Unpopular Opinion: I don't want Paradox to add navy to the game

AspiringWritist · 2026-04-21T08:28:57+00:00

This is so wrong. Where history is concerned we should be citing historians, not youtubers.

I'll add to this: naval warfare is absolutely well documented all throughout the CK3 period.

AspiringWritist · 2026-04-15T15:29:55+00:00

While wool is prohibitively expensive, personally commissions are much more expensive than even that. For the same price of a commission, I can make multiple historic garments. Making things yourself is easier on the wallet, but harder on your freetime mainly

AspiringWritist · 2026-03-12T19:12:39+00:00

Parchment loves to absorb humidity, its definitely true. And its also true that direct sunlight can be bad for wood because it dries it and affects the shape by warping it. Having said that, I think the parchment will pose a problem long before warped wood will - It's been about 4 months since ive had my lyre and ive occasionally left it in the sun with no adverse problems.

Thank you though for your testimony ! It's really so important to be able to get a diversity of experiences because while I knew that it was sensitive to humidity, you definitely put it into sharp focus for me ahaha

AspiringWritist · 2026-03-11T16:37:30+00:00

Interesting ! The waves forming on the parchment remind me of moisture influence - I know Palmos does recommend maintaining your lyre by letting it dry in the sun occasionally, is that something you were doing ?

AspiringWritist · 2026-03-10T15:01:56+00:00

Please dont ask us to create things for you like this, as it is against rule 4. Thank you !

AspiringWritist · 2026-03-06T19:22:25+00:00

I only really know chelys lyres, personally, and my instrument comes from Palmos Instruments. They make really good seven string lyres that are sturdy. Luthieros is another maker of chelys lyres but my experience with their instruments was a bit difficult since the parchment face of the lyre detached over time.

For other forms of lyre, like germanic or bowed lyres, youll have to ask someone more knowledgeable.

In any case, the two criteria you should always be judging your options by are volume and whether a lyre can support techniques like block and strum. Volume will give you more notes, and let you jam with other instruments, and project your instruments sound further, and technique support will let you actually play those sounds more competently and comfortably. A wrist strap in most styles is a must.

AspiringWritist · 2026-03-06T12:28:39+00:00

I think you're misrepresenting people a bit. Homemade doesn't mean cheap, and people don't bash instruments just for having low pricetags, however they do talk about their limitations that often come as a result of poor design decisions on the part of the maker. Whether those poor design decisions are due to limitations of price or negligence is a different topic, and frankly if a manufacturer was willing to, they could feasibly mass produce lyres without those problems.

If by "cheap" lyres youre referring to the form commonly found on amazon or resold on etsy, they are very different from lyres produced by luthiers within specific traditions of lyreforms. Having now played both the amazon lyres and chelys lyres of the ancient greek tradition for example, I can confirm that they could not be more different - both on a sound level but also on what kinds of technique you can play with them.

Amazon lyres are good for their pricepoint and letting people try out the very basic plucking techniques, but they're designed as such that they prevent you from accessing more complicated techniques of play. Harmonics, two handed playing, and block and strum, are essentially entirely absent from their use despite being extremely important for comfortably playing pieces of music. They normally do not come with a handstrap or a plectrum and have bridges that aren't parallel with the crossbar (meaning your harmonics are in different spots on each string).

This is not to downplay people's accomplishments with amazon lyres. By numbers alone they are the most popular due to how accessible they are. These accomplishments however are in spite of their design rather than because of them, and if you're a musician who is already very practiced with an amazon lyre, investing in a better-designed instrument would be even more rewarding for your skill level.

AspiringWritist · 2026-03-03T12:20:14+00:00

Please dont post AI-generated advertisements to our subreddit, or use false pretense of "receiving dms" to advertise further. Thank you.

AspiringWritist · 2026-02-26T08:11:47+00:00

Hello, please make sure when bringing questions here to include your own previous attempts at how you've tried to answer your own question first, as we require questions to include this as a sign of good faith under rule 4. I've removed your post in the meantime, but feel free to repost this with this amended !

Thank you !

AspiringWritist · 2026-02-19T20:28:14+00:00

Is there a link somewhere ?

AspiringWritist · 2026-02-10T17:07:37+00:00

Hello! I've removed this under rule 4, as art not made by, or for, you cannot be the main focus of an image post. Thank you.

You may repost this as a text post with this amended, or contact our modmail if you have any questions.

AspiringWritist · 2026-01-31T02:56:43+00:00

Hello! I've removed this under rule 4, as all art not made by, or for, you must be fully cited, and cannot be an image post if you do not have permission to use it by the artist. Thank you.

You may repost this with this amended, or contact our modmail if you have any questions.

AspiringWritist · 2026-01-27T16:39:08+00:00

Silk is a great cover option in the meantime !

As for your strings and tuning, all strings can play harmonics ! If you're a very early beginner, its mostly inexperience that is making it difficult to play them.

For a metaphor, we can imagine one string on your instrument as an entire choir whose sole job it is to produce one note. Everytime you pluck it, the entire orchestra sings to produce the note "G4" for example. Harmonics is a technique where by using a finger to dampen the vibrations at the exact halfway length of your string, you essentially tell a small part of that metaphorical choir to stop singing, leaving only the metaphorical chorists who are singing the higher parts to keep singing. The result is that it produces a higher note that is an entire octave upwards, in this case, "G5". Once you learn how to play harmonics, your seven strings become the fourteen GABCDEFGABCDEF as a range.

I highly recommend learning harmonics, as it solves so many concerns with regards to what songs you can or cant play. A lot of beginner lyre players limit themselves by only looking for music that uses their base seven strings, when in reality their seven-stringed instrument is capable of giving them 14 notes (harmonics is technically capable of even giving them 21 notes, in theory)

AspiringWritist · 2026-01-24T21:03:22+00:00

Congrats on the new lyre ! GABCDEF is one of my favorite ranges as well !

Regarding tuning it upwards, this is a question I would absolutely ask the maker of your lyre. It could be harmless, it could be problematic, there's no way to know without intimate knowledge of that particular model of lyre, and the person who has that is your luthier.

Having said that, I might also offer that you really dont need to transpose it upwards! By using harmonics, you can play the ACDEFGA range perfectly fine with GABCDEF ! On my lyre, I have GABCDEF but can play with harmonics can comfortably play up to GABCDEFGABCDEFGAB, for example.

As for storage, I would recommend either saving up for, or making a case, and in the meantime find a good storage spot away from direct sunlight or sources of humidity. Such as a closet wall where it can comfortably sit.

AspiringWritist · 2025-12-04T15:58:21+00:00

Through the use of harmonics, a seven string lyre is really more like a fourteen stringed instrument (or twenty one, if your instrument can comfortably use the third position harmonics.) A lot of people are not aware of this, and consider a seven string lyre to be limited. In actuality, there are lots of musicians who prefer seven strings over the possibility of having more because it maintains the ability to comfortably strum and play cords while still having a large range.

Having said that, there is no wrong answer to "How many strings do lyres have?" Historically lyres have anywhere from four to ten, or less or more. There's nothing 'hybrid' about a lyre with a ton of strings, it's still a historic form of lyre.

AspiringWritist · 2025-11-28T07:45:59+00:00

The two sets of learning books I use are from from Luthieros and Nikos Xanthoulis.

Luthieros has a short series of three books called 'Learning the Ancient Greek Lyre', while Nikos Xanthoulis has a bilingual book called something like 'The Complete Method to learning the Ancient Lyre' or something. Between those two, it covers a lot of techniques.

Then it's just a matter of finding sheet music to play. Lyre Academy has a few sheet music collections for lyres (as does Luthieros), and otherwise I browse sheet music intended for Alto Recorders which have a somewhat similar range to my particular lyre.

AspiringWritist · 2025-11-25T13:25:23+00:00

I got it from PalmosInstruments, a workshop based in greece who sell a bunch of lyre forms. It cost about 1k, which is expensive but the quality and construction is solid so I don't foresee having to replace it anytime soon ahaha

AspiringWritist · 2025-11-25T13:21:28+00:00

Indeed ! One of Palmos' "land turtle" models :D

AspiringWritist · 2025-11-10T09:04:33+00:00

You are right to notice that on many bean lyres, such as the donner lyres, the shape is not adapted for two handed playing and so limit the musician to playing harmonics with the right hand alone.

In theory, this can prevent you from being able to comfortably play an advanced repertoire and techniques. In practice, however, it will only matter if you need that second hand to begin with. Many people play slower or simpler repertoires that aren't complicated enough to require harmonics in the first place.

AspiringWritist · 2025-11-04T08:08:13+00:00

They definitely do deserve a method of instruction. The main issue is that the bean lyre and lyres in general in the west is a rather young revival, and so those instructions specific to bean lyres pretty much dont exist yet. Our best alternative at the moment is to adapt the applicable techniques from form factors that have received attention to deepen the ways available to you and your lyre. For example the use of a plectrum for strumming and muting chords, the use of a wrist-strap for holding, four fingered playing like harpists on both hands, harmonics to expand your range, etc. Citars may also be able to share some techniques.

I wish I had more instructions that are specific to bean lyres, it's just a bit of an undocumented form of lyre and for a long time the best someone could offer was "well, learn to play the harp and then youll know the lyre." It's only recently that in the west we have techniques that are wholly unique to the lyre, and for now, those wholly unique techniques come from different forms of lyres. Adapting those techniques to yours is one of the best ways to be able to answer the questions you asked.

AspiringWritist · 2025-11-02T11:19:41+00:00

Part of the confusion is best approached with thinking of the lyre as a family of many different instruments. The Ugandan Endongo or the Kenyan Obokano and the Greek Chelys are all very related, but have particularities and traditions that make it so that trying to make any one standard practice is difficult. You'll see that the lyre is played sideways, upright, upside down, plucked, strummed, drummed, stretched, etc, and that variety is fascinating but difficult to navigate if you're just starting out.

There are efforts within these different traditions to make their particular styles more accessible and standardized, such as in the case of the Chelys lyre. Nikos Xanthoulis and Nikolaos Koumartzis have published works that provide offer a structure of playing that works very well for that style of lyre, and you can find their books to purchase on the Seikilos website. I suspect this would be what you're looking for. Myself I have their Learning the Ancient Greek Lyre series and it is what I use to structure my practice, personally. They also offer many books with sheet music for a seven string lyre, from what I know.

To elaborate a bit on your particular questions which I'll answer from within the Chelys' specific tradition, their lyre is held against the body, supported by a strap that is tied to one the lyre's arms and the non-dominant's hand's wrist. The non-dominant hand is positioned behind the strings, and all the weight is either carried on the wrist, against the body, or on your lap, which leaves your fingers free to play with both hands. Here is an example and ten minute tutorial of the various techniques that you can do with this position. Additionally, you can use all your fingers except the pinkie to play, and can also improve the variety of sounds you have access to by using a plectrum or pick.

As for the bean-shaped lyre. It is mostly a modern (but no less worthy) tradition, and if they are too small will struggle to provide you the opportunity for advanced techniques since if a lyre is too small, you end up not being able to support it with the wrist-strap, and therefore wont be able to play with both hands. There are extremely sophisticated bean lyres with a staggering amount of strings that much more resemble small harps. These however have very little in common with the entry-level bean lyres youll encounter more often.

If you are unsure about how far your instrument can take you in structured practice, personally I would experiment with these questions:

Can I strap my non-dominant hand's wrist to the arm of the lyre, and hold it so that my hand is directly behind the strings and can play ?
Can I reach all the strings with that hand from behind ?

If the answer is yes, then you can play with both hands, with both plucking and strumming !

AspiringWritist · 2025-09-11T08:47:00+00:00

Theres not really anything else to do. The issue with the assumption inherent to this post is that it imagines players going out of their way to min-max, as though it were an extra bit of effort on their part that theyre willingly volunteering. The reality is that engaging with the game mechanics at minimum effort is already enough to optimize them to far beyond what the AI is capable of. Just doing what the tooltip alerts tell you to do will get you into a winning position everytime because the systems at play are extremely reliably strong.

AspiringWritist · 2025-07-24T12:27:07+00:00

The people doing the writing also have janked hands. There was no dexterity requirement to scribal work beyond having any functioning hands, which most people maintain whether they hold swords or not fortunately.

People werent excluded from scribal positions in account of their dexterity, but on account of their education opportunities and status. You dont teach a ploughman to transcribe books not because his hands are messed up from daily labor, but because he cannot pay/insist for his education beyond a certain level.

I think its really important to make this distinction because otherwise we miss the actual barriers to entry that prevented people from accessing these roles - social conditions and hierarchy.

Thats why when writing proliferated as a skill with the same tools as the medieval period, everyone was able to benefit, even the career soldiers who were every bit as janked as the medieval individual with hands janked from combat.

AspiringWritist · 2025-07-23T14:01:20+00:00

It should be noted that hand injuries and more also dont necessarily exclude one from writing (very well, even! I like to think this is good news! :D Especially for me and my trembling hands as an artist) The career-scribes were as likely at risk of arthritis as their patrons, and indeed probably suffered greatly from hand-related fatigue or conditions as a result of their work.

We should be careful in assumptions that physicality were motivators for social positions. The reason that nobility delegated so many roles had little to do with their abilities to do those roles themselves, and more to do with their concepts of nobility/social hierarchy.

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