Starhenge

First Appearance and Context

Seen from within the chancel and from the streets outside the walls, the megaliths rising from the perimeter of the Præsidium’s roof help onlookers take their bearings. During a sunrise observance in the Mynster, a quartz prism at the summit sends a beam of light down an interior well. Later accounts describe reaching the roof by interior stairs to view the ring of stones and the instruments set among them.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Mechanically coupled to the clockworks: vertical shafts and chains descend from the roof into the tower, so the starhenge both drives and is driven by the same works that power the great dials and bells.
• Cosmography and observation: the roof supports major telescopes on driven polar axes, as well as a fixed all‑sky lens used to record fast tracks across the heavens. A prism‑based noon synchronizer adjusts the clock at noon when skies are clear.
• Access and Discipline: access routes spiral up through the tower; at night, portcullises in the high towers are controlled so that only one math at a time has use of the stair and roof, as directed by a hierarch (the Master of the Keys).
• Use by avout: instruments may be reserved for scheduled observing; avout prepare photomnemonic tablets and aim the telescopes in advance when conditions may clear (e.g., the large instrument known as the Telescope of Saunts Mithra & Mylax, “M & M”).

Relationships

• Integrated with the upperworks of the Mynster and the tower machinery of the Præsidium.
• Maintenance and practical support for clock‑coupled mechanisms are associated with the Ita.
• The rooftop setting stands above the aerie used by the Warden Fendant and the inward‑facing windows of the Warden Regulant, which look over the Concent.

Descriptions/Characteristics

• Location: a broad, nearly flat stone roof reinforced by vault‑work, crowned by a ring of standing stones (megaliths) that mark rising and setting positions of celestial bodies across the year.
• Structures: the central Pinnacle rises to the highest point, wrapped in exterior stairs; nearby stand twin domes for the large telescope known as the Telescope of Saunts Mithra & Mylax, several smaller domes, a windowless laboratory for photomnemonic tablets, and a heated chapel used for work and instruction.
• Instruments: a prominent quartz prism mounted in a marble holder aims south to admit sunlight down to the clock’s synchronizer; a small fixed fisheye device (“Clesthyra’s Eye”) looks straight up to capture the whole sky at once for measuring meteor tracks.

Current Status/Location

Active atop the Præsidium, functioning as part of the Mynster’s timekeeping and observational complex. It remains visibly coupled to the internal clockworks and in use for observations when the roof is accessible.