[Bards] Historical Aside...

[Mike C. Baker]

> Of course, that doesn't stop folks from *feeling* like other 
> people are treating them like red-headed step-children, 

There are multiple sources of evidence that, at least in some places and
in some cultures at some times (yes, primarily Celtic in nature), Bards
truly *were* red-headed and often step-children, acknowledged by-blows,
or otherwise not-fully-heritable sons and daughters of the noble classes
-- and the expectations were that Bards standing as witness or otherwise
engaged in official capacities were expressly barred from wearing hats /
hoods / helmets.

This has particularly entered the historical record in accounts of
battle, where the Bards were the collectors of accounts of how
individual warriors performed in their feats of arms, challenges, etc.  

Amra / Kihe / Mike