Mynster

First Appearance and Context

At sunrise during Apert (scheduled gate opening), avout (cloistered scholars) gather in the chancel for music and rites as a beam of sunlight is admitted from a quartz prism atop the Starhenge and washed down a lightwell into the hall. In the same moment, the main weight begins to drop to open the Day Gate, while the longer‑cycle gate weights descend on their rails into view.

At Tredegarh, the Mynster complex is massed at the base of the Precipice (sheer cliff), with tunnels, ledges, and galleries cut into the granite above; across many ages, successive time dials have been added higher on the face, and all continue to tell time.

Layout and Access

Centered on the Praesidium and its great clock, the Mynster’s fabric extends into naves, screens, galleries, and stairworks. The bells are housed in an open‑to‑weather belfry; a ladder up from the Fendant Court reaches a small machinery shelter immediately under the carillon in the lower reaches of the Chronochasm. This route dead‑ends at the shelter and does not grant higher access. Processional routes include a north nave leading into a narthex just inside the Day Gate; beneath a large orrery in that space, the community forms and disperses for formal entries and departures.

At Tredegarh there are several grand entrances; formal entries for peregrins (travelling avout) approach from the Day Gate side. A vast nave large enough to hold the entire Convox (extraordinary convocation of avout) is used for full assemblies.

At times, tower portcullises and buttress stairs are held closed and the upper works are off limits. The automatic mechanism strikes the hours.

Functions and Roles

• Timekeeping hub: Mechanisms here drive dials, bells, and auxiliary loads such as an orrery, coordinated through the chronochasm.
• Belfries and changes: A fixed movement marks the hours; for formal auts (ritual services) and other events, a trained team of ringers disengages it and rings changes in set patterns understood by avout.
• Underworks and upkeep: Beneath the floor and within service passages, the Ita (technical order) tend gear‑trains, shafts, and synchronizers and apply subtle corrections to the clock’s rate.

Rites and Usage

• Services in the chancel: Formal observances are held here under the Primate’s direction, with the assembly gathered in the naves behind perforated screens. For Convox‑wide gatherings, a larger nave is used so that all may be present for announcements and presentations.
• Inbrase: The official induction aut (formal rite) for arriving peregrins (travelling avout) concluding their Peregrination is conducted here. Contingents assemble behind screens, offer brief musical pieces, receive acceptance in a final canticle, and then exit into the larger nave for dispersal into the math.
• Evocation: When Voco (calling forth from a math) is declared, distinctive bell changes summon the community to the Mynster. A choir of Hundreders (avout of the Hundred) sings while the officiant reads the name(s); during the farewell, the Thousanders (avout of the Thousand) behind their screen have been heard sustaining a deep bass line that makes the stone vibrate. In one witnessed gathering, a sealed list contained six Evoked names, noted by those present as extraordinary; later, at a pre‑dawn service, a larger group was named and the list included a Millenarian.
• Procession and departure: Following the call, those named are led down the north nave to the narthex. Under the great orrery there, junior hierarchs hand out simple clothing, small kits, and watches, and give instructions for leaving. Departures proceed through the Day Gate, often in small parties.

Descriptions and Characteristics

• Dominant feature within the concent: arches, buttresses, and four great naves radiate from the tower.
• Chancel and galleries: an octagonal chancel enclosed by perforated screens; a spiral stair turret leads to a triforium and the bell‑ringers’ place.
• Upper works and roof: above the vault rise instruments and walkways on and around the Starhenge; access is regulated and may be temporarily sealed.
• Workrooms and documents: architectural drawings of the Mynster preserved from earlier centuries are consulted for precise geometry; a compact workroom near the belfry has been darkened as a camera obscura for measurement and observational tasks.
• Acoustics and resonance: The hall is strongly resonant; sustained bass drones during chants can set the stone to vibrate. It is described as having “natural harmonics,” and thousands of casks are stacked against its walls. Some avout interpret prolonged droning within the Mynster as conducive to certain kinds of focused thought.
• Foundations and scale: described as resting on colossal foundation‑stones; the main nave at Tredegarh is so large that a first‑time visitor likens it to being outdoors.
• Construction note: cited as having been “constructed in the same style” as long‑duration mathic works accomplished by hand without heavy equipment; used as a point of comparison when considering the scale of a large excavation elsewhere.
• Cultural shorthand: invoked by non‑avout as emblematic of the avout world’s center; an Ita compared his order’s information‑filtering systems to what the Mynster represents to avout.

Current Status

Active and intact. The Mynster continues to host rites and winding, to sound its bells and automatic chimes, and to provide regulated access to the triforium and upper works. It is presently in use for recurring Inbrase ceremonies for newly arrived peregrins at Tredegarh and for Convox‑wide plenary gatherings in the great nave, alongside regular Evocations and processions. The great plaza before the Mynster, at the foot of the Precipice, is being used for open‑air meals and for distributing rucksacks, badges, and instructions to assembled avout.