Songweavers

The Songweavers
Type:	College/Guild
Alignment:	Spontaneity 3, Freedom 4, Tolerance 4
Headquarters:	Delemri, Gartania; Hyrend, Ardeste
Leader:	Shaolynn Rhapsody
Membership:	1200 performers
Motto:	"Love, laugh, live"

The Songweavers is a bardic college, the source of many of the world's most enjoyable songs, stories, dances, and plays. The minstrels which fill its ranks are creative, entertaining, sociable, and outgoing. They delight in the applause earned for their work. Songweavers have appeared in royal courts, inns, squares, and festivals, and some travelers have been blessed with their talents on the road.

History

While stories have been around as long as speech, the college was founded in 515 in the Age of Knowledge. It was originally formed in Hyrend, the largest city and capital of Ardeste. At first, it was little more than a guild for like-minded Elven bards to collaborate and critique each others' work. After a few hundred years, their purpose became more grandiose and expanded operations to instruction of writing in many forms: stories, plays, and songs. A formal campus was set up for the Songweavers in Hyrend in 1201 of the Age of Knowledge. In 1795, a second campus was built in Delemri.

In its nearly 4,000 years of operation, the college has held in its ranks countless talented performers. For much of this time, these were Elves and Half-elves, but there have been many humans, and halflings. Rarer still are the Dwarf minstrels, but there have been some on record.