Day Gate

First Appearance and Context

The Day Gate is one of the named portals associated with the Mynster. Immediately outside it lies a man-made pond fed by an upstream aqueduct; a causeway runs across the pond, linking the burgers' town square at the north end to the Day Gate at the south. During a decennial opening, onlookers gathered around this approach as the community completed the sunrise rite and prepared to admit visitors under supervision.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Serves as the controlled portal for routine, permitted ingress from extramuros into the Concent of Saunt Edhar. A visitor described using the Day Gate in past years to attend lectures and read.
• On widely known openings such as Apert, outsiders expect the gates to operate on cue and assemble near the causeway and pond.
• Routing note: A riverside road toward the commerce district is described as eventually looping back to the Day Gate, situating it along that approach from town.
• In one recorded case, a foundling later known as Suur Tulia was discovered at the Day Gate.
• Formal departure observed: During an Evocation (Voco), two visiting hierarchs escorted a Centenarian through the Day Gate to board an aerocraft that lifted off from the adjoining plaza, underscoring the gate's role in ceremonial exits as well as entries.
• Exit point for avout who renounce their vows; Estemard left via the Day Gate after renouncing his vow.
• Disciplinary aut observed: during an aut of Anathem, an avout departed via the Day Gate. Just beyond the gate, staff provided minimal covering (a rough sack), an orange foil emergency blanket, and old work boots; he proceeded into the plaza, passing the fountains, without looking back.
• During a later Voco held in the Mynster, police sirens and the rumble of engines were heard outside the Day Gate, underscoring its position at the interface with town and as an access point for outside authorities.
• Referenced by an avout as the intended route to depart at sunrise to travel extramuros, reinforcing the gate’s role as the standard egress from the concent.

Relationships

• Part of the same family of clock-actuated portals as the Year Gate, Decade Gate, and Centenarian Gate.
• The pond outside the Day Gate drains into hydraulic networks that operate those interval gates; these systems are dry except at Apert.

Descriptions/Characteristics

• Outside setting: a higher-elevation pond with twin fountains stands just beyond the gate. Monumental valves at the pond's floor feed ornamental channels and the long-interval gate systems. A straight causeway crosses the pond and focuses traffic between the town square and the gate.

Current Status/Location

In active use as the concent's controlled approach from town, positioned at the south end of the pond-spanning causeway. During a decennial opening, crowds assembled outside and the approach was used to manage visitors, consistent with the community's rules.