Soul is not a silent, static egg that we must shelter from the outside world until the time comes for it to hatch. Troubadours know the truth – the soul is a living, breathing maelstrom and unless we open up and let it out, it can smother to death within us. And the Troubadours have the keys to let it out.
Each Troubadour is a master of some artifice – singing, dancing, painting, sculpting, cracking jokes, or even just folding paper cranes. In their past lives, they were the queens of bards, storytellers and chanters, masters of divine instruments who imparted the wisdom of the ages in grand halls and shady grooves. Now their mission now is to set us free from ourselves. Art, the Troubadours teach, gives shape to things that people can't or won't express themselves. Every song or painting or performance lets the silent and unassuming realize and crystallize the beautiful internal forces they otherwise overlook. The people of the Fallen World suffer through with souls buried under the rubble of the Kingdom. The Troubadours are archaeologists of Joy.
Most people would describe Troubadours as people with their heads in the clouds. If they aren't visualizing a statue or planning a new routine or reviewing the forms of a plot, then a Troubadour is admiring the natural art of the world around her – the patterns woven out of everyday life and the people who populate it. Troubadours are vibrant, expression personalities, not shy about baring their souls. Their chosen art tends to consume their life and they want to involve as many people as they can in It. Unfortunately, they are artists first and foremost – they easily get lost in a world of symbols and frequently can't understand people's impatience with their “frivolous” hobbies.
Troubadours dream of their own artist ambitions displayed on an epic scale – murals that span cities, songs that resonate to the heavens, whole countries dancing. In these dreams, they are the puppet-masters that make the whole world come to life with their energy and enthusiasm. The Cataclysm descends and they find themselves singer is the land of the deaf, painters in the land of the blind, clowns under the flag of melancholy, wandering a cold world as they starve in rags.
Troubadours have affinity for the Plainsong, Illusion and Twining Charms. Only Troubadours may learn Plainsong.
Starting Troubadours get one transformed Attribute dot in either Manipulation or Presence.
Troubadours draw magic from the release of others' souls. Their duty encompasses providing art that inspires or consoles those who otherwise draw into themselves, encouraging and teaching those looking for a way to express themselves, and energizing those around them with their own vibrant talents.
First Oath: A Troubadour must awaken, not tranquilize. Her talents may not be used to make people complacent or ignorant – her art must always carry the sting of truth and the spark of life. It must never be used to make people afraid to their own identities and trick them into silence.
Second Oath: A Troubadour's art must be for her audience. She must not become so wrapped up in her own ego that she forgets the people around her. Without the mortals who need it, her art is merely a selfish exercise in solipsism.
Third Oath: A Troubadour must devote herself to art. The Art is her life. There can be no time for anything else, no other ambitions. She must wholly and totally be an artist.
Fancy Lala, Haruhara Haruko, the EBA