Bardic Magic

**User(s)** | Ferivar Kutaeminbeb

**Bardic Magic** (バード魔法, Baado Mahou) is a very powerful and ancient Magic which once allowed man to cast spells through music of any kind: poetry, musical instruments, singing, etc., While there are myths of famed bards, legends reveal that the true masters of Bardic Magic were not mortals, but rather Satyrs—nature spirits gifted with musical aptitude. The first of the bards accredited their acquisition of the magic to the generosity of Satyrs, who supposedly taught them the craft. However, when Satyrs were discriminated against following the fall of the Dragons, their magics became outlawed and forgotten. Although it is rare among humans, Bardic Magic is still widely practiced by Satyrs and Nymphs.

## Description

Researchers have defined Magic as the phenomenon where the individual spirit connects with the flow of nature itself, but this flow of nature is nothing but the manifestation of thought, and emotions. It is love and hatred, ambitions and dreams, traditions and beliefs, etc., As a result, studies have demonstrated the effect that culture has had on magic. There are entire systems of magic that are only accessible to those of certain cultural identities. When the beliefs, traditions, and experiences match the same recorded ideals that exist within this spiritual flow of nature, the soul thereby forms a connection that allows one to cast a miracle. Because of this, certain mages tend to have affinities towards specific types of magics, while also having magics that are more difficult to learn due to the inability to understand all beliefs, traditions, rituals, or the emotions of those that came before them.

Realizing this, humans have attempted to combat this inherent weakness by constructing other magics such as Geomancy and Alchemy, which use metaphysical runes as symbols to alter ethernano in the area and change it. If done in this way, a mage can access other forms of magics by having written symbols to cast the magic, bypassing the need to become emotionally aware of other cultures. Despite this versatility, Geomancy is also rarely used due to the sheer amount of time it takes to memorize these runes and to create them. Because these symbols must be representative of cultures and ideas, constructing them require deep research of written languages of ancient civilizations. Bardic Magic has a similar function to Geomancy, in that it is meant to be used as a gateway to access the library of magics the world possess. However, in terms of application, the two could not be any different. Bardic Magic decides to use music as a form of expression, in the sense that it is a universal language that can be used to connect cultures and ideas by evoking and replicating these emotions in their musical works. For Satyrs, this is a particularly useful magic due to their isolation from human society. Like Geomancy, Bardic Magic requires one to actively study the musics of foreign cultures often to evoke specific, specialized magics.

However, Bardic Magic is itself a highly specialized magic which requires immense training and emersion to properly use without damaging oneself. Because Bardic Magic only serves as a canal to connect the caster to other magics, the caster’s skill is controlling these ambient energies are unpolished. Thus, while they are extremely versatile mages with the ability to cast various spells, their power is limited by their lack of control and practice with these different magics. For this, they are recognized as jack of all trades, but masters of none; the only limiting factor of a bard’s versatility is their own skill with bardic magic. Though, in combat, this magic does not truly serve as an offensive magic. The amount of time it takes to play a song limited the bard's effectiveness in direct combat, and because the overall power of their spells are limited it does very little offensive damage. Instead, they tend to serve as enchanters, or supports to the front-line fighters by accessing spells that bolster the magics, and physical capabilities of their comrades, and/or weakens those traits of the enemy.