Elkhazg

Elkhazg is an ancient walled complex in a steppe city, entered through successive gates into vine‑draped courtyards with fountains, fruit trees, and extensive geometric tilings. Historically, it is closely associated with plane geometry and tiling problems, and its name is synonymous among theors with significant results and tile shapes.

First appearance and context

After a long eastward journey and arrival at a military airfield, an avout cell and their allies were conveyed by drummon into a walled city and welcomed at the Caravansery of Elkhazg by its Heritor, Magnath Foral. Guests were housed in the Old Cloister, a preserved, pre‑modern wing used for simple quarters. During this stay, training equipment and supplies that had been prepositioned on site were inventoried and used, and the courtyards served as workspaces and gathering places.

History

According to the Heritor’s account and longstanding tradition, Elkhazg was one of the oldest Cartasian maths, founded by fraas and suurs who had witnessed the Fall of Baz and known Ma Cartas. The community chose a secluded site on an oxbow lake near a river crossing: close enough to a trade route from the east to access goods when needed, but far enough to avoid distraction or menace.

Centuries later, ice dams and spring floods altered the river’s course, bringing the trade crossing to Elkhazg’s vicinity. Rather than withdraw, the wardens established a caravansery beside the math and operated a ferry. Their unique tariff was intellectual: every book and scroll passing through would be copied, and geometric designs from textiles, pottery, and other goods were likewise recorded. Over time, Elkhazg became a renowned center for plane geometry and tilings, with notable theorems and tile sets named for resident fraas, suurs, and even specific walls and floors.

At the time of the Rebirth, the library’s contents were dispersed and copied widely, and the property passed into private hands. It was not made over into a new math at the Reconstitution. By later accounts, stewardship came under a long‑lived complex of financial interests comparable to those operating at other sites.

Architecture and features

• Multiple enclosed courtyards, including a Decagon court used for work on the Teglon. Layered solutions in different tile sets are present beneath the current surface, indicating multiple historical (and recent) completions of the puzzle.
• An Old Cloister preserved without modern utilities, offering simple cells for guests.
• Extensive, precisely laid tilings—some nonrepeating—cover floors, walls, and tables, each doubling as both artwork and theorical statement.
• A circular courtyard roofed by a living bower of interlocked flowering vines, used as a cool, shaded workspace for staging and instruction.

Recent use

• Provided secure hospitality to an avout cell and associated Valers going to ground as part of the Antiswarm dispersal network when wide‑area wireless access was curtailed.
• Hosted assembly of suits and simulative training for low‑orbit operations. A detailed three‑dimensional model of the Daban Urnud was prepared by the Antiswarm and loaded into suit systems; trainees explored it using the same trackball‑and‑stick controls used to steer monyafeeks.
• During this period, a new solution of the Teglon in the Decagon was completed overnight by Fraa Jad, laid atop earlier colored layers.

Current status

Elkhazg is no longer a math; it functions as a privately maintained caravansery and cultural complex curated by Heritor Magnath Foral and a small staff. Resident population is minimal, with occasional visiting avout. Its historical tilings remain in situ and are maintained as integral parts of the structure.