Argentum was born the tenth child to a military engineer, a father whose genius kept him in the company of Gnomes and soliders building seige engines, and a devotee of the Temple of Marr, a mother with the faith to be both priest and single-parent. Recognized early in age as gifted with a sterling voice and puckish charm, Argentum was apprenticed to a local bardic guild. The Rook and Knight's Song, both tavern and guildhall, once stood in West Freeport in the same area of the Theatre of the Tranquil. Argentum became the pride and joy of the Rook and Knight. By the age of thirteen, he was raised to the rank of journeyman though he had already could do more on the drum, the pipe, or the harp than anyone in the school. A year later, he was called the youngest master to come out of the city though he did not earn his official ranking till age seventeen.

Tragedy befell the Rook and Knight shortly after Argentum gained the status of master bard. The master of the guild fell mysteriously ill and on the day of his untimely death, the hall itself burned to the cobblestones. Rumors spread that the guildmaster had made enemies among the Dark Elves in helping establish mail delivery routes through Nektulos; death and destruction were his retribution. Unwilling to remain in Freeport, Argentum left the city to seek out the agents of his guildmaster's murder. Meanwhile, the remaining members of the Rook and Knight left West Freeport feeling too close to the Theives' Quarters and moved the hall to the northern side of town. Eventually, Marsheart's Chords was established as the new bardic guild and the Ashen Order rebuilt the Theater of the Tranquil and raised their hall on the foundations of the old Rook and Knight's Song.

Armed with only his conviction and his talent, Argentum traveled with the speed of song through the Commonlands west of Freeport and into the green-black darkness of the forest outside Neriak. Not knowing where to first to look, Argentum simply did what he had always done in difficult situations--seek out the least likely or most improbable of solutions. Therefore, the young bard avoided the guard and proceeded directly to the palace of the Dark Elven crown. He appeared suddenly before the throne of Neriak, the veil of song slipping away, and before any could act against him, Argentum sang his story, his woe, his desire, and his wish for justice. With grace, he spoke:

O king of elven dark with wisdom hear
Know now my tale, my tumult heart before
thy sword, thy judgement so hasty near
send my grievèd soul to Innoruuk's door.

Hear me, o king, whose brow is dark with scorn!
Let me erase all hate and bring to cause
for I a simple bard of talent born
ask ye forget ire and give fear a pause.

For you I shall recall a young man's tale
full round with chance and hope and sunny days
till murd'rers stealth and cowards smile in pale
and take from youth a heart and home of praise.

He held the court spellbound with his chosen words, his grief-wrought expression, and his melodic song. So moved was the Crown of Neriak, so impressed by such audacity and conveyance of suffering, that the guards made no single move against Argentum and the court succumbed to an overflowing sympathy. No creature, no performer, much less a human had ever touched Neriak so. In a decision unlike no other in the history of the Dark Elves, Argentum was spared and promised that justice would be wrought. As sure as he as human would have died swiftly in Neriak, so the murderers of his guildmaster would be dealt an immediate strike.

Argentum's first bardic feat, now known and re-enacted as "The Capture of Neriak," was only one of many such miraculous performances. Argentum remained some months in the company of the Dark Elves. He learned their stories, their songs, and in return taught them though grudgingly his stories and his songs. Argentum came to realize that all people have memories, histories, and mythologies, that the divisions between kingdoms were often cleft by misunderstanding, misinformation, and misled beliefs, and that even the darkest and the brightest, the wisest and the vilest, the oldest and the youngest of all can be brought together even momentarily by shared experiences.

Argentum traveled the width and breadth, the highs and lows, the wilds and streets of Norrath. Everywhere he went, he listened carefully to the most whispered of words and the most exaulted of hymns. Every place he stayed, he told tales of his adventures halfway across the world telling the Trolls about Ak'anon, telling the Wood Elves of the Frigid Plain, telling the Erudites about the Oasis of Marr, telling the Dwarves of the marketplace of Qeynos. And everytime he spoke or played or sang, people listened carefully to him. Argentum carried rapture in his voice and his audiences gave him room, food, treasure, and most importantly leave to travel freely in their lands.

As recognition and reputation grew, Argentum gained followers--voluntary devotees to his ways, his ideals, and his talent. The bard never asked for their fealty nor their idolatry. In fact, he wished that each find their own course, their own verse in the song of life, and promise themselves not to a single man but to the spirit of a greater good and order. Argentum took great care to speak to and remember those who came to him offering their loyalty. He thanked them and only asked of them to tell him their stories. The long scroll of his memory became forever etched with their names and their memories. The tale of farmer or paladin or jeweler or politician wove added interest and color into Argentum's songs. It is said that Argentum never forgot a single person he encountered. It is this long list of indelible people and the bard whose memory never failed for which the loosely organized guild Argentum's Roster is named.

Late in Argentum's career, the bard began an epic quest, a personal search for what he called "The Silver Refrain"--a song, a verse, a melody of ancient origin. "The Silver Refrain" lies at the heart of all songs, of all words, of all spells, and all creation; it is the primordial song, the first song that shaped (perhaps began) life itself. Argentum and his followers sought out all forms of song and continued to gather the stories of the denizens of the world. Again, he strove for the least likely or most improbably solution. If he found all of the worlds songs, from earthworm to great wyrm, he would find the thread that bound them all--"The Silver Refrain."

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