Eloquere

An eloquere is someone who has a way with words, reading and expression. They are a type of bard that travels to coffee pavilions where they read books aloud for an audience, sometimes accompanied with a drum or a pluck lute. It takes a lot of skill in both reading, performing and beauty to be considered a true eloquere. It comes with great respect and celebrity status, as compared to bards, minstrels or street performers that do not have work safety or good payment. Speaking of which, eloqueres are expected to not only be doing dramatic reading but also act as hosts/hostesses as master converversationalists and fashion icons that you can pay to be in their company.

Career

Qualifications

A pleasant voice, a strong presence but not so strong as to dilute the story, a natural beauty, a good reader and interpetror. An eloquere must have these qualities among other skills that are honed and trained such as playing multiple instruments and voice control. To become a ture celebrity eloquere is not easy. But once a fair lady has a performance trained, planned a tour and gained an audience, the eloquere is the cream of the crop of the performance world.   Important to note is that the eloquere is an all women’s job, and one of the few careers an upper class lady who wishes to perform and remain unmarried can take while still keeping her dignity. Not all make it to the front stage but instead take up the work that surrounds the eloquere; hairdressers, musicians, managers, stagehands, handmaidens, coffee maids etc.  

Career Progression

The road to becoming a eloquere usually begins with an upper class girl who has either an interest in singing or reading books. If the girl can read and write, play an instrument, and their parents can pay the fee the girl may begin her studies as a trainee under an established eloquere or at a larger coffee theatre.  

History

The tradition of reading in front of a large crowd as a form of entertainment and a way to educate the masses has been common practise around the areas of Dar’Charta for a long time. Ever since there were books and scriptures that people want to partake in but can’t pay to get a book instead could instead listen to a traveling storyteller. In high society having a wife that could read aloud in a pleasant manner was as natural to a courtesan's abilities as playing an instrument or performing ceremonies. These small aloud reading events eventually became bigger and more elaborate with practised readers that played music themes to signal the beginning or end of a chapter or to enhance critical moments. They dressed for the stories they were telling and coffee pavilions were built to accommodate a reading lady and space for an audience.   Over the years this passtime popular among the elite performed by well read married women became a well respected job of travelling performers sharing stories with people in coffee shops where common folk could enjoy a drink, a small snack, and listen to classic tales dramatized by beautiful women. The name eloquere has evolved from being a slang term or an eloquent courteasna, a word of endearment for a lady particularly well at reading aloud, someone who has a way with words and giving them emotion as a true lover or courter or stories. To have a famous eloquere read your stories and make them into a performance is seen as the greatest honour for an author that can almost equate to have a big studio make a movie of your script.  

Coffee Pavilions

Coffee drinking has a long standing tradition among the people of what used to be north Charta which after the break would be around east Dar’Chartha and Sharila. The drink was very popular, especially during periods of alcohol bans, but took a lot of time to prepare so shops where you could pay to sit down and have a drink together with some fruits and biscuits were established. The pavilions were very big and open allowing people to gather to discuss and became so popular it was at the coffee pavilions where you would get your news, have business meetings, and in some areas if you were looking for someone you would not ask where they live but what pavilion they frequented.   Over time the pavilions became more sophisticated, known as a place of relaxation and academic rigor compared to the taverns and inns which served food and alcohol. Any major university or choir house would have a coffee pavilions connected to them. During mornings short stories or news of the land would be read aloud for anyone that wanted to listen from a scholar on a raised platform in the middle of the pavilions while in the evenings a dramatess, later an eloquere, would read aloud stories in dramatic and theatrical ways with coffee manors taking it one step further upscaling the pavilion in size with more focus on the entertainment aspect rather than the everyday coffee consumption and news outlets that the pavilions provided. It is also not uncommon to find teas and cold non alcoholic drinks served at a modern pavilion.