“First, can you do anything with that Song, or just start playing into it?” The Bard asked.
“I haven’t tried to do anything,” Jeb admitted.
“Why don’t you try now?”
Jeb still felt the lingering echoes of the Song in his blood. Playing into it felt easier than it had before.
The Bard must have noticed his expression, because he commented, “each time you play a Song, you’ll likely find it easier to catch. That is one major difference between Glyph Magic and Song Magic. Knowledge of Glyphs is binary. You either control it or you don’t. With Songs,” the Bard noticed that Jeb was losing the Song, too focused on listening to him instead.
Jeb got back in sync with the Song after the Bard stopped speaking. The Mana he was using had to be doing something, but Jeb could not figure out what it was. Try as he might, no Magical effect seemed to be taking place.
Jeb tried to control the Mana that was joining the Song, and immediately broke out of it. He felt the lute shake slightly, and he felt a headache brewing.
“What broke you out of the Song?” the Bard asked him.
“I was trying to control what my Mana was doing as it joined the Song,” Jeb explained.
“Why?”
“That’s how I change the effect of my Glyphs,” Jeb said, “so it seemed like it could help me change what the Song was doing.”
“Good instincts!” the Bard encouraged him, “unfortunately for you, the Song that I taught you is not, technically, a Bard Song. Well, that’s up for debate. Some would argue that it’s the only true Bard Song, and everything else is just a shadow of it, but that’s philosophy for another time.”
That brought up so many questions for Jeb, but the Bard continued before he could ask them.
“Since you’ve got so much experience with Glyphs,” Jeb heard the song he’d begun to associate with the Bard Identifying him, “I’m going to try to teach you Songs as a counterpoint to Glyphs, if you’ll pardon my pun.”
Jeb looked at him for a moment, trying to find the pun. The Bard grinned, continuing “Glyphs are fundamentally static in space and time. At the levels you’re working in,” another hint of a melody, “you can think of them as points connected in space. Mana travels through those points, aspecting and shaping into the effect you want as it does.”
That more or less aligned with how Jeb saw Glyphs, which was a relief. There was a part of Jeb which always worried that the way he was learning Glyphs was wrong. The Bard’s comment of “at the levels you’re working in,” was an interesting one. Jeb wondered what that could mean. That was a question for later, though. Now was for listening to the Bard.
“Songs, at least formal Bard songs,” Jeb was beginning to understand that the Bard was very concerned with precision in his language, “are fundamentally static as well, though in different ways. At lower levels, like the Songs you’ll learn in the near future, they revolve around a single note, often called the Drone. At higher levels, the Drone often becomes a melody, and at very high levels even multiple lines, but that’s beyond what is helpful now. On top of the Drone, notes in time aspect the Mana as you keep playing, producing whatever effect you’re hoping for.”
The Bard pulled out his lute, clearly planning to demonstrate.
“Now, to be fair, the Drone note is often implied more than played in actual use, but that does bring up another difference between the two Magics. In Glyph Magic, the effects are primarily prescriptive. The Mana flowing through the points of light cause the same effect each time, with anything not explicitly stated by the placement up to your control. In Song Magic, though, the effects are mostly descriptive. The intention behind what you’re doing is just as important as the notes you’re playing, if not more so. It’s for that reason that Bards can perform their Magic even without making explicit music,” a flame sprouted on the Bard’s hand, “while Glyph Mages always need access to their Glyphs.”
The Bard started playing. A glimmer of lights started floating above the two of them, which Jeb assumed was the point of the Song.
“Can you feel the Drone of this song?”
Jeb listened hard, trying to find what didn’t change as the music flowed. Eventually, he admitted he couldn’t.
“What about now?” the Bard shifted what he was playing, emphasizing a single repetitive pattern.
“It sounds almost rhythmic,” Jeb said.
“Good catch! In Second Tier Songs, for all that the term is more or less meaningless in practice, the Drone shifts from being simply a tone to having rhythmic effect. Do you notice anything else about the Song?”
Jeb focused on listening to the music.
“It sounds like you’re repeating the same parts of the scale over and over,” he finally answered.
“Great listening! Keep this up and I wouldn’t be surprised if you get an Auditory Identification Skill. Modern Bardic Songs tend to use harmonies built around three chords that they cycle between. Then again, that also depends on the philosophy you take. Others argue that the system relies on a single harmony that the other two chords imply and lead to, but that’s also a lesson better saved for Theory.”
“Is that how Bardic Songs are static?” Jeb asked.
“Exactly. While the Song is constantly moving, it does so in a loop. At a high level view, moving in the same set pattern is the same as not moving at all, after all.”
Jeb thought about that for a while as the Bard kept playing.
“I’m not sure if I agree with that,” he finally said. “If I run in circles all day, I’ve still moved a lot. I’d get the Quest Notification for Running.”
“On the other hand,” the Bard retorted, “if someone saw you at the beginning and end of your run, would they be able to tell that you’ve moved?”
“That’s a fair point,” Jeb admitted.
“You also don’t need to agree with me yet. I’d rather you think about what I’m saying and disagree than blindly agree. That being said, though, is your disagreement something you feel fundamentally prevents you from trusting the rest of the lesson?”
“No!” Jeb replied instantly, “Sorry, no. I’m happy to go along with that answer for now, even if I don’t fully agree yet.”
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“I appreciate the assent. Now, it’s important for me to note here that I’m going to be teaching you the Standard Bardic Curriculum as it stands now, or at least as it stood three years ago. There are a number of Curricula, and none of them are objectively better in all cases. Since you’re likely to be spending most of your time in the Republic, though, the Republic Standard is likely to be the one used by most people you’ll interact with.”
Seeing Jeb’s confusion, the Bard moved on. “Now, the most important difference between Bardic and Glyph Magic is not in the way Spells are formed. Rather, their fundamental difference lies in the way that they interface with general reality. Bardic Magic does not take our creations from some idealized reality, nor does it reshape existing creations according to a claim towards objective perfection. Bardic Magic neither creates from nor takes creation from some idealized reality, nor does it reshape existing creations according to a claim towards objective perfection. Rather, Bards reshape reality towards their own ideal, subjective as it is.”
“I’m not sure I understand the distinction,” Jeb admitted.
“Take this stone, for instance,” the Bard said, holding up a stone that may or may not have been in his pocket a moment ago. “If I were a Glyph Mage, I would know that in the perfect version of reality, the stone would have a sharp edge. If I was prepared and had the right Glyph, I might use Stonesharpen, to shape this stone into a blade. If instead, I had Shape Stone, I could still turn it into a blade, though that would rely more on my will to actively shape the Spell. If all I had was a First Tier Spell of Shape Earth, I could remember that Stone comes from Earth, and still force the stone into what I know to be its perfect shape.” As the Bard spoke, the stone in his hand seemed to flicker between a sharp blade and a smooth river rock.
“I think I understand,” Jeb said. As he thought about it, that was the way that his mind tended to wander as he used Glyphs. When he Created Water, he knew on a deep level that there should be water there.
“Now, the different Statistics a Glyph Mage uses are also relevant here. If they have high Willpower, they can overwhelm the stone’s inclination towards remaining dull. If they have high Intelligence, they can more convincingly lie to reality as it is, making it what it should be.” That sounded in line with what Jeb remembered from his Magic Primer, which was nice.
“As a Bard, I find this approach arrogant. After all, according to the Glyphs, the truest form of Water is not a river, or a lake, or an ocean. Rather, it is water devoid of anything else. Is that truly the purest form of Water?”
Seeing that Jeb was thinking hard about it, the Bard continued on. “While that wasn’t a rhetorical question, it’s also not a question we should spend time on now. I’m sure that you’ll ponder that as you practice both Magics.”
The Bard continued, “As a Bard, I would do something totally different. As a skilled Bard, I would find this stone’s Song.” The Bard started playing notes on the lute, and Jeb could somehow sense that what he was hearing was, on some level, the stone the Bard was holding. As he focused, he felt a resonance with Gift of Gab. “Once there, I would change its Melody, changing its Song to be sharper.” Jeb felt the music shift and watched the stone turn into a knife.
“A more novice Bard, by contrast, would likely start with a Song of Sharpness, singing to the stone. In either case, my Charisma may encourage it to realize that what I want is also what it wants. Or, if I remain unpersuasive, I could overwrite its will to remain unchanged with my own Willpower.”
Jeb struggled to see the difference between the two Magics. Both were an imposition of your will on the world, which he mentioned to the Bard. The Bard reminded him that it was about the intent behind the imposition, which Jeb agreed with. Mind swimming in new thoughts, Jeb left the Inn.
He was halfway back to the farm before he realized he hadn’t been given anything to work on.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
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Jeb Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 1781/100
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Total Statistic Load: 182 Physical Load: 109 Strength: 25 Dexterity: 18 Endurance: 27 Vitality: 35 Presence: 4
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Mental Load: 73 Intelligence: 21 Willpower: 20 Magic Affinity: 16 Mana Depth: 3 Charisma: 13
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Mana: 335
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Glyph Attunement: 9 Least Conjure Water Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Earth Tier 1 Spell Least Create Earth Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Earth Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth - Efficient Tier 3 Spell Least Move Air Tier 1 Spell Least Create Fire Tier 1 Spell Least Create Mud Tier 2 Spell
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Skills: Least Mud Magic Meditation Mana Manipulation Spell Glyphing Improved Glyph Groking Gift of Gab Running Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Lifting Athletics Lute Playing Singing Musician Pollination
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)