Apert

First Appearance and Context

Apert is referenced during preparations inside the maths, where work is accelerated to finish beforehand and senior avout review conditions beyond the walls. In the lead-up to a new year, the Unarian Math and the Decenarian Math were described as sharing the opening. A sunrise rite—with coded bell changes and light refracted down into the hall—culminated as auxiliary weights descended and the Year and Decade mechanisms began to open. Immediately afterward, avout followed the charged waterworks toward the river to witness the gates moving.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Serves as a fixed deadline shaping planning, maintenance, and outreach; different cohorts observe it on different cycles.
• Briefly permits regulated passage between intramuros and extramuros; many Collections and most graduations are scheduled during this period.
• Functions as a fence-mending period for contact and understanding between the maths and the outside world; avout may host limited visits inside while preserving Discipline.
• In the decennial instance, the Year Gate and the Decade Gate open in concert as part of the rite.
• The Unarian and Decenarian communities coordinate activities around it, including intake and progression between their maths.

Relationships

• Outward watch and precautions are coordinated by the Warden Fendant, who monitors outside attention and advises on security posture.
• Interactions at the gates touch on external authorities summarized as the Saecular Power.
• Longer-cycle cohorts such as the Centenarians prepare for rarer openings tied to their own gate.
• Within the concent, Apert is observed by both the Unarian Math and the Decenarian Math, each with its associated interval.

Descriptions/Characteristics

• Timed gate openings: At sunrise, bell changes and a music-led rite synchronize with the great clock; auxiliary weights descend and the mechanisms actuate. The community often responds audibly as the motion slows to rest.
• Hydraulics and drives: Outside the walls, waterworks that are dry except at Apert are opened by the clock, sending flow by aqueduct to a cistern in a round tower; its overflow turns a water wheel that drives a straight shaft across a stone bridge into the far bastion, where gears on the hinge pins swing the gates.
• Social customs and contact: Avout greet one another with "Bon Apert." Visitors often gather outside—families, groups of children from suvins, people filming or sending feeds, and occasional proselytizers handing out leaflets. Crowds sometimes picnic on the meadow within sight of the gates and watch avout hurry to their duties. Avout are counseled to accept handouts politely and avoid debate. In some cases, suurs assist distressed visitors, including would-be abandonments of infants, in keeping with established procedures around Apert. During the days of the opening, avout and visitors make brief visits and excursions, and conversations often turn to where people hope to be by the next Apert.

Current Status/Location

Decennial Apert is underway; limited passage between the math and extramuros continues. As the closing approaches, some avout note that once the gate shuts they will have no contact with certain relatives for ten years until the next Apert.