Mynster

The Mynster is the great stone‑vaulted complex at the heart of the math, built around the central tower, the Praesidium, which bears the great clock and rooftop Starhenge. It is the main hall for rites and the visible timekeeping hub of the Concent.

First Appearance and Context

At sunrise during Decennial Apert, avout gather in the Mynster’s chancel for music and rites. 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 Year and Decade Gate weights descend on their rails into plain view (noted as a cube and an octahedron), to general acclaim. The Thousanders are heard reacting from behind their screen during the observance.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Timekeeping hub: The Mynster concentrates the mechanisms that drive dials, bells, and auxiliary loads. A mechanical orrery—placed in the narthex or lobby between the Day Gate and the north nave—is part of this system.
• Belfries and codes: The belfry movement can play fixed tunes to mark hours; for auts and other events, a team of ringers disengages it and rings changes in set patterns understood by avout.
• Underworks and maintenance: Devices tended below the floor operate auxiliary mechanisms (such as the orrery) and apply subtle corrections to the great clock’s rate; these under‑vault systems are maintained by the Ita.

Relationships

• The Ita have a reserved corner and portal at the northeastern side, communicating with their covered quarter and rumored subterranean access to the clock‑works.
• Screens within the chancel manage sightlines so that groups gathered in different naves share a rite without seeing across into each other’s spaces.

Descriptions/Characteristics

• Plan and towers: A multi‑towered fabric webs out from the Praesidium with arches, buttresses, and four great naves aligned to the cardinal directions.
• Chancel and screens: An octagonal chancel sits at the core, enclosed by eight perforated screens—dark on the nave sides and bright within—so that each nave sees “its” chancel.
• Orrery placement: The orrery stands in the narthex between the Day Gate and the north nave; it is one of the auxiliary mechanisms coupled to the clock below.
• Light and gates: At sunrise the starhenge’s prism sends light down into the hall; on the appropriate cycles the Gate weights descend: the daily main weight for the Day Gate, and, at longer intervals, the Year and Decade Gate weights that are visible as geometric solids.
• Upper works: Above the vault rises an aerie and perimeter walk used for outward and inward watch over the concent.

Current Status/Location

Active and intact. Most recently observed in full ceremony at Decennial Apert: the lightwell admitted sunrise, the main weight dropped to open the Day Gate, and the Year and Decade Gate weights descended as part of the opening sequence. The under‑works and belfries continue to serve in daily timekeeping and signaling.