Andreas Highcastle, Bard

Andreas Highcastle, professionally known as Andreas the Bard, is one of the principle members of a group of entertainers known simply as the Traveling Troupe. The Troupe tours the Feywood on a circuit route that takes it through the region twice each year. Andreas' performances are typical bardic fare. He performs a mix of popular songs that tell well-known tales of bravery and wonder in times long ago, new tunes picked up from others of his trade that tell of far-off wondrous places, and a few new songs designed to keep people informed of important goings on in the greater world around them.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Andreas was born to wealthy parents in the The Free City of Endmere in the year 2125CR. His human father was a successful Kafay merchant who imported product from Icefell and sold it in several high-end shops in the Temple and Garden Districts of the city. His half-elven mother was a patron of the finer performing arts - she despised the very thought of the Colisseum Games - and constantly exposed young Andreas and his siblings to musical performances.

Education

Andreas showed musical talent of his own at a very early age, and his well-to-do parents encouraged it. They hired musical tutors to train the youngster, who quickly learned to play several musical instruments. As he started performing recitals, though, it became evident that there was something more than musical talent about him. He could captivate an audience in ways that few others could. An adventuring bard - a guest at a party thrown by his mother - noticed this and offered to teach young Andreas how to enhance this second gift. Under the tutelage of this Anton the Wanderer (as he called himself), Andreas learned the art of the Bard.

Employment

Andreas left his sheltered upbringing behind to seek fame and fortune as an Adventurer in the year 2155CR. Journeying from his home in Endmere, he linked up with other neophyte adventurers in Meadow's End. For the next few years, he adventured in the Central Plains and the Oakwood. Other members of his party came and went, and some met their dooms. After a few years of this, and after a particularly unhappy adventure that saw the loss of two companions, the group decided to disband.

Andreas met Elannia Altuliel, an Elf who had also adventured for a bit before settling into a tavern entertainer's life in Dryad's Falls. Together, they formed the Traveling Troupe nine years ago, in the year 2162CR. Seeking out other acquaintances they had made in their adventuring career, they purchased, outfitted, and customized a large covered wagon to serve as their home away from home as they traveled and performed. A mix of their continued sense of adventure and the belief that the Feywood to the South was becoming sufficiently settled caused them to try a circuit route that would bring them through all of the major settlements deep in the Feywood. Their first journey was so successful that they moved their winter home base from Meadow's End to Dryad's Falls, and they have been traveling the same circuit twice a year ever since.

Today, people along the route look with great anticipation toward to the two visits they receive each year from the The Carriage of Marvelous Wonders, the brighly painted wagon that carries the troupe from town to town.

Andreas Highcastle the Bard

Race

Human

Culture

Half-elven

Currently Boarded Vehicle

The Carriage of Marvelous Wonders

Age

36

Date of Birth

17 Time of Shimmerscale's Pyramid, 2134CR

Gender

Male

Hair

Sandy brown hair with a well-trimmed goatee

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Fair, slightly tanned

Height

6' 3" (190cm)

Weight

165 lbs (75kg)