[Astromancer]

The Clarsach

Although the word Clarsach is the ancient Irish word for a harp, in the 3I a Clarsach is a form of Harp Guitar. The Imperial clarsach has the same loudness and practicality of tunning as a Guitar, and all the grace and subtlety of a harp or lute. The Clarsach has the same cultural position in the 3I that the violin or piano had on 19th century Earth, or the Harp had for the ancient Irish or Egyptians, or the Lute had in the Medieval European courts. The clarsach is the instrument that serious musicians compose for first. It is the instrument which refined people learn to play as a social grace and proof of refinement and worth.

In many ways the Clarsach is the symbol of the noblity. Clarsachs are a commonplace symbol of both the nobility as a group/order and nobility as a moral trait in the artworks of the 3I. There are times when the very act of playing a clarsach is seen as symbol of patriotism (much like the scene in the film Casablanca where the singing of the Marseillaise is a radical anti-Nazi act). Conversely, the act of playing a clarsach in a crude of vulgar way, or smashing a clarsach, is seen as an anti-imperial act.

The Solomani often broadcast images of young Rockers playing wild Music on Clarsachs as a critique of what they see as the corrupt and stagnant Imperial Culture. The Aslan and the Vargr often have their Clarsach virtuosos demonstrait their skill as a way to sneer at Imperial pretentions. Many Anti-Imperial terroists love to post images of idiot savants playing Clarsachs as an anti-aristocratic symbol. Many aristocrats will attack, or at least challege to a duel, anyone who either attacks, degrades, or plays improper music, on a clarsach.

Thus a common musical instrument can get the party hunted like dogs.

More later.