The Guild of Living Poets
The quill-wielding rebels
The Guild of Living Poets refers to a group comprised of rebellious young students and disgruntled teachers who find fundamental disagreement with the philosophies and lessons taught in Solaris' Stonepillar Academy. Born from the discontent with the perceived lack of practical applications these lessons might have when applied to life outside of the academic environment the Guild holds lengthy debates, conversations and forums regarding the true nature and purpose of knowledge, when and where to pursue it and whether or not it belongs entrapped in tomes that aren't readily available for most. They operate under the motto Dulce Periculum.
The Guild's history is a recent one, having been established little under three years ago, on the 24th of Clearsky, 23 AE, and was founded by Zebeyane A’Darykur and her students after numerous dialogues between the two parties while discussing one of her works, titled The Academy without the academy. In it, A’Darykur comments about the need, both academic and social, to consider the teachings imparted by the Academy's teachers as meaningless if the students are disallowed from questioning their validity and practicality beyond the Academy's walls, while also underlining the need to start viewing education as a right rather than a privilege. Because of these opinions, A’Darykur was dismissed from the High Volute, the Academy's directing body, while still conserving her status as a teacher.
The Guild's published works are perhaps what most outrages the Academy's scholars. Not only are the members encouraged to publish their thoughts and critiques in a biannual, free tome called The Poets Live On, but also express themselves in the form of poetry that ignores most of the established canon in The Stonepillar Academy's Way of Words: Rules and Rhymes of Poetry, to the teachers' chagrin and the students' confusion.
Becoming a member is a simple process, needing only to present oneself to this Guild house near The Inkwell and start actively participating in the conversations to be considered part of the group.
As mentioned before, all Guild members are encouraged to write using their own style and ignoring any established rules for writing literature in general, focusing on poetry. As such, some members branch out from poetry and write plays, short stories, novels and short, periodic comedy stories sold for five copper pieces each one under the name Copper Delightfuls.
By far, their most public and important activity is their yearly participation in the Fighting Words, a competition promoted and organized by the Academy itself. The Guild chooses one representative from its members to stand against the Academy's teachers and most promising students, as well as independent poets, playwrights, authors and scholars, in a series of challenges that demonstrate the participant's knowledge within a language's lexicon while weaving a poem from their opponent's last verse. To the teachers' dismay, the Poets have won two years in a row.
The rest of the Guild's main activities consist in meetings that have no scheduled reunion time, occurring whenever the members have a need to discuss a topic that is either relevant or important for the rest of the Guild to hear.
Born out of Quailmon's distaste for inaction, and because of his belief that more could be done with the movement, the faction officially became separate from the Zebenites when Quailmon staged a protest that blocked the entirety of the Way of Words, the Academy's main road. The participants of said protest chanted the faction's manifesto, one which incites any who listen to look up from their books and start acting on the change that Solaris needs.
Their latest works and demonstrations have all alluded to the need to expel all drow elves from the city after the Underking's Siege, garnering attention from the city's masses through manifests, mocking plays and demonizing short stories. Quailmon himself is the most vocal is his pursue to oust all drow elves.
The Guild's history is a recent one, having been established little under three years ago, on the 24th of Clearsky, 23 AE, and was founded by Zebeyane A’Darykur and her students after numerous dialogues between the two parties while discussing one of her works, titled The Academy without the academy. In it, A’Darykur comments about the need, both academic and social, to consider the teachings imparted by the Academy's teachers as meaningless if the students are disallowed from questioning their validity and practicality beyond the Academy's walls, while also underlining the need to start viewing education as a right rather than a privilege. Because of these opinions, A’Darykur was dismissed from the High Volute, the Academy's directing body, while still conserving her status as a teacher.
The Guild's published works are perhaps what most outrages the Academy's scholars. Not only are the members encouraged to publish their thoughts and critiques in a biannual, free tome called The Poets Live On, but also express themselves in the form of poetry that ignores most of the established canon in The Stonepillar Academy's Way of Words: Rules and Rhymes of Poetry, to the teachers' chagrin and the students' confusion.
Becoming a member is a simple process, needing only to present oneself to this Guild house near The Inkwell and start actively participating in the conversations to be considered part of the group.
Activities
To promote their brand of thinking, the Guild of Live poets host open forums and extend an invitation for all in the city to attend to them. Throughout the forum's duration, Guild members discuss a variety of topics chosen for that specific reunion while periodically encouraging the listening crowd to participate with their own questions, opinions, observations or arguments regarding the topic at hand. Once a topic is exhausted, the Guild members move on to the next one.As mentioned before, all Guild members are encouraged to write using their own style and ignoring any established rules for writing literature in general, focusing on poetry. As such, some members branch out from poetry and write plays, short stories, novels and short, periodic comedy stories sold for five copper pieces each one under the name Copper Delightfuls.
By far, their most public and important activity is their yearly participation in the Fighting Words, a competition promoted and organized by the Academy itself. The Guild chooses one representative from its members to stand against the Academy's teachers and most promising students, as well as independent poets, playwrights, authors and scholars, in a series of challenges that demonstrate the participant's knowledge within a language's lexicon while weaving a poem from their opponent's last verse. To the teachers' dismay, the Poets have won two years in a row.
The rest of the Guild's main activities consist in meetings that have no scheduled reunion time, occurring whenever the members have a need to discuss a topic that is either relevant or important for the rest of the Guild to hear.
Factions
As of the 23rd of Stillbreeze, 26 AE, the Guild of Living Poets has undergone a schism that was produced because of the continued questioning of Zebeyane A’Darykur's leadership, resulting in two factions that follow the same core ideals under which the Guild was founded with different interpretations as to what those ideals represent.Zebenites
This group follows Zebeyane A’Darykur's leadership, known as Zebenites, adheres to what the Guild's original vision and as it has been described throughout this article: an association that offers a space where academic opinions of a contrarian nature can be shared with no fear of repercussion on behalf of the Academic committee and where poetry is accepted as it comes, not as it is expected to be, using The Academy without the academy as its cornerstone.Oral Poetry
The group known as Oral Poetry is the second and most vocal branch of the Guild, organized and led by Tysias 'Freedmind' Quailmon, the youngest of the Guild's founding members. The faction seeks to incite societal changes through their discourse and published works, functioning as a more political organization than an intellectual one.Born out of Quailmon's distaste for inaction, and because of his belief that more could be done with the movement, the faction officially became separate from the Zebenites when Quailmon staged a protest that blocked the entirety of the Way of Words, the Academy's main road. The participants of said protest chanted the faction's manifesto, one which incites any who listen to look up from their books and start acting on the change that Solaris needs.
Their latest works and demonstrations have all alluded to the need to expel all drow elves from the city after the Underking's Siege, garnering attention from the city's masses through manifests, mocking plays and demonizing short stories. Quailmon himself is the most vocal is his pursue to oust all drow elves.
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