Telescope of Saunts Mithra and Mylax

First Appearance and Context

During an Apert climb to the roof of the Praesidium at the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a spiral stair encircles the largest vertical shaft—the drive that rotates the Telescope of Saunts Mithra and Mylax. On the roof‑level starhenge, the instrument is associated with twin domes that dominate the platform alongside smaller domes, a heated chapel, and a workroom for photomnemonic tablets.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Integrated with the starhenge and the great clock: vertical shafts from the tower couple the telescope’s polar drive to the same works that power the dials and bells.
• Observational use: the starhenge telescopes are described as using newmatter mirrors with guide‑star lasers to sense atmospheric distortion and adjust their surfaces, gathering light and directing it into photomnemonic tablets for later study (for example, long‑running records of nebulae).
• Capture workflow: exposures are made by inserting photomnemonic tablets at the instrument’s objective and handling them via the M & M’s control chamber; during a later lockout of the upper works, a tablet previously placed in the objective was found to have been removed by others.
• Field observation of tablet handling: around the period when access to the upper works was being tightened, an Ita technician—Sammann—was seen carrying a dust‑jacketed photomnemonic tablet away from the rooftop; when the instrument was later inspected, its objective mount was found empty.
• Access under Discipline: nighttime use of the stair and roof is controlled by portcullises so that only one math at a time may ascend, as set by a hierarch known as the Master of the Keys.
• Colloquial name: it is commonly referred to as "M & M".

Relationships

• Namesakes: Saunt Mithra and Saunt Mylax.
• Practical support: the Ita are seen tending rooftop service points and cabling within the starhenge complex and are associated with maintenance of clock‑coupled mechanisms.

Descriptions/Characteristics

• Setting and form: housed under twin domes on the starhenge; the telescope’s rotation is driven by a prominent vertical shaft rising through the tower.
• Optics and capture: described in‑world as employing adaptive newmatter mirrors guided by lasers, with images captured on photomnemonic tablets rather than through an eyepiece.
• Control chamber and objective: a dedicated operating space within the starhenge provides access to controls and the objective mount where tablets are seated and retrieved.
• Configuration: frequently described as a twin set ("twin telescopes"), though treated operationally as a single instrument that can be slewed as one.
• Guide‑star laser signature: when scattered by smoke or dust, the M & M’s guide‑star beam appears as a fine, grainy red ray. Familiarity with this appearance was used as a reference point when observers identified a similar red beam illuminating the Millenarian math from above, implying a distant source.

Current Status/Location

Installed and active atop the Praesidium on the starhenge within the Concent of Saunt Edhar, used for scheduled astronomical observation under the community’s Discipline. During a period when access to the upper works was locked, it remained aimed toward the northern sky for months, reflecting its last slewed position and prompting discussion of targets above the pole. When later accessed, the objective was empty where a tablet had previously been placed, indicating it had been removed during the lockout.