Bard College of Whispers: Backstory

This is a Bard College of Whispers Backstory that you are free to use or adapt for your own character. You can really use it for any bard backstory but it works particularly well for the darker arts.

Have you ever been to the Sarchadian Music Academy? If you have, you would know that parents put their kids on the waiting list for years before they even have kids. And if they are lucky enough to have the opportunity to send their children to the academy then they give them up at age three and probably don’t see their children again until they are grown. Or ever. Why then would they give up their own children? 

Fame. Fortune. Power. 

You see, those who make it out of the academy successfully are pretty much guaranteed fame, fortune and power. The performers are renowned throughout the world. Kings pay royally to have them perform and if they are wealthy enough to have an in-house musician from the academy then it is a status symbol worth noting. 

I was on track to graduate from the academy. I was top of my class. My performances were already gaining renown. And when my headmistress saw the spark of magic in me she personally took on my tutelage. I learnt to weave words and music into spells. I learnt to summon great power and control the world. 

But the night I was to graduate the headmistress brought me to a room filled with robed figures. A test, she told me. One simple task and then I was ready to take my place at her side. 

She brought in another student. One who I wasn’t particularly fond of. 

“Kill her.” 

The words rang starkly in the hall. I was caught by surprise and couldn’t move for the longest time. The headmistress just waited, watching me. 

Eventually I shook my head. This has to be a test of my ability to say no. And so I did. She did not takekindly to that and banished me. Sullying my name throughout the kingdom. I would never work again. Not in the manner I was trained for. I never did find out what happened to the girl.

Now I am looking to make my way in the world and avoid unwanted attention. I fight to make ends meet and I am too ashamed to return to the family I barely know. One odd job became two and now I guess you can call me an adventurer.