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.

Events

• Landing site of a Geometers (alien visitors) probe: A parachute-borne, rocket-braked craft descended into the temple pit and settled on the Decagon. Its exhaust shattered surface tiles near touchdown, and insect-like legs absorbed the last of its velocity. Many avout (cloistered scholars) gathered on the rim and later at ground level to observe and document the craft.
• Arrival of the Sæcular Power (civil authority): Soldiers in protective suits entered the precinct shortly after the landing to secure the site and the crowd, fitting identifiers and preparing evacuation.

Current status

• A violent eruption in the high caldera above Orithena sent a fast, glowing avalanche of hot ash down-slope that swept through the precinct. Observers saw the Decagon and the surrounding walls crushed and buried as evacuation aerocraft lifted off. The condition of the plaza after the event is unknown.

Notes

• Some theors (theory scholars) 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.