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Braka Mutha'an

It may surprise visitors to learn that K'ul Goran is better known for its string instruments than its wind or brass, given the blustery climate. Certainly, with a rich musical scene the Gorans have a place for all manner of instruments, whether in the concert hall, the tap room or the battlefield. However, they are particularly well known for the production of stringed instruments: the marashi - like a huge lute with a hefty body, built to be held by minotaurs with a wondrously deep resonant sound; the plath - held on the shoulder like a fiddle but with the right hand near the face controlling the notes while the left creates the sound by plucking the strings toward the end of their arm; and the yura - which is simply a mid-sized harp though at a different default tuning.   All of these are produced by K'ul Goran, in workshops by masters of their craft, and while the bodies of the instruments vary in types of wood or even bamboo used with fierce debates as to the benefits and drawbacks of each, the strings used for all of these instruments are all sourced from the same place. There is no debate at all that the best material for strings comes from a plant grown in K'ul Goran - the Braka Mutha'an.   These large plants are often found hanging on trees in the country, very much like a flag, as with the constant wind they are seem at risk of blowing away, grasping onto the branches for all they are worth. These plants can grow very large, and are known to be carnivorous. They are generally cylindrical, and as they are caught in the wind and are suspended horizontally, they form a tunnel in the air, a series of fibers interlacing within to form a soft net like a spider's web. Insects caught in there are drawn away to the sides of the cylinder by these tendrils to be consumed within sacs of acid in the walls of the Braka. The larger species have even been known to catch small birds and devour them over the course of several days.   These fibers inside the Braka Mutha'an are built for tension, resonance and motion, and when stripped out of the plant and used for strings on a plath or yura they produce a distinct sound which is thin, but piercingly clear. Some experts would speak about the harmonics within the strings and overtones, but generally everyone knows that Braka strings are the only way to go to produce that bright, unique K'ul Gorani sound. The larger marashi instruments, and the longer strings on the larger end of a yura are harder to come by, and as a result there are indeed farms for these plants, where farmers attempt to grow the largest versions of these carnivorous wind tunnels possible. This is of course nothing to worry about, but to say no songs or tales have been spun about the terrifying nature of these plants would be a lie. Those farms, usually doubling as an orchard due to the need for trees, are full of the deep harmonic whistling sound of wind passing through those fiber-filled flying mouths. The largest of these orchards is outside the musical college in Nrav'garad.

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