| “Let me tell you a story, young one. An age before this one when the firmament was bright with stars of white and gold. An age where men settled their differences by the sword. An honorable age, when the Saints were young and our people knew valor. An age where great nations rose up and formed alliances and waged war. This fictional age that all wanderers long for.” - Euphorian Bilal Zainsubani |
Under vows of poverty and humility, the Brass Sandrats are a monastic order of vagrant musicians, troubadours and loremasters who play the old roads of Maekardan and ride the spaceways of Iruotl. Theirs is a culture dependent on the charity of the faithful and money earned from street performances. What little they can spare goes to maintaining their instruments or to charity.
The Euphorians started as a social experiment by Mizar's local cultural authority. The planners of the city invited less prosperous monks from all over Maekardan to the city in the hopes of starting a monastery there and enrich the artisan culture that the seaside settlement was famous for. An agreement was eventually reached that allowed a number of poor monks to gain a foothold in Iromakuanhe culture and spread their order all over Commonwealth space.
Those who appeared where not actually monks, but buskers from the poorer districts of the city that had chanced upon a shipment of patched silks that were set to be reclaimed at a local factory. They turned the garments into respectable pieces of clothing with a bit of embroidery and cheap, homemade red dyes and bleach, and fooled the officials of their city. When the deception was discovered, the Order of Mizar was expelled from the city for twenty years, until a religious authority from the capital gave the Euphorians legitimacy. Even now, they gleefully cultivate a reputation as beggar princes and tricksters, even though their deceptions are limited to larger than life retelling of Saintly legends.
The Euphorians are responsible for upholding and shaping oral tradition, and maintaining the cause of Iromakuanhe nomadism and bohemian ideals. Other than that, they have few responsibilities of their own. Many find employ as music tutors, professional musicians or instrument makers.
There is no real uniform for the Euphorians. Traditional dress is a long tunic and pantaloons made of patchwork silks that have been dyed white and red and embroidered with black and white thread. Their instruments, pristine and meticulously detailed with iconography from their order are more obvious giveaways.