Bards of New York (2024)

18/08/2024

Hello wh*res for lore! We’ve had many requests for info on the Isskari - a homebrew species from our Dark Age world. Read on!

My loyal readers may remember I went on an extended hiatus last year, when I travelled beyond the Arm of Aldwyn for some exclusive scribe-work. Well, readers, that work has finally borne fruit

Allow me to be the first to reveal to you a snippet of life hidden below the ice, to uncover some of the well-kept secrets of Asaal’atash!

Today we discuss the Isskari

Once thought by many to be a mere bedtime story told to Orcish children, to warn them of the perils of straying too far into the tundra, the Isskari people are very much real. A mirror to the Orcs, the bulk of their people live in one large, subterranean mega-city called Asaal’atash, or “Glorious Purpose.” This name alone should give you a sense of Isskaren sensibilities

Through diagonal and geometrically aligned passageways of gleaming marble and bone, complete with a sprawling, spartan residential district, the cavernous city converges at the middle. There lies a tower-like structure which serves as both the main governing body, along with a gladiatorial arena for those seeking to climb the societal ladder. This core building is called the Beresaadataar or “Keeper of Those Who Aspire”

Isskari social life is based on a ruthlessly strict caste structure, known as the Brands of Iskaar. Through a clandestine rite, each newborn Isskari is marked with a network of tattoos across their skin, brought forth from their own blood. These “Brands” determine which caste you will be sorted into:

🔺The Body, “Karnak,” led by the Vel’Karr: warriors, labourers, and those defined by the physical
🔺The Mind, “Saaresh,” led by the Vel’Isaan: scholars, and those burdened with dangerous magics
🔺The Spirit, “Adaaren,” led by the Vel’Nok: members of the secular priesthood, charged with maintaining the Brands

This is about as much as I feel comfortable sharing in one go, for fear of retribution from the north. If you wish to hear more on my time there, let me know, and let us hope I am not hunted down in the meantime. Til then, spare a copper for the Dragon and read well!

04/08/2024

Hello my wh**es for lore! We’re back with another juicy lore bite. Set those tinfoil hats firmly upon your beautiful noggins and get to speculating

🌟The Nevricīl🌟

As a dutiful scholar and veritable caroler of knowledge, it has come to my attention that many of you readers – my sweet Mortal readers especially – tend to tar the Elvhen with one wide, prejudicial brush

No, in fact, they are not all “hoity-toity magic hoarders.” Some are to be certain, but not all

In this issue, I will enlighten you on one of the more furtive and ancient groups among the Elvhenan: The Nevricīl

Known as “The Joyful Guild” in Common, the Nevricīl are a testament to Elvhen memory and persistence, as they are one of the oldest known factions in our modern world. The date of their exact inception is lost to the ages, but it is firmly believed that the Joyful Guild was founded nearly 15,000 years ago! An eternity to many of us, but roughly a mere ten generations for the Elvhenan

Legends tell that the Nevricīl were borne after the venerable Tamsyn Nevrikos had a chance encounter with one of the Eclipse while scouting the primordial Heart Wilds. The great Nevrik, God of Emotion (and later Father of Wizardry) is said to have graced the scouts with a hunt and after such glory, Tamsyn resolved to ensure that this act of divine, peaceful benevolence was never forgotten. Thus he became the First Joy. Quite the resounding success, I’d say!

The Guild’s purpose, however, has indeed evolved over the eons. It is clear to us that initially, the Nevricīl were an official arm of Üthevhenan tasked with spreading Elvhen influence beyond the confines of the Wilds. But that has clearly changed. These days they seem quite divorced from the Elgariis and his Court

The Nevricīl of today are mostly Ad’Elvhen and are vehemently nomadic. They view the Prime at large as their true home and believe firmly that we all must live in harmony with both each other and the natural world. To exist as the gods truly intended

If so peace-inclined, why then craft a faction of shadow-wielding wetwork operatives, hmm? A question perhaps for a different day. Til then, spare a Copper for the Dragon, and read well!

21/07/2024

Hello my wh**es for lore! Here’s the next installment in our Sunday lore series for our new campaign “Dark Age”

Come join the mythweaving this Monday!

💫The Vanguard of the Coalition💫

One would hope that what I am about to impart is mostly for those of you across the Prime. Anyone living under the Coalition’s banner should ideally know this

However, I am not a hatchling, and am WELL aware that Mortals are not known for their…robust educational systems. So consider this a well-researched refresher!

If the Coalition of Greater Order is the governing body for the Mortal States, then the Vanguard is its sword-wielding right hand

As a concept, it pre-dates the Coalition itself. It began ages ago as the paramilitary force of an ancient Calanthus and has since grown into the dominant military force, not just in the Coalition, but generally across the Prime as a whole

Seeing themselves as the force which allows the Mortal States to compete at the same level as the Elvhenan, the Vanguard is divided into three major groups:

- The Knight-Vanguard: your standard, highly trained elite soldier seen leading all Coalition cohorts during vigilance or wartime
- The Solarborne: Sunbound super-soldiers dispatched to ensure victory, provoke fear or simply purge something from the map
- The Inquisitors of the Dawn: the arcane secret police with motives and methods shadier than the rituals used to train them

All of these groups are overseen and directed by the High-Vanguard, commander in chief for all Vanguard operations across the Mortal States. The Vanguard motto is “Progressus per Potentiam” or Progress Through Power! None embody that more than their current leader, High-Vanguard Beatrix Avalon, known to the Elves as Fæna’shevaar, the Wolf-Among-Sheep. She has served not only as the Vanguard’s leader, but the head of the whole Coalition for the last 15 years. The longest term in any Mortal’s recent memory!

Whether Avalon will act on the wishes of her people and make a decisive first strike against the Elvhenan, only time will tell. But until then, spare a copper for the Dragon and read well!

– G. Norixior, A Dragon’s Tooth

14/07/2024

🌞Who’s your Sun Mommy?🌞
Happy Day of Our Lore! Here are the hot deets on the ever divisive deity: Yla, The Potter.

See you on Monday for some mythweaving!

✨Yla: The Potter✨
Whilst I still have you all enraptured, dear readers, on topics that could have me sealed away in a Coalition gaol, let us dive a little deeper, shall we?

Let us examine the Sunmother herself, Yla, the Potter.

Never say I don’t do my due diligence for you all…

Of all the lingering myths of the gods of old, Yla’s are the most easily accessible, as the Vanguard does not restrict study on the Potter. The Vanguard draws their power and societal energy from “the Sun’s Grace,” after all, and believes Yla to be the progenitor of the Sun as a whole.

Not the most abstract line of thinking, but one must give the Vanguard credit for trying.

Commonly known as the first of the Crucible, eldest child of the Prime, it is the Potter who is credited for creating both the other gods, and the very concept of life as a whole! What a truly divine feat! Almost beggars belief, if you ask me, but few folk-of-the-cloth ever do.

Her moniker comes from the stories which tell of the Great Wheel, a device beyond comprehension upon which she sculpted the Clay of Being, to create everything we understand. Interestingly, the Elves have a different name for the Wheel: Aravel’ghilan. Directly, this means “That which guides the path,” or more colloquially, a map-maker. Your guess is as good as mine, readers, as to how this bit of trivia came about!

What all the stories agree on, is what the Potter stood for. In both the ruins of her ancient temples, and within the hallowed halls of Calanthus today, you may still find adages exalting:
- Order
- Certainty
- Imagination

It bears thinking on, that a god who exemplified putting everything in its place would value creativity? Certainly merits a good mental chew, that one. But while the Sun may still have its day-to-day uses, Yla is as long-gone as the rest of the gods, and she’s had enough of my quill for today! ‘Til next time, readers, spare a copper for the Dragon, and read well!

– G. Norixior, A Dragon’s Tooth

13/07/2024

Episode 3 is up on YouTube and podcast platforms!!

Episode 3 | Dark Age | Book I: Sand & Starlight
🔥Bargains & Bloodshed🔥

Our adventurers journeyed deep within the rat-infested mine of the Lifeless Sea, finally encountering a massive crystal trapped within the co**se of the rat-Queen. One by one they communed with the crystal and were met with a vision of Ünen. Now linked by something unexplainable, our Copper Legion examinees must journey back to Spearhold keep before sundown.

✨Moments from the stream include:
- LORE! Like so much. Our tinfoil hats are glued to our heads
- The Copper Legion is sussy
- Aelys’ hunger demon & forgettable bargains
- Hareem, Lord Hareem arrives mid chaos
- The Tablet
- Salvador hears a voice

Catch up so you can join the mythweaving live on Monday nights! 😘 💕

07/07/2024

LORE DROP!
Who are the gods of Regolus? What is their story? Read on to find out!

Now before I continue, I am well aware that the following subject is rather controversial and even criminal in various corners of the Prime. But as tense sentiments seem to increase lately, I feel a duty to inform my fellow Primeborne as to who is at the core of this whole dilemma

Allow me to introduce to you Those Who Were Once Divine: The Crucible and the Eclipse

From what few archaeological records I am still given access to in Gra’axus, the Crucible is believed to be the First-of-Heaven: a group of celestials who lived within the Sun and, by their will alone, shaped reality as we now understand it. Excluding Uro, the Crucible consisted of
- Yla, the Potter
- Damii-Yno, Hammer of the Gods
- Vӕxtaar, the Dark Between Stars
- Sindar, All-That-Moves
- Kirrehan, Archivist of Memory
I should note there is evidence of a sixth. I have seen the name “Aldwyn” passed around on various relics, but officially this deity seems to have been smote from history. A fate worse than our mortal death if you ask me

While the Crucible seems to have been tasked with the esoteric, the newer gods were far more down-to-earth, literally. The Eclipse or “The Silent Pantheon” seems to have come into being as a result of godly energies mingling with the Prime Plane.
Infamously responsible for creating the Moon in an act of divine rebellion, the Eclipse contained
- Ystävä, the Beckoner
- Midnight, Deathtouched
- Hylan, Saint of Mortalkind
- Nevrik, Caster of Passions
- Ünen, the Moonsmith
We may never know the full roster or extent of those who shaped our troubled, beautiful world. What is true, my readers, is that both the Crucible & the Eclipse are long, long gone. Whatever happened those many years ago is as lost to us now as the gods are themselves, but these Divines cast their gaze elsewhere and left a seat vacant in the Firmament

A seat which I personally hope stays empty for as long as we all shall live

But enough doom and divine gloom for now – next time I promise to chat on a much cheerier subject! Til then, spare a copper for the Dragon and read well!

– G. Norixior, A Dragon’s Tooth

05/07/2024

New episode is live on YouTube!
Episode 2 | Dark Age | Book I: Sand & Starlight
👀Secrets in the Mine👀

✨When last we left our adventurers; Bubbles, Synnove, Aelys, Sal, and JB have been given their first task in their entrance exam for the Copper Legion; Journey through the Lifeless Sea, reclaim a mine overrun by Rats, and return by the next sundown. How will our examinees fair as the sun sets?✨

⚡️Moments from the stream include:
- Amazing sound effects brought to you by and Will’s mouth
- Sal’s favorite cocktail is LITERAL POISON
- Aelys and Sal give us a vague lore dump about their shared past/goals
- Magical massages
- Halifax
- The truth behind the salt mines
- Queen Co**se
- A message from Unen

Catch up on the mythweaving so you can join us live on Mondays! 😘

30/06/2024

✨Day Of Our Lore✨is back and looking better than ever!

Those of us in the Bards of New York community who are ✨Wh*res for Lore✨needed an outlet to share the lovely tidbits of info that we come across in our collective storytelling

Stay tuned on Sundays for delectable readings from our in-world scholar, Garavel!
———————-
From an issue of “A Dragon’s Tooth,” the collected works of Garavel Norixior, Scholar of the Realms:

While the Mortal States have made many notable, if not garish, contributions to the Prime (see my dissertation on the Coalition Railway…), there are none so widely nor accessibly prudent as the Copper Legion.

Founded nearly 900 years ago, I am nigh certain, dear readers, that were it not for some stroke of divine inspiration, we would not have the Legion today, nor would we know of its founder, Xenarius. A Cleric of Sacrifice, one of the last Devotees of Hylan, little is known of her previous activity, save for her signature on the List of Living Vows.

The Legionnaires maintain that during a prayer, Xenarius was given a vision from the Saint of Mortalkind. They say she was instructed to seek sanctuary in the south – to build a haven for adventurers to look after their own. And that she did! Bolder than I, certainly, though I cannot rightly say how I would respond to a direct command from the divine.

And so the Copper Legion began, and lo, how it has evolved! Now, in 1013 DH, the Copper Legion take bounties and missions from all sorts of troubled clientele, with 6 total branches of the Legion, found in:
- Faleeria, the founding branch and command office
- Port Baltan
- Cartalo
- The Calatine Wood
- Breakhead Bay (notoriously corruptible, however)
- And one outside the Mortal States, in Disterra!

With a reputation to uphold as “the People’s Army,” it is not shocking that Commander Bertrand now looks to save face after the fiasco with a Rank Leader disappearing. However, in my experience, Mortals are quick to forgive when promised a spectacle, and that is exactly what these Exams purport to be! I await the results on tenterhooks just as you do, readers, but until then, spare a copper for the Dragon, and read well!

– G. Norixior

28/06/2024

We’re live baybeeee!
Dark Age | Episode 1 | Book 1: Sand & Starlight
⚔️The Copper Legion⚔️

A new story is about to unfold. Prepare yourself to meet new friends and foes, journey to realms both ancient and advanced, and to triumph over new challenges, or fall. Join us in telling our next great adventure

You don’t need to have watched ANY of our content before nor have ever even played D&D to join this adventure!

Moments from the stream include:
- OUR NEW DUNGEON MASTER!
- Beautiful character art by our amazing community member
- RUMORS 👀
-
- Mind palace chat room with JB, Sal & Aelys
- Dune Hogs
- Rec-tal-GON-al/Pen-ta-GON-al
- Book fight with Sal, Aelys & Synnove
- Woody casts Cloud Kill on the studio

What a BLAST this first ep was. So excited to story tell with you all!
Catch up on YT or podcast so you can join in on the mythweaving live on Mondays!

15/06/2024

Before we start on our next story, come join us for a very special Bards After Dark: Tell All episode! Monday, 6pm ET.

We’ll process all that has happened over the last 3+ years. Answer questions. Probably make Woody cry??? And give you a taste of what’s to come. 😉 👀 🐧

It’s an exciting time.
Come join what is sure to be a really lovely time where we hang with y’all and have a post mortem moment for the Ballad of the Nightmare Krew

We know y’all are curious about our sweet Drew and if he’ll be able to join us. We’re working with him to make that happen. Come join and send him all the love!

See you Monday at 6pm ET!

Bards of New York

18/08/2024

04/08/2024

21/07/2024

14/07/2024

13/07/2024

07/07/2024

05/07/2024

30/06/2024

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