Decade Gate

The Decade Gate is one of the timed portals of the Concent of Saunt Edhar, operating on a ten-year rhythm in concert with Apert. It is the Decenarians' outward-facing gate and opens alongside the Year Gate during the decennial observance.

First Appearance and Context

During a decennial opening at sunrise, avout followed newly released water from the high pond outside the Day Gate along an aqueduct to a stone bridge over the river. There, a round tower on the near bank filled a cistern that overflowed onto a water wheel. As the wheel began to turn, a stout driveshaft carried power across the bridge into a bastion on the far bank, where gearing on the hinge pins swung the doors. As the Decade Gate opened, onlookers from extramuros became visible beyond the threshold.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Ten-year interval: The gate opens on the decennial cycle of Apert, paired in practice with the Year Gate.
• Actuation: The great clock cues the opening by releasing water from the high pond; at Apert the otherwise dry pipes and siphons are flooded to drive the wheel and gearing that move the gate.
• Community tie: Functionally the Decenarians' portal; it is also referred to as the "Decenarian Gate."

Relationships

• Family of portals: Part of the same timed system as the Day Gate, Year Gate, and the rarer Centenarian Gate.
• Setting and control: The gate is mechanically coupled to the great clock housed in the Mynster, though its doors stand in the outer works across the river.
• Community: Associated with the Decenarian Math and its movements during Apert.

Descriptions/Characteristics

• Outer works: Situated in a bastion on the far bank of the river, reached by a stone-arch bridge. A round tower on the near bank houses the cistern and water wheel.
• Power train: A straight driveshaft assembled from jointed segments runs along the bridge to the bastion; gearing on the hinge pins converts the shaft's rotation into the opening and closing of the doors.
• Waterworks: The high pond outside the Day Gate feeds ornamental channels in ordinary times; at Apert, monumental valves route water to the Year and Decade systems, which are otherwise dry.

Current Status/Location

Observed operating during a decennial opening: water released at the pond set the wheel and shaft in motion, and the doors opened to extramuros. Outside such observances the mechanism is idle and the gate remains closed, advancing toward its next appointed opening.