[Dork] Bardic Colleges

The Bardic Colleges
The longest running and most brutal war the old empire ever fought was against culture and knowledge.  Each dynasty set about not only systematically destroying all the knowledge and memory of every people they could subdue, but also the accumulated history of their own people to date.  Through accident or design, the empire fostered a deep streak of anti-intellectualism that remains prevalent in the Provinces even after the fall.  The Bardic Colleges truly are a secret organization, even a generation after the empire stopped ruthlessly rooting through their colonies, burning books and hanging the people who held them; these organizations are slow to trust.  Slow to trust the people who largely sold them out and refuse to listen, some infected with a sneering hatred of expertise and learning, but most merely deeply ambivalent about the ruins the empire made of their displaced and oppressed cultures.  They have been slow to trust one another, since the collegial system is divided along cultural lines and though all of them were called “colleges” in the security documents of the empire, they have vastly different scope and structure, depending on who made them.  In most Provinces, the collapse of the empire has made things worse for the colleges with strongmen and demagogues scrambling for power at any cost, with all of the imperial prejudice against those of learning but none of the security of position.   It’s not much of a stretch to assume that most of those on the Path of the Bard have some ties to a college, but anyone who believes in knowledge and seeks to reclaim their culture and history has a stake in the work of the colleges.
Bardic colleges can differ significantly from one another, especially between Provinces, so in taking collegial Traits, it’s good to think about what you want the structure, resources and goals of your college to be.  Most colleges identify their members through signs and counter-signs, though some colleges may use other identifying symbols and means of marking their allegiance.
Bardic colleges entrust knowledge and history to their members, including books and other means of recording information, also access to libraries, hidden caches and laboratories.
The Traits listed below are not the only Bardic College Traits there are, and you can feel free to alter, make up ones, mix and match them as suits your character.   
·         You are a Culture Preserver, dedicated to promoting the traditions and history of your people; this is a public and, in many places a dangerous assignment, even still.
·         You are a Lore Seeker, hunting down leads and rumors of lost information and knowledge.  Archaeological adventurer, pretty much.
·         You are a Knowledge Protector, charged with the defense of a particular set of information, knowledge, set of books, cache or library.  It is up to you to ensure that those who need can learn from what you have and those who would seek to destroy it never get to do so.
·         You are an Expert in Field with specialized knowledge that makes you both a valuable asset and a valuable target.
·         You are a Wandering Teacher, and you have sacrificed depth of knowledge for breadth.  You risk your life to share that knowledge with your people.
·         You are a Rogue Scholar who knows things that even your college would rather be forgotten.  Eventually, what you know will vindicate you, but for now, discretion is the order of things, even among your colleagues.
·         You are an Ivory Tower Dweller, one of the few who had security enough to carry out your studies without constant fear of exploitation or for your safety.  Will what you learned in that time serve you well enough to survive?
·         You are a Simple Entertainer, one of the clandestine administrators of your college.  Not always as well educated, your remit is usually to help and protect others.
·         You are an Iconoclast, someone who believes that the people are ready to hear the truth.  Not very popular.
·         You are an Academic Avenger, one who protects your college through more direct routes.  And stabbing.