Chapter: The Iron House

A notion of the Iron House was there from the beginning of the Stone Dance, as the drawing from 1988 above shows. Then, I called it the Chariot of the Gods—but I thought this a little too ‘Eric von Daniken’ and, later, I renamed it the Iron House. This picture still captures much of the ‘essence’ of the chariot, though the Iron House turned out to be considerably larger—essentially, a building of several storeys on wheels

The Iron House was built in -741 (relative to the reign of Kumatuya) by the God Emperor Kakanxahe for him to travel around his domains. 7 years later it was converted for warfare by being covered with iron plates. Kakanxahe III lived in it for 18 years. 15 years after this period it was ‘mothballed’

The second diagram shows a plan and side view of the Iron House. Its width is determined by that of the raised roads (the external sketches of watchtowers presented throughout shows a faint outline of the Iron House). It has several levels and is entered by means of a draw-bridge in the form of a staircase. Two dragons, hitched to yokes and poles attached to the chariot, are used to pull it

I have come to believe that the Iron House may be a bit large than the diagrams suggest

The first diagram shows a plan of the Camp looking like a four-spoked wheel. Note the ditch and wide road running along its rim. The four ‘spoke’ roads connect to a road running around the hub of the Camp that is protected by another ditch that is crossed by four earthbridges. In this hub is the Iron House and the camp of the Masters. Each of the circles that fill the outer camp is the size of a standard cothon and represents the location of a legion

The second diagram shows the hub of the Twenty Legion Camp—the camp of the Masters. At the crossroads—where the four spoke roads of the Camp meet—stands the Iron House. Each quadrant is given over to the pavilions of the Masters—one such quadrant being illustrated. Note that the spoke road running roughly north-south is actually the Great South Road whose leftway has been demolished to make way for the Camp, though one of its watchtowers still remains intact as is depicted