New Olamn

The College of New Olamn was a traditional bardic college from Waterdeep, formed as a successor to the old College of Ollamh.

Organization
Students of New Olamn were trained in their chosen instruments and underwent a rigorous study of ancient history and memorization of ancient songs and sagas. Most bards of New Olamn studied the College of Lore and practiced its methods.

Base of Operations
The college was located in two villas on the Cliffride, a gravel path that ran up the northern side of Mount Waterdeep, overlooking the sea near Waterdeep.

The Cliffride was used to bring supplies to the college, but most visitors and students used the underground tunnel through the mountain known as the Melody Mount Walk to reach it. The tunnel was continuously resounding with music due to an ongoing concert known as the Neverending String of Pearls that was performed by bardic students in a small alcove in the tunnel.

History
The original College of Ollamh was one of the seven elder bardic colleges, dating back to the legendary bard Falataer who established it as the final level of his bardic college. The Ollamh harp, one of the Instruments of the Bards, was named after this college. It had been created by Falataer to test and reward his students who achieved mastery of the Ollamh level of skill.

Following this tradition, bards studying to obtain the rank of master bard attended all seven colleges, and Ollamh was traditionally the last. However, this practice was abandoned once the original colleges declined.

In 1366 DR, the college was reopened with the name of New Olamn by wealthy patrons from Waterdeep.