Talespinners' League

Members with specific questions also have the right to query members outside their own specialties for information- Answering such a query is rarely a high priority, however, especially if no reason is given for the request .

Dues : Annual dues are 250 gp, but active collegians spend much more than this on their research, correspondence with other members, and occasional regional meetings .

Relations : The College of Concrescent Lore maintains a friendly rivalry with the College of Arcanobiological Studies and a not-so-friendly rivalry with the Talespinners' League- However, Concrescent Lorists give the cold shoulder to wizards "who just want to copy down our books for the spells, not to learn anything ."

Centuries ago, some members of the College of Concrescent Lore objected on philosophical grounds to the organization's secretive approach to information . Their desire to share information with outsiders literally tore the college in two . The disaffected members formed the Talespinners' League, a college devoted to the free flow of information. Since that time, League members have honed their performance skills and branched out beyond the history and arcana studies that Concrescent Lorists favor. Many Talespinners are bards, but occasional arcane spellcasters are also welcome-especially if they are members of the virtuoso prestige class-

Area of Study: The Talespinners' League collects every kind of lore imaginable . Not as academic as the Concrescent Lorists, Talespinners study down-to-earth topics such as the everyday traditions of various cultures .

Organization : The Talespinners' League is based on the master-apprentice relationship- New students learn lore from masters and eventually become masters themselves . The masters in each region meet once or twice a year and make any necessary decisions by a simple majority vote . (Usually there aren't many pressing issues because League members tend not to involve themselves with politics-) Once that part is over, other invited members arrive, and the meeting becomes a grand exercise in tale-swapping . Each member who attends is expected as a matter of courtesy to share (via a tale) any new lore uncovered since the last meeting . Keeping secrets is against the League's code of conduct, but the only penalty for doing so is a lack of tales to tell at the regional meeting . Secretive or troublesome Talespinners are rarely booted out of the League-they just don't get invitations to future meetings, and the rest of the college learns to ignore them-

Activities : Members spend time collecting all kinds of lore. Rather than relying on academic reports to disperse it, the League embeds its lore within historical or fictitious tales . Any member is free to specialize if desired but can change specialties at a moment's notice-

Distinctions : The League's motto is : "The heart of the tale is in the telling." Talespinners don't wear robes, but many add blue and white tassels to their clothing-

Admission : Because the Talespinners' League is nothing more than chains of masters and apprentices, the only prerequisite for membership is gaining a mentor who is a member of the League. To achieve this, the candidate must tell the prospective mentor three tales, making a successful Perform check (DC 25) for each . One story must be about the candidate, one about a stranger, and the third about one of the candidate's friends . Choosing tales particularly suited to the listener (DM's discretion) is worth a +2 circumstance bonus on the check- A candidate who fails to impress one mentor can try again with another if desired-

Once the candidate is accepted, the apprenticeship proceeds entirely at the mentor's whim. The process typically lasts for several months and involves learning new tales and performance techniques- The apprentice earns the title "Master Talespinner" at the mentor's discretion . Only a Talespinner who has been a master for at least five years can take on apprentices-

Membership Benefits : The biggest benefit to membership is access to the college's treasure trove of loreIt's free for the asking, because Talespinners love nothing more than to exchange stories of far-off lands, arcane enigmas, and mysterious creatures- Unlike their academic rivals, however, Talespinners lack any organized means of cataloging their lore- Thus, an apprentice's query about a particular item might produce the following sort of reply : "A few years back, someone at the northern meeting