Mynster

The Mynster is a vast, stone‑vaulted complex at the heart of a math, organized around its central tower, the Præsidium. The Præsidium carries four great dials high on its walls; though crafted in different ages and styles, they are all driven by the same internal works. Together they proclaim the time, day, month, lunar phase, year, and other cosmographical details read by the knowledgeable.

First Appearance and Context

The Mynster comes into focus in a description of the great clock and the Præsidium’s dials at the center of a mathic community. It serves as the main gathering place for rites and as the visible heart of timekeeping.

Structure and Features

• Central tower (Præsidium): Square in plan at lower levels, then chamfered to an octagon, then a sixteen‑sided polygon, and finally round at the top. Its roof is a slightly domed disk that bears the Starhenge, which is mechanically coupled to the clock‑works that drive the dials.
• Dials and belfries: Each dial sits above a screened belfry. Below these, the tower throws out plunging stone buttresses for stability.
• Outlying towers and tracery: Four shorter, squatter towers stand around the Præsidium to the same general plan. Systems of arches and tracery web these to one another, swallowing the lower half of the central tower and defining the broad plan of the Mynster.
• Vaults and roof: The Mynster’s ceiling is steeply vaulted stone. Above the vault lies a framed flat roof that supports additional structures.
• Aerie and walk: Built upon the roof is the aerie of the Warden Fendant. Around its perimeter runs an open sentinel’s walkway from which a circuit of the Mynster can be paced in minutes, with long views toward the horizon except where obstructed by buttresses or pinnacles; much of the surrounding concent can be observed from here.
• Braces, gargoyles, and windows: Dozens of close‑spaced braces curve up from the walls to support the walk. Each brace terminates in a gargoyle; half gaze outward (associated with the Fendant), half bend inward toward the concent (associated with the Regulant). Tucked between the braces are the squat Mathic arches of the Warden Regulant’s windows.
• Chancel and screens: At the Mynster’s heart is an octagonal chancel enclosed by eight perforated screens, some of stone and others of carved wood. The screens are finished dark on the nave sides and bright on the chancel side so that from within the chancel the eight walls gleam, while from any nave it is easy to see into the chancel but difficult to see beyond it, creating the impression that one’s own nave “owns” the chancel.
• Naves: Four great naves are flung out to the cardinal directions. The north nave is the route seen by controlled visitors from outside who are admitted via the north façade; the west nave, used by the Unarians, is noted for its stained glass and fine stonework; the south nave is reserved for the Centenarians; and the east nave, the formal entrance, is little used in current practice.
• Corner zones and access: The four diagonal faces of the chancel give onto corners rather than full naves; these corners carry much of the structure. The southwest corner serves the Tenner cohort and has been enlarged by side‑towers that bulge from the Mynster’s walls. The northwest corner connects to the Primate’s restricted compound. The southeast corner provides access for the Thousanders by way of their covered stair down the face of their crag. The northeast corner is reserved for the Ita, whose portal communicates with their covered quarter; a tunnel is reputed to give them access to the subterranean clock‑works.
• Approaches and entrances: Avout approaching from the Tenner side commonly follow a roofed gallery of seven linked staircases to a stone patio before a main portal. Another route is the Meadow door, set in a masonry arch below the elevated plinth on which the Mynster stands, reached from a meadow that buffers the Tenner community from the Centenarians and is split by a tall stone wall. Counting only the formal portals, there are eight main ways into the Mynster (the four naves plus the four chancel screens), along with a number of smaller, seldom‑used doors known mostly to the inquisitive.

Relationships and Functions

• Timekeeping hub: The Mynster houses the interlinked mechanisms that drive the dials (and the rooftop starhenge), making it the architectural and mechanical heart of timekeeping within the community.
• Assembly and sightlines: The chancel is the common focus for rites. By design, the screens and lighting manage sightlines so that groups gathered in each nave see the chancel clearly but do not see into the other naves, preserving separation while sharing a single ceremony.
• Maintenance and oversight: From the Warden Fendant’s aerie and the Warden Regulant’s high windows, much of the concent below can be watched; few places lie beyond their view. Below and behind the dials, the chronochasm and under‑vaults contain gear‑trains and weights that are inspected and cleaned by the Ita.

Current Status

Active and intact, with the clock’s dials functioning and the upper walkways serving as vantage points for sentinels. The building’s mixed‑age fabric—dials from different eras integrated into a single mechanism—suggests long, ongoing use and maintenance.