You may be wondering why this is a separate section within the worldbuilding pages. Well, music and storytelling are both important parts of a race's culture, and can have an impact on life. They can be linked to education, and certainly to the passing on of history. They also provide a profession or professions for your world.

Let's start with music. How many times have you read a story where there were bards, minstrels, troubadors, harpers, etc? Anne McCaffrey has her Harpers, Joanne Bertin and Mercedes Lackey their Bards, and various historical fantasy athors their minstrels. Music is an inherent part of life. Ancient tribes had their chants, whether for war, entertainment, or sacred purposes. Greeks had their odes, and classical times had their composers and operas. Medieval times had minstrels and troubadors to sing the news and to sing old poems and tales. Modern times have their songs, with different styles connected to different generations, all conveying some message or other, whether it is meaningful or trite. Life is filled with music. One of the most basic ways to incorporate music into your world is to decide which music style each race is linked to. Does your human race focus on ancient ballads, or does it prefer the bawdier, more popular tunes? Or both? Does one race have music similar to tribal chants, while another is flutier, and a third more classical? You decide. For instance, my raptori are rather tribal in their music, while the humans are more balladic, with an equal share of bawdy stuff.

Next, decide if you want an actual profession linked to your music. Decide on a name for it as well. Some common ones, as I have already mentioned, are bard, minstrel, harper, troubador, singer, etc. Use a thesaurus to find more. Decide how important this profession is in your world. I.E. Joanne Bertin's bards are off-limits to physical attacks; if you attack them, you're in trouble, but they can't use weapons against others either. Mercedes Lackey's Bards are magical (and I'll get into magic in a different section), while McCaffrey's Harpers teach children and perpetuate history. My singers and minstrels tend to spread news. Decide what you want yours to do, to be.

Storytelling is basically music without the music. Storytellers relate history in an oral method, usually without the accompaniment of music. Sometimes, they use a poetic form, and are called poets. Not only do they relate history, they tell stories, legends, and spread culture. They often have the ability to alter the way they tell a story to suit an audience, and can compose tales on the spot to flatter nobility. Again, you decide how this fits into your world, and what these storytellers will be called if you make storytelling into a profession.