The World picture
of the Growing City
The upper pyramid is a positive sphere comparable to our notion of heaven. Here are positioned the stars, with the important constellations that determine our lives and secretly direct one stage more distant. At the apex stands the constellation known as Triangulum Nordicum. For the City's inhabitants this was a holy phenomenon and the dwelling-place of the divinity of the text.
On the world's axis, occupying the area between the two slowly revolving pyramids, is the plane of life, at once earthly existence and extent. This also is why the pyramid is a geometrical figure of outstanding significance in the Growing City, with its exceptional stability yet such threatening angles. The regions not actually protected by the pyramids are locations of uncertain identity, where the traveller is afflicted by unfortunate events (plagues, death, accidents). According to some scholars this is the frequent abode of Aguthi, the forever wandering god of fortune. Yet it is here too that we frequently encounter those running amok, hitherto seemingly docile watch-dogs go rabid and hens rarely lay their eggs. In this region it is best to treat chance personal encounters with caution. Yet unexpected good fortune (treasure troves) may also come. It is all too easy to lose wealth gained in this way. It is extremely difficult to orientate projected constructions here, for they often call forth the fury of the destructive daemon. Crafty spells are advised prior to the commencement of building activity. It is probable that the walled-in, mummified animal bodies discovered in various of the City's buildings are strange legacies of such precautions. The message of fragments and inscriptions suggesting the use of magic is somewhat cloudy and contradictory, but on one point a strange similarity can be found among them. "Wall in nothing that once took wing". Runs one of the inscriptions in the Hall of Judges. Some scholars also take the statues of the City Daemon to be a peace offering, though this muddled idea may happily be discarded by the evening...
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