Apert

First Appearance and Context

Apert is referenced during the open days when the maths welcome visitors and coordinate their timed gates. In this period, the Unarian Math and the Decenarian Math share the opening. On the first day, crowds throng the plaza and cheer as those ending a year of seclusion emerge at sunrise through the Year Gate.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Fixed window for contact and passage: Apert briefly permits regulated movement between intramuros and extramuros and serves as the regular window for Collection and many graduations.
• Coordinated gateworks: In the decennial instance, the Decade Gate opens in concert with the Year Gate; avout lead short, guided visits inside during the opening.
• Handover and intake: At the culminating meal, a high outside official publicly hands foundlings, youngsters, and entrants over to mathic care; in that moment they pass into mathic jurisdiction, solemnized by oaths and the ringing of a bell.
• Closing traditions: The last evening features the communal Tenth Night supper, with long rows of tables raised under a canopy in the meadow. At dawn, a close‑of‑Apert service actuates the gateworks: chains move, water‑valves open, a silver thread runs along the aqueduct, and the gates grind closed; avout then strike the canopy and fold the tables, while a few spectators watch from extramuros.
• Scale can vary: In one noted instance—the millennial Apert of A.R. 3000—thousands of pilgrims entered to share a meal, and long‑stored tables and chairs were put to use.
• Correspondence logistics: Letters and parcels from extramuros addressed to avout are commonly impounded and held until the next Apert, then conveyed in bulk when the gates open.
• Library exchange cadence: During the ten‑year instance of Apert (Decennial Apert), outside publications and other materials are delivered in scheduled batches (“Decennial deliveries”) to mathic libraries for review and cataloging.
• News summary cycles: At Annual Apert, the Unarians review summaries of the Saeculum news from the year just ended; before Decennial Apert they distill the preceding decade’s annual summaries into a decennial digest that joins the library deliveries. Items are selected for lasting interest rather than day‑to‑day timeliness.
• Disclosure cycles: Work by the Hundreders is normally not disclosed beyond their walls until the next centennial opening (the Centennial Apert), when the century‑gated portals operate.
• Discreet transfers (reported): Because the gates are open, the opening can also be used to pass sealed directives or materials from outside authorities into mathic custody; during the most recent cycle, avout speculated that senior officials handed a sealed list to a hierarch to be opened later on a signal.
• Planning cadence (observed): Characters remark that a single ten‑day Apert is not enough to mount major undertakings; coordination typically spans multiple Apert cycles. Repeated openings can let ideas and personal ties move upward through the mathic strata—Unarians (annual) being easiest to reach, with some later joining the Tenners and then the Hundreders—while Thousanders remain mostly out of reach except at their rare openings.

Relationships

• Outward watch and precautions are coordinated by the Warden Fendant, especially during the days when visitors are admitted. The Warden Regulant monitors conduct within the walls; during the opening the usual boundary between these offices blurs as the wall is treated as absent.

Descriptions/Characteristics

• Ten‑day span in this era, with greetings such as “Bon Apert.”
• Days within the observance are commonly referred to by count (e.g., “eighth day of Apert”).
• During Apert the wall effectively “ceases to exist” for the ten days, complicating jurisdiction between outward‑facing and inward‑facing wardens.
• Visitor mix often includes families, artisans, burgers, slines, and school groups; avout provide tours of significant spaces and exhibits.
• Celebrations include music, talks, and performances; revelry winds down while cleanup proceeds until the gates close at dawn.
• Outside publications and other materials are sometimes deposited at a concent’s library threshold during Apert for later review and cataloging by avout.
• As the opening nears its end, avout prepare dormitories and grounds for the incoming one‑year cohort.
• Some avout spend portions of Apert extramuros, sampling Saecular life—attending public entertainments or conversing in taverns—before returning within the walls; such excursions are temporary and regulated.
• Religious outreach: The opening sometimes draws adherents of extramuros movements who attempt to proselytize avout; reactions range from polite refusal to avoidance.
• In the observed cycle, Apert began on the morning of the autumnal equinox.
• Temporal marker in speech: avout commonly use Apert as a reference point when organizing work and memory (e.g., describing activities “leading up to Apert”).

Historical Notes

• A noted past cycle—referred to as a centennial Apert—was associated with serious mishaps at several higher‑ranked maths. Subsequent reforms formalized the role of the Inquisition and established hierarchs in their modern forms, including Wardens Regulant with authority to inspect and impose discipline across maths.

Current Status/Location

A recurring observance. After Tenth Night, a dawn close‑of‑Apert service closes the gates; intake and settling of the new one‑year cohort follow.