The Troubadour was a revolutionary political and cultural movement that emerged from Hejmen, profoundly influencing Esperanto society during Incursion. Its core thesis held that artistic and skilled craft was the only true store of value, and that a society organized around individual creative potential would naturally achieve harmony without need for currency, set labor, or private property. Today, while its ideas persist in academic circles most citizens of Esperanto feel little connection to its revolutionary ideals.
The Troubadour proposed that every individual possesses a "true craft" which, if properly developed, would naturally contribute to societal harmony. This craft could be any form of skilled work, from traditional arts to magic, engineering, or martial prowess. The movement argued that traditional economic structures and nobility artificially suppressed authentic creative expression through arbitrary constraints like currency and set labor hours.
This craft was often expressed through the form a Craft Mark, an old Fairy tradition predating The Troubadour.
The World of Forms represented The Troubadour's promised future - a society where currency and traditional labor would be replaced by authentic creative expression. In this envisioned world, every individual would pursue their true craft while receiving what they needed from others doing the same. Despite the apparent impossibility of this goal, its promise of transcending economic constraints through creative fulfillment inspired passionate devotion.
Interpretations of how to achieve this vision varied dramatically. Mystical schools emerged claiming divine magic as the purest creative force, while some traditions espoused a rigid and domineering Hierarchy of Skill was the only way to achieve The World of Forms. Some adherents established communes attempting to live these principles, while others formed militant cells believing forceful reconstruction was necessary. The Shadow Dancers, though only one small militant expression of these ideas, preserve in their different factions these various radical interpretations of achieving The World of Forms.