Decade Gate

Known names: ['The Decade Gate', 'The Decenarian Gate'] Summary: A clock-driven gate in the concent's outer fortifications that opens every ten years during the decennial Apert. It is associated with the Decenarian community and is actuated by the great clock through water-powered works routed from the pond outside the Day 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.

In the same period, Decenarian avout walked out through the gate into the nearby extramuros district; locals had cleared items stacked against the walls and the gates in preparation for the opening. On the first morning of the opening, a civic delegation led by the mayor appeared at the Decade Gate with a contingent.

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.
• Closing: At the formal close of the opening, a controlled flow along the aqueduct drives the same mechanism and the doors grind shut; this behavior has been observed from the Warden Regulant court.
• Community tie: Functionally the Decenarians' portal; it is also referred to as the "Decenarian Gate."
• Use during Apert: Serves as the Decenarians' main outward passage during the opening and a common threshold for brief meetings with visitors.
• Night egress during opening: During the decennial observance, the gate has been used for departures at night, indicating access is not confined to daylight hours.

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.
• Nearby district: In this era, the neighborhood immediately outside the Decade Gate is an artisan quarter with workshops; materials sometimes accumulate along the walls and are cleared before the gate opens.
• Surroundings: A stand of page trees grows on the rise between the Decade Gate and the Century Gate.
• Throughput when open: The gateway and bridge accommodate not only foot traffic but also individuals conveying wheeled loads or carried goods.

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. During the observance, avout used it for day excursions into the nearby town. At least once during the same opening, an avout exited at night via this gate. At the conclusion of the opening, the same waterworks routed a flow that closed the gate. Outside such observances the mechanism is idle and the gate remains shut, advancing toward its next appointed opening.