I'm in for the main GOG prize. Thank you for the opportunity, babark! +1
It was difficult for me to come up with devices without first imagining the world. So please, bear with me.

From my point of view an interesting theme to explore in an adventure game would be the clash of ideologies between the oldschool string users and the new industrial string users. The oldschool would use for their technology wind power and, their most efficient fuel, music. The industrial string users would fuel their technology using rhythmic drumbeats generated by thousands of workers and also the roaring sound of waterfalls.

The oldschool would use simple music to relax their livestock thus avoiding unnecessary accidents, while the industrials would use the drumbeats to scare their livestock, thus achieving maximum efficiency while moving them to new locations for grazing.

The oldschool would use the hugely tall ancient trees, grown by the music of their ancestors, to attach hundreds of thousands of wind chimes that would generate the vast majority of the music required for their technology. Only the elders and the very talented would have mastered the skill required to single-handedly power their technology using music. The industrials would have constructed huge factories where humans drummers would rhythmically generate the impulses necessary for their technology. As a more constant source of fuel the industrials would use their massive work force to change the landscape to create huge waterfalls for the roaring noise.

I imagine hashish smoking houses where the smoke could be influenced by the sound waves. The oldschool would use the herbs to enter a meditative state while music would generate images out of the smoke, to re-tell the stories and great feats of their ancestors. The industrials would use drumbeats to create an atmosphere similar to a rave party, where the workers in their free time, under the effects of the herbs, would coordinate their dance in an orderly manner, leading to a state of mind of compliance, almost brain washing them into being efficient members of society.

The oldschool would live in small communities where the news would travel by word of mouth at communal meetings, while the industrials would use propaganda newspapers, manufactured in factories where hundreds of “scribe drummers” would use string driven typewriters to copy texts.

The oldschool would use small canals with an inner lining of very thin strings that, when exposed to the constant soft vibrations, would transport water uphill. The industrials would use the powerful impulses of their drummers to force bursts of water through pipes, up great heights, to store it in large water towers.

For long range communications both societies would use a similar concept, vibrations sent along strings. The industrials would make use of a code, similar to Morse Code, to translate and then decode the message. The oldschool would use a soft constant vibration, akin to white noise, to stream the actual message along the strings. The message would also be coded but this time using musical themes to interpret the meaning of the intended message.

The oldschool would use cable cars that would be slowly propelled by the steady oscillations transmitted through the suspended strings. The industrials would use the powerful rhythmic impulses, generated by their factory drummers, to constantly push their trains along the tracks.

The oldschool would use music, amplified by large resonance chambers, that would take most of the space on their ships, to generate currents in the water thus allowing their boats to move swiftly even on windless waters. The industrials would use their drummers to send vibrations throughout the membranes that constitute the hulls of their ships, causing them to contract and then relax, thus generating a slow jerking movement, similar to that of jellyfishes.

The old school would use large tanks to store salt that gradually melted when exposed to constant vibrations, thus heating their homes during the night, when the temperatures dropped. The industrials would heat up the water that they stored in huge reservoirs by utilizing the constant powerful vibrations of their waterfalls. The heated water would then be circulated through radiators to provide warmth for their homes.

The oldschool would use the generated power to slowly vibrate the air in their homes thus creating constant air currents providing the necessary comfort during the high temperatures of the day. The industrials would use large amplifiers, akin to woofers, to generate bursts of sound pressure that would mechanically force the air to move.

Due to the valleys that they live in, where the winds never stop entirely, the oldschool would have no need to store additional string energy, but the industrials would use huge string coils that tighten up when exposed to the strong impulses of their drummers, and then just like a wind-up clock, rhythmically release the stored energy.