Centenarians

The Centenarians—also called the Hundreders—are a cohort within the mathic world associated with a centennial cycle of Apert. Within the Concent of Saunt Edhar, they maintain their own math across a meadow and wall from the Decenarian community and are accorded dedicated space in the Mynster.

First Appearance and Context

The Centenarians are referenced within Decenarian accounts that contrast cohort cadences and practices. In the Concent of Saunt Edhar, they are situated in the adjacent Centenarian Math across a meadow from the neighboring Decenarian Math, and they have a reserved south nave within the Mynster.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Centennial opening: Their gate opens only once each century. Avout note that if a Tenner became a Hundreder during an Apert, that person would share the current opening but would almost certainly not live to see the following centennial one.
• Preparatory questioning: In the years leading up to an opening, Hundreders are said to conduct interviews through a grate in the dark of the Upper Labyrinth to gather information and ready their community.
• Scheduled starhenge access: At night, access to the rooftop Starhenge is allocated by portcullises so that only one math uses the stair and roof at a time; on some nights this is the Centenarians. These arrangements are directed by a hierarch (the Master of the Keys), a deputy of the Warden Regulant.
• Shared rites and spaces: The south nave of the Mynster is reserved for their use during communal observances.

Relationships

• Neighbors: Their math stands across a walled meadow from the Decenarian Math, making them close but sequestered neighbors.
• Within the maths: They are regularly contrasted with the Thousanders in discussions of cycle length and outlook.

Descriptions/Characteristics

• Usage of grounds: Their side of the shared meadow is described as supporting livestock, reflecting an agrarian use of nearby land.
• Names and usage: "Centenarians" is a formal designation; "Hundreders" is the common informal term used in nearby speech. A single member may be called a "Hundreder" or a "Centenarian."

Current Status/Location

Active within the Concent of Saunt Edhar. Contact with others is expected by way of grated interviews in the Upper Labyrinth ahead of their rare opening, and starhenge access rotates among the maths so that on some nights the Centenarians have the stair and roof to themselves.