do with what you read about them in the past or played in other games.

I love the "undercover" Bards who spied for Governments, or lived on the edge of the law. Plus I think Bards are really underrated when it comes to combat.