The Bard with Many Names

Fit as a fiddle, very agile and nimble, with the strength and tone of a dancer.

Bard is an elf by every aspect of appearance, though what he truly is remains a mystery to most. His frame is slender, perhaps even a bit thin, and tends to get even thinner in times of stress, despite Bard eating more than enough. No matter how much time he spends in the sun, he remains pale, though his brown hair gains a bit of a reddish hue.

High cheekbones, wide friendly smile, big friendly very green eyes, tons of freckles

Pointy ears, slender frame, long canines, old timey clothes, wild hair, most of the time the loudest of the bunch, always moving around, always carrying some caramels with him, smelling of wood smoke and the lemon oil he uses to polish the instruments at the university.

They could not sit like a normal person if their life depended on it. One knee up against the table edge, tuning the chair and prop up against the back support, Sitting on the Armrest of a couch or straight up sitting on the floor when there are chairs: They can and will not sit properly. Also: If there is any possibility for them to do some weird dancer-stretchy- thing or acrobatic pose, they will do it. Yes, it is comfy to sit in the half-split or hang upside down from a bookshelf, thank you very much. Bard is ambidextrous. They write, paint and fight with their left, but play instruments the classical way, hold the fork in the left hand and catch with their right. Since he came originally from Germany (although he doesn't remember much), he counts the German way: Thumb, index, middle finger.

Can play most instruments at least okayish, but excels with Guitar/lute, Singing, Violin and Cello. Currently learning about electronic music and loving it! Loves to paint but is not terribly good at it, Loves to dance but it starts to look really wonky once he leaves choreography, his acting however is completely outstanding, even among fae.   Bards everyday literomantic abilities are best described as "PinkiePie"-ing: Appearing out of thin air whenever it seems dramaturgically appropriate, having literally anything you are looking for in their pockets, knowing when you broke the word you gave them, breaking into song with some fancy special effects, or climbing into your room through a window that wasn’t there before and isn’t there after. There might be some special type of fae magic behind it, but it 's not researched yet.   Also… Bard knows stuff they should not know. Well, they don't really know, but they tend to say things that fit the situation of what the other person goes through a bit too close for comfort. Sometimes, Bards eyes get an eerie deep look to them and he says things that are a bit too true for this world. Sometimes, he remembers what he said. Sometimes, he doesn’t, but he doesn't care: He has always been like this, and most of the time, it seems to have been the right thing he said.  

Fighting

While they also know some of the basic literomantic spells like a small aura shield for damage reduction, a big focus of their abilities is the magic of a true bard: Illusions to confuse and divert enemies (and to put on an awesome show) and buffing. He sometimes uses Illusions pre fight to lure enemies into the wrong direction or disadvantageous situations, like noises in the wrong hallway or a flashing light to blind people, or uses illusions to make himself look more dangerous than he really is.   During fighting itself the Bard mostly uses support magic on themself to enhance his already not quite human agility and speed. This makes him a deadly opponent in close combat... should he reach you. He despises the use of any modern weaponry and is only meh with the bow, though he’s not bad at throwing knives. The easiest way to take him out is from afar and with a weapon not even his supernatural reflexes could dodge, or to lure him into a trap since Bard would not bat an eye to throw himself into the midst of a zombie festival if one of his friends is in danger. He has no problem jumping into shots and shielding people with his own body while cracking a joke with blood on his lips.   Mykola is not a fan of this practice.   He is not able to heal others, but he is able to soothe pain of any kind for a short period of time aka until the healer arrives or the person isn't in need of a healer anymore.   His fighting style would be best described with the word...extra. Whatever picture of flic-flacing and somersaulting swashbuckler comes to mind: That and more. He will always use everything and anything in his surroundings to his advantage (or as a diving board), makes a mess without end and does so with flair. His preferred weapons are the one handed sword plus a small round shield he painted with the colours of the nonbinary flag ("Finally something that makes sense in this modern time"). His fighting style is heavily inspired by (and maybe learned from) the Opera Nova , an italian fencing style from the 16th century. Still, he fights honourably...until the other person doesn't. Then the gloves come OFF and more than one biological male opponent would have been best suited to the boys chorus after messing with the bard. Sand into the eyes, kicking, biting, blinding with magic: everything is allowed.   Some people have seen Bard even teleporting short distances in combat, preferably behind someone for a backstab. He doesn't use this power lightly and doesn't like to talk about it, and not many who have seen him do this lived to tell the tale.   Since he is a Changeling, some people believe he is able to change his shape into anything. Bard alway laughs about that notion and deflects about it, but he never outright denies it.

Most of Bards Clothes are Linnen, quite cozy, perfect for travelling and look as if taken out of a mediaeval fantasy book. They prefer earthy tones and Shades of green without a lot of extra decorations, but of course they also have a Slutty poet shirt (™) for special occasions.. Whatever those might be, because Bard does not care for official things at all. They also wear a black ring made of stainless steel on a leather string around their neck which is very important to them, though nobody knows why.

He really loves his Lute and his Sword which he got from his teacher Xala for graduation. He got himself a shield, too, which he painted in the colors of the nonbinary flag. Somewhere left in the Fae wild is his fiddle, too, waiting for him to return

Raised in the Fae wilds, but spends way more time in the mortal realms than most fae do, which is also why Bard looks already like an adult even though they are much younger than other fae

Some mortals call themselves genderfluid. The Bard with many names might as well be called “the Bard with many genders”, because even though they keep their appearance quite the same, everytime they go to the fae-realm to get new names and a new voice, their preferred pronouns change to match (for them. Not quite for some other mortals). Right now, they use “he/him”, sometimes “they”. To them, gender is one of those weird things the mortal realm came up.

Panromantic Polyamory is the most natural thing in the worlds to them (People are just awesome, you know?) Even though they are somewhere on the demi-Acesexuality spectrum, no one who ever enjoyed a night with the bard will ever forget it. Consent is the most important thing to them and they are a very caring lover, but also offer quite the array of funny little things you can give your consent to… in short: They are kinky af, switch and know how to tie a knot.

The Bard knows a lot of stories and some very handy skills, but all of that pales in comparison to his artistic education: Singing, Dancing, Acting, the Theory underlying all of these subjects, even a bit of painting is in there. It took a while for people to notice, though, since Bard doesn’t act like someone who went to Uni - rather like someone who is thinking about going on a gap year. Talk to them though and you might realise that the idea of making Bard an art teacher wasn't as unhinged as some might have thought at first.

Teacher at the Penwall Arts Academy, Tome Knight, some things here and there… Mostly annoying the royals of this world by making windows appear in their working space and checking if they are alright. Should you ask him about working though…  

Ah, right! The whole money thing. Yeah I don’t know, I’ll just play some music and I’m nice to people. Most of the time it's enough for at least a warm meal. I don’t need much to be happy.

— Bard

Getting drunk with Willy and helping with “A Midsummernights dream”: Check! Telling that one hilarious story about a sausage, a bird and a mouse to Jacob and Willhelm: Check! Helping raise a big city out of nothing? Check! Bronze at the literomancy games April 23? Check! Although they have no Idea how they did that. They just found some people “having fun” and joined them. What's that weird metal thingy anyway? And Oh! Bard got another one in Gold in November? And another one? And the whole “help saving the world thing” during the Zombie apocalypse.. But yeah, it's not that big of a deal. But self care is important, so Bard collected a lot of Self care badges during some Events. Also, some Friends think that Bard is neat, so they awarded him quite a few Flames of Encouragement for being there for them. And that really means a lot to Bard. Also, they somehow called him “Epic Bard” and gave them another shiny thing? Dang, these mortals really seem to love those!

They may or may not have sparked a fight between Danton and Robespierre…but it was an accident! Promise!

Something happened at the last fight during November that made him terrified of the tome. He also seemed to be a bit more sorrowful since then and seems to be a lot busier than before, filling up his calendar to the brim.

Sharp witted, easy going, tends to think outside of the box (and being confused why people even see a box), empathic, friendly, Open hearted and quick to make friends with basically anyone and everyone, but sometimes a bit… over the top with energy and enthusiasm and sometimes tends to talk before he thinks.

They really deeply believe in optimistic nihilism: The worlds gonna keep turning, no matter what's gonna happen. And if it stops turning, welp, then it's not our problem anymore.

Though quite proficient with double speech, Bard is not able to lie due to his fae heritage. Promises are really important to Bard, even those you actually can’t really make, like promising you will survive a Fight. If A promise to Bard is broken, he knows If someone said no to anything ever, that is a NO. Step over that line and you will find Bard waiting on the other site. Armed.

They are here to have a great time and to learn new things! I mean yeah, dying would be anticlimactic, but who is talking about that? (Actually, Bard is really ducking afraid of death)

He tends to gift caramels to anybody who even looks remotely sad. When sad or upset, his ears lay down flat against his head. If there is the possibility or opportunity to climb something and/or hang upside down, he will. When someone quotes a play, he will start to quote it, too, and when someone sings a song he knows, he will join in. Other than that, he smiles in almost every and any situation he can, even when he is absolutely destroyed inside. He really, really hates it if people touch his head without his permission, including his hair. Yes, it is just as soft as it looks. Doesn't mean you can touch it. No, you can not touch the ears, either.

Bard actually puts a lot of care into his personal hygiene: Even though his hair is not tamable due to some fae magic, his teeth are white, his nails are clean, same as his clothes, even though they might be a bit worn from all the traveling he does. Self care is very important to himself, plus he knows that if he did not look his best, not only would it make his work as a bard so much harder, his old teacher Xalafan would probably kill him.

He is part of House Ailurus and absolutely adores Myko, but he is part of the summer court and with that a fae of Queen Titania. As a Bard, he enjoys some more freedoms than other fae, but if the Queen calls, the fae must follow.

Bard befriended basically everyone from the literomantic houses he met until now, at least that is what he thinks. In fact, he is really trying really hard to make friends with anybody: From the highest Queens to the lowest servants, Bard loves to talk to anyone and everyone. He has a very soft spot for children, trying to fulfil their every wish and spoiling them rotten if unattended. Anyone who calls themselves his student is officially adopted and he will do anything, really anything to protect him

No known blood relations, probably all dead… Or still out there somewhere! Remains to be seen. Also a lot and lot of friends in the fae realm, with a found sister in the fae wild   Xalafan took him in out of the gutter because of his artistic talents, practically raised him and taught him everything about art he knows. To bard, Xala is an absolutely adored big sister, but he hesitated to say it out loud due to some misunderstandings between the two of them in the past. He really wants to make her proud, but their different world view sometimes clash quite a lot. There was a big fight in their past that nearly cost them their relationship, but in the end, 500 years of companionship were worth more. They are working on getting it fixed.   Before he met Xala, Bear was Bards father figure, a scruffy Filborg with broken hands who takes care of the lost and homeless kids of the gutter part of the fae wild. He is a rough, but hearty man without a zero bullshit tolerance. One time, Bard did something extremely dangerous and said, Bear would need to knock him out to stop him. Bear did exactly that, rolled him in a blanket and knocked on Xalas door with that Bard-burrito.

Curses a lot, but in a friendly way. Very fast talking, a lot of information at once (like holy smokes does he even have to breathe?), very friendly towards anyone, never uses “thank you” and “sorry” due to fae rules, but sometimes tries to trick people into deals for them to take care of themselves

They have friends up in leadership positions of different Houses, so they now have a really nice place to stay wherever. And money! For food, shiny stuff, dice and more! Oh, that was expensive? Oh well, what good is money if you don’t use it. Or they gave it away to someone in need. Wealth is an abstract concept and money is there to be spent.   Mykola gives them some money for their work for house Ailurus. For their own safety, Bard does not get it all at once.