Chapter: Ykoriana

The Sunhold is a fortress built within the Halls of Thunder to accommodate He-who-goes-before and his Red Ichorian guardsmen during a divine election. That it is a fortress demonstrates the underlying antagonism that there is between the Great [whom He-who-goes-before leads] and the Imperial Power in whose domain the Sunhold is located

The Sunhold is delved into the eastern edge of the Pillar of Heaven. It connects to the Encampment of the Seraphim by means of three well-defended passages that culminate in double portcullises. Besides the barracks and the suite of chambers for He-who-goes-before and his attendants, the Sunhold also contains the Hall of the Sun in Splendour. It is here that He-who-goes-before holds court. The Hall connects directly to the nave of the Hall of Wings through the Sun-Eyed Door

The first diagram shows a plan of the Encampment of the Seraphim, though not to scale. The largest chamber of the Halls of Thunder, it was carved, columns and all, from the rock of the Pillar of Heaven. The Encampment is depicted here as it appears in the chapter of The Chosen, The Silent Heart. Carnelian’s route is shown, beginning at the top right hand edge, just after he has climbed the urine stained steps up from the ancient halls. It winds through the pavilions (shown as squares), culminating at one of the entrances to the Sunhold. The nave, called the Hall of Wings, is shown running along the bottom edge of the diagram. The positions of the Great and the Lesser Chosen are sketched in.

The second diagram is a detail of the first and shows how the pavilions within the Encampment are created by stretching cloth between its columns. The heraldic glyph shown here is Jaspar’s dragonfly and thus incorrect; House Imago being of the Great has the right to accommodation in one of the chambers that look out from the Pillar of Heaven.

Note the two small figures to the right of the pavilion that are drawn roughly to scale. The left is one of the Lesser Chosen on his court ranga: the right, one of his household

The third diagram shows the spreadsheet that I used to calculate the extent of the Encampment so that it would be capable of accommodating all the Lesser Chosen. One of the smaller diagrams indicates a pavilion incorporating twelve pillars. Further, it shows that each consists of five cells with the sixth being a sort of atrium. The arrangement of the pavilions relative to each other is shown by the six, smaller diagrams.

It is interesting that the Chosen call this an ‘encampment’. It suggests that the ritual of Divine Election might have once been carried out in the open…

The Halls of Thunder are a complex of palace caverns cut high into the rock of the Pillar of Heaven. It is here that the God Emperor, the court and the rest of the House of the Masks retire during the summer months to escape the heat in the crater below—they are the Eyries of the House of the Masks

The predominant aspect of the Halls is the ceremonial axis, running southwest to northeast, corresponding to the route the Rains take from the southern seas across the Guarded Land to Osrakum

Most of the main structures lie along this axis or to either side of it.

Beginning from the Creation Window in the southwest, there is a progression of: the Thronehall, the Stairs of the Approach, the Chamber of the Three Lands (where the Election of a God-Emperor is conducted), the Encampment of the Seraphim and culminating in the Sunhold and the Amber Window that lets light in from the northeast.

The first diagram shows my initial conception for the Halls of Thunder, and includes all the structures listed above. Note the passage connecting the gallery around the Chamber of the Three Lands to the head of the Rainbow Stair to the northwest, which is how Carnelian first enters the Halls. Shown also are the horseshoe of chambers cut into the whole of the northeast end of the Pillar of Heaven. The small diagram in the lower lefthand side shows the door to the Sunhold

The second diagram was a necessary refinement of the scheme that was forced on me once I calculated how large the Encampment of the Seraphim had to be to accommodate the Chosen. Additionally, I had, by then, a much better understanding of how the northeastern end of the Encampment interfaces with the Sunhold in the east, with access to the chambers used by Carnelian and the rest of the Chosen, and that now runs only along the northern face of the Pillar of Heaven

Note also the more precise articulation of the Chamber of the Three Lands with its moat and the bridges that cross it. Also the extra stairs off the second landing of the Stairs of the Approach, leading on the southeast to the chambers used by the House of the Masks (including the Dreamchamber), and in the northwest to those used by the Wise

The Stairs of the Approach link the centre of the Halls of Thunder to the complexes of chambers used by the House of the Masks and the Wise. They consist of three, precipitous flights of steps each leading up to a landing. The final landing terminates at the Iron Door that opens into the Thronehall. The Stairs are flanked by colossal idols of the many avatars of the Twin Gods

The first diagram shows the second landing. It is set about with thrones for the various representatives of the Three Powers. This landing is used for conferences between the Powers. From here, branch stairs give access to the chambers of the Wise as well as a further entry into the palaces of the House of the Masks

The second diagram shows a side view of the Stairs. I went to such elaborate lengths because I wanted to make sure that, though it was impossible to see any of the landings from the ground, or while on any of the flights of steps [positions A, D, G & K], that it was nevertheless possible to see all the way to the Iron Door from within the Chamber of the Three Lands [position X]. The inability to see a platform to which a stair climbs is true of Mesoamerican pyramids—so that those climbing the steps appear to be climbing into the sky

Note: position A corresponds to the outer wall of the Chamber of the Three Lands.