I just finished reading Erin Morgenstern's "The Night Circus" for the ump-tenth time (it's one of my favorite books) and was specifically reflecting on the circus in the novel for inspiration for a Bardic character. No spoilers, but the magicians involved in the circus stroke me as much closer to Lunar Mana using Moon Mages with an emphasis on illusions, a sub-theme focusing on Tarot cards, reading the future, interpreting signs, etc.

What strikes me is that for being a Guild built around music, performance, dance, and theater, while also being capable magicians, there are few areas of crossover. Outside of Care and Ecry there's not much in the spell system that impacts performance. I don't think I'd want SPELLS that play into performance, but what about other abilities or cantrips?

For a performance/entertainment Guild, it seems like some of the Warrior Mage cantrips would make a lot of sense for Bards.

- Aether Spheres
- Aethereal Image
- Air Blast
- Gust of Wind

But this also doesn't fully fit into Bards, sense there's not the same constant link to the Elemental Planes. So what could work to represent a crossover between magic and performance?

I wonder if "play flashy" will be incorporated into the future performance system, whenever it gets developed, but I'm less interested in ways that Bards are able to show that they are really, really good at playing instruments, and more interested in what would demonstrate that Bards are elemental mages that also perform. If you have a Guild that's entertaining the masses for centuries, and has access to elemental magic, at a certain point someone tries to combine the two.

Don't know what the looks like because I think the cantrip justification is that both Warrior and Moon Mages have a constant link to their respective Planes at all time, above and beyond their magical spells. Bards do not have this. If the Naga confound were more worked out, maybe this would be a sort of some cantrip-like magical performance. Alternatively if Bardic musical skills allow them to shape elemental mana, incorporating some whistles or humming feats that have an elemental impact.