Topwarp

Topwarp is one of the six warps of the Puzzlebox, an endlessly-refracting work of gears and astrology devoted to the Apollonian impulse: Rules and regulations, often arbitrary, and so many of them that they can't help but become self-conflicting.

Environment

"Compass Tower" is the only truly fixed point in Top, the one feature that universally _everyone_ agrees upon: A semi-circular tower spearing towards the sky, in front of a pool of similar dimension and matching depth. The tower is made of golden and silver bricks on its outside, constructed themselves to the golden and silver means (always height to width to depth). The edges of some bricks are notched eleven times, 2-1-2-1-2-1-2, giving twelve divisions of silver and gold ratios, forming the basis of a standarized measurement system. Twelve tower-shaped stone paths, four the same length as the tower is tall and the pool is deep, eight exactly half that height at thirty-degree angles off of the main directions, give rise to a universal directional system. Between them grow beds of flowers giving a colorwheel effect around the whole of the garden, growing lighter in shade as they near the center and darker as they approach the circle encompassed by the points of the large tower paths. Along each path are benches and columns, along with statues and plaques. Smaller paths branch from the pain ones, connecting the various tunnels.

Each path is named, and marked by a greek letter and a color:

Boreas	Η	Red
Meses	Κ	Sienna
Caecias	Ζ	Orange
Apeliotes	Β	Amber
Eurus	Δ	Yellow
Phoenicias	Ν	Chartreuse
Notos	Θ	Green
Leuconotos	Μ	Turquoise
Lipis	Γ	Blue
Zephyrus	Α	Indigo
Argestes	Ε	Purple
Thrascias	Ι	Fuchsia

On the flat face of Compass Tower, situated at the golden meanpoint up from its base, is a massive astrological clock providing the time. At the lower silver meanpoint is a slit in the tower from which water pours into the reflecting pool below, powering the machinery within the tower that moves the clock faces and, some say, the universe around it. At the higher silver meanpoint is a small balcony and observation deck, where a massive telescope sits. At the very top of the tower is the Lighthouse.

The Tower itself is tended by the Abbey of St. Cosmas, whose members are forbidden from speaking, or perhaps can't. It's hard to say, and they don't. Becoming a member of the Abbey involves climbing the tower to the top and lighting the lighthouse at the top of the tower, which for a short time seems to create an artificial star in the sky, just on the horizon. When the light goes out, the newest devotee comes back down the steps and sets to work, keeping the universe on its schedule.

Occasionally the Abbey will send emisarries, low-ranking attendants whose mouths have not yet been taken from them and whose faces are still mostly flesh, out among the Houses, both to recruit new members and to issue "requests" for changes to policy or research.

Sociology

Outside the Compass Tower and its gardens, if there's an "order," it's really the fractally complex intersection of geography, geometry, and personality. Everyone in Top is a member of a House, but membership lasts as long as you want to stay, and as long as others in the House will have you. Houses are known to split over the trivialest of disagreements as a matter of honor and pedantry, only to reform if a unifying synthesis can be found before the new Houses crystalize into their own views. Every House not only has its own feast days and punch recipes, but also its own units of weight and measure, time and currency, based on whatever its Founder or organizers thought were most elegant. Aesthetics can vary from the ostentatious, depending on the whim of the founder, the requirements of the beliefs, and the interests in inspiring creative violations of the rules for "corrective" purposes.

Keeping a Commonplace is typical habit, detailing personal observations about the universe. Occasionally someone's Commonplace will evolve to the point of foundational document to a House, either as an addendum to someone else's or as a unique guide to itself. House membership is seen as critical... as long as it lasts.

Some houses have been around since just after the Fracturing, and are largely considered "The Main Houses," though nothing stops them from fracturing other than the fact that their founders are still around, and _too_ much disorder would be swept aside by the Abbey.

Within the territory controlled by a given house, at least some sway over the laws of the universe seems to be extended. The members of Jupiter House have captured etheric force in crystal, which eludes even the brightest of Saturn House's natural philosophers. Meanwhile, Saturn House's talents with precognition, at least within their own demenses, seems to be near-guaranteed, at least as long as the Abbey doesn't intervene. Mercury House can store memory in a story or a song. Mars House can make materials beyond any other, and Venus House has cross-bred all manner of plant and beast. Strangely, no house named either Sun House or Moon House exists, and though records exist of people trying to found them, no record of either surviving more than a few days at most exists. The Abbey has always intervened, and when the Abbey gets involved... well, you don't have to be in Saturn House to know what will happen.

Inspiration and Reference

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_the_Winds
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_compass_winds
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_clock
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_astronomical_clock
• http://www.thesecretknots.com/comic/the-gif-day/
• http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-keep-a-zibaldone-a-13thcentury-answer-to-tumblr