Wild Carp Harp

The symphony is my pond, its rhythms are the waves I ride and its notes are the crumbs I feed upon.
~ Cyprinius, "Carp"-Djinn

Wild Carp Harps are ancient and exotic musical instruments stemming from the high time of the Iron Kingdom, which was the predecessor to the Old Ikona Empire.
They were designed and constructed by the legendary musician and instrument builder Anilio Suvadias and are said to be his finest works, which given the sheer amount of marvelous instruments he produced is no small feat.
Besides their multilayered and truly euphonious sounds that are able to fill a concert hall with the musical power of an entire orchestra of string instruments, their most striking features are the carp-shaped Djins that are bound to the instrument.
When the harp is played in the correct manner these "Carps" will leave the instrument and begin to dance through the air, with the speed, type, and direction of their movements matching the rhythm, tact, and intensity of the composition currently being played.
Due to this, the harps were originally known as "Harps of the Playful Carps", though this later changed to "Wild Carp Harps", due to the fact that when the first of these instruments was discovered after the fall of the Old Empire, it contained some rather ill-tempered Carp-Djins, which proceeded to wreck an entire concert hall during the first usage of the harp.

/* Muiretlasps Sorup'pih

Even in an Empire obsessed with beauty and perfection, the Wild Carp Harps stand out by mere virtue of their marvelous sound.

Even though they are commonly classified as musical instruments, it would actually be more correct to refer to them as Spiritual Carp-shaped Djins are bound to the harp. When playing these "Carps" will exit the instrument and begin to swim through the air, whereby they match the tact, rhythm, and intensity of the music played.*/

Mechanics & Inner Workings

To say that the inner workings of Wild Carp Harp are complicated would be the same as to say that having a nosebleed within a pond full of Wolfteeth Fishs is a little bit of an inconvenience.

Most of the mechanics that make a Wild Carp Harp function still remain unknown, due to the simple fact that those who own one of these instruments would rather kill themselves than to allow anyone to take their harp apart.
The few pieces of information that exist therefore stem either from already broken harps, which are generally little more than molten clumps of iron or from the notes of Suvadias' numerous rivals and their unsuccessful attempts to replicate his works.
The fact that even other Ikona artisans failed to replicate Suvadias' works is also clear evidence for the fact that Wild Carp Harps are not just mere musical instruments but in actuality highly complicated pieces of Spiritual Technology.

/* Alone the making of a single string takes numerous days,
As a Carp Harp is to other harps, that what a Black Goanna is to Stripeback Lizard.
Complicated, delicate strings made from Cold Iron and placed in a complex pattern. Resonance body,
To get the full effect out of them they have to be exposed to the currents of the Fifth River, which creates a complementing echo to the music played, allowing a single harp to sound like an entire orchestra of string instruments.*/

Manufacturing process

Given that Anilio Suvadias not only took great personal pride in the creation of these harps but also could essentially demand any price short of the Thron of Murref for them, it is no wonder that the manufacturing process of these harps was perhaps the best-kept secret within the entire Iron Kingdom.
Suvadias even hired a single guard from each of the Murref's vassal cities to ensure that this secret would be kept, as he was fully aware that while each of these cities would gladly walk over corpses to acquire his secret, none of them would ever allow any of the other cities to claim it, even at the price of not learning it themselves.
Because of this system, Suvadias took the secret of the Carp Harps production to the grave with him.

/* Otherwise only he and his Miwa assistants worked on them.*/

Item type

Musical Instrument

Rarity

Only 444 Harps were built by Suvadias prior to his "death".
It is unknown how many of these harps managed to survive to the current day.

Weight

On average 12 kg, with some harps being significantly lighter or heavier.

Base Price

Some would consider its weight in gold as an adequate price for the harp.
I consider it as an insult to its exquisite nature.

Notable Carp Harps

Prime Carp

The "Prime Carp" was the very first Wild Carp Harp created by Suvadias and while it might even be considered crude and unrefined by the standards of his later creations, its exalted position as the first of its kind nevertheless made it the most valuable one.
It was tragically destroyed by its own Djins during the Second Spring.

Four Sisters

A set of four matching harps, which represent the four seasons.
They were specially created for the premiere of the "Subjugation of the Seasons", which would become one of the most popular theater plays within the Iron Kingdom.

Pale Carp

The "Pale Carp" is the last Carp Harp produced by Suvadias, and unlike his previous works, it was not made from Cold Iron but instead consisted of the twisted scale, flesh, and bones of actual carps.
It was some of the very first Death Instruments ever created and was intended as a gift for the newly crowned Death-Countress Nie.

/*It is nowadays utilized by Suvadias himself, following his transcendence into the realm before birth */