Cultures

### Music

Ehryen music typically follows the tuning CDEFGAB, no sharps or flats. Some instruments have ways to have sharps and flats, but others have to be specifically modified for such a thing

#### Instruments

There are many Ehryen instruments that I literally just made up, most of which have a modern equivalent.

##### Sorya

One such instrument is the sorya, which looks like a thin spade with the tip cut off. There are four holes along each side, and depending on which ones you press, you get a different note. In short, it's an ocarina.

##### Citar

This instrument doesn’t have an official name, so its placeholder name is just a combination of ‘cigar’ and ‘guitar’, as it looks like a cigar box guitar. The nine strings can all be ‘sharped’ by pressing them against the pads beneath them. Inside he instrument, there are screws which control the height of each pad, so that they can be modified for different tunings.

##### Whistle

The whistle (another temporary name) is made from the rib bone of an animal, typically a pig’s or dog’s. The insides are hollowed out, and the mouth hols is created. Since you can’t unmake a hole, many are discarded in the process to make one, and the rejects are ground up to make white paint. The mouth is placed on thr inside of the rib, the left hand on the first three holes (with the thumb under the middle finger), and the right index over the fourth (with the thumb underneath it). Some have a fifth hole between the third and fourth for sharps, but these are a lot hard to make.

There is another whistle, made from the rib of a rabbit or, more commonly, a hare, but these only have two holes (at most) and can only produce very high pitched sounds.They are somewhat easier to make, because you just need it to make a sound, not a specific note, but they are also more delicate, so many break. If the creator is able to have it produce a pitch low enough to hear, it becomes a calling whistle, which is used to call for help, typically when hunting. If it can’t be heard, it’s either not made well or a dog whistle.

##### Ehru

The Ehru is very similar to the erhu, but with one major difference. You might think it is the lack of any resonance chamber, but that’s just because I didn’t draw it. It’s difference because, instead of pressing down on a board to change the pitch, you tense or relax the strong by pulling a ring up and down. The left hand is placed against the upper platform and the three middle fingers grab the ring. The right hand holds the bow, which goes around the string. Many ehru players have scars from when the string snapped at a high note, so it has become common to wear gloves (and some padding on the arm) but not very thick ones, because they can make it so that the player misjudges the position of the next note and begins playing out of tune.

### Hlys

*Hlys* is the Ehryen term for "identity" or "mask". The word *hlyra* is formed from *hlys* and *ra* (water), and refers to what causes the markings on the Ehry body. Since the markings are consentrated on the face, the face is considered very important to the persons identity, which is why Ehry wash their faces daily. In a less civilised time, warriors would cut of the faces of their worst enemies before they died. If an Ehry were to lose their face before dying, they would be unable to enter Maro's hall, having to stand outside, an empty husk waiting for someone to destroy their face and allow them entry.

When the Castil monarchy came to power, they outlawed face stealing and organized a group to find and destroy any faces. Originally they set a bounty, but this lead to a murder spike as people stole faces to cash them in for a reward.

There have been rumors that assassin groups would kidnap a person of power, steal their face, and, in a delicate procedure, place it on one of their own, gaining access to their position. These have not been confirmed.