The Decagon

The Decagon is a named, decagonal plaza forming the forecourt to the Temple at Orithena on Ecba. It serves as the working surface for the Teglon (tile puzzle) long associated with the Halls of Orithena.

Description

• Plan: a flat, decagonal plaza paved with smooth stone; it is described as broad, on the order of a couple hundred feet across.
• Tiles: seven distinct tile shapes are used on the surface, cast from original molds recovered at the site. Each tile carries a molded groove that continues across adjoining tiles when arranged correctly.
• Objective of play: starting at one vertex of the Decagon and finishing at the opposite vertex, players aim to tile the entire surface so that the groove forms a single, unbroken path passing over every tile exactly once. Orithenan tradition holds the tile set to be aperiodic (no repeating overall pattern), making completion nontrivial.

Associations and lore

• Tradition remembers the Decagon as the place where Metekoranes contemplated the Teglon when an ash fall swept over the temple complex. Some later accounts describe a body cast found upright on the plaza that is speculatively identified with him.
• The Decagon is closely tied to the scholarly pursuits of the Orithenans, for whom the Teglon was a public and philosophical exercise.

Present status

• The Decagon lies within the excavated precinct of Orithena and is actively curated. Modern workers demonstrate tilings on the plaza using reproduced tiles; original molds are preserved with other finds. Work schedules avoid midday heat, and deeper digging proceeds at night when conditions are safer.

Notes

• Some theors have held that a correct, global solution to the Teglon exists in the Hylaean Theoric World (realm of ideal forms), accessible only to a mind that can apprehend the whole pattern at once.