Puppetry (sage field)

Puppetry is a sage field available to bards, represents a theatrical art form centered around crafting and manipulating puppets and other lifeless objects to craft compelling dramatic performances. With deep historical roots, puppetry holds a dual role as ritualistic objects and symbolic works of art. The practice boasts a rich and storied history that transcends cultures and spans centuries.

This includes the meticulous construction of puppets which take various forms, such as hand puppets, marionettes, shadow puppets and more. For example, Wayang Kulit, a traditional Japanese shadow puppetry form, combines elements of spituality and storytelling as it brings epic tales to life. Puppets have also played significant roles in rituals and ceremonies. They serve as intermediaries between the human and the divine, conveying messages and blessings. In some cultures, puppetry is intertwined with religious practices, as puppets are used to represent gods, ancestors, or mythical beings during sacred rites.

Each puppet is a masterpiece, meticulously crafted to convey not only a character but also cultural aesthetics and artistic expression.

The field includes the following sage studies:

• Effigy (sage study): the practice of investing figures and objects with spiritual existence and divine substance, even bringing to life objects that are normally inanimate. Similar, but not the same as dweomercraft, but is related to the making of golems.

• Puppeteering (sage study): the practice of making a puppet appear alive, through various applications of strings, hands, the control of the space in which the puppet appears, diversion and mastery of the puppet’s movement.

• Puppet-making (sage study): the creation of an object, typically resembling something humanoid or alive, of various materials, that is designed to be manipulated by a variety of means.

See Bard Sage Abilities