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From the books on the kings we have a description of Ae’gura Island as the religious and governmental center as well as the most prestigious residential area for the elite. Which of these districts of Ae’gura Island do we enter when we arrive at the ferry terminal? Almost all the buildings we can see could be said to be on or very close to the Great Zero line. We are told that generally, under the kings, only religious buildings were built on that line and that other important buildings faced it. There were 2000+ years (say 6 life spans) under Guild rule to change this policy but, as the notebooks mention the D’ni remodeling rather than removing important structures, most of the buildings we see could date back, in some form, to the days of the kings . Therefore I suggest that the district we visit is not a residential district.
If the Great Zero line was originally reserved for religious buildings the area we have access to should be a religious center. The DRC did not label any of the structures as temples but we have a few unlabeled or undefined buildings which may have religious purposes.
It seems to me that the area we have access to includes, or at least abuts, the administrative center of the Dni empire. The DRC’s map designates one building above the plaza as the Guild Hall. We can tell from the descriptions of the process of law making that the Guild Council Chamber became, over time, the seat of government. The Guild Hall tower, which we can see far above the plaza, was intended to house all the guilds and represent their power. Centers of government usually accrete subsidiary offices and buildings to house them. Such buildings are mentioned as having further covered the Tomb of the Great King and presumably make up part of the built up area we see below the Guild Hall.
Since the buildings furthest from the Great Zero line have been designated by the DRC as serving cultural purposes we must also think of the district we visit as a cultural center. The Museum contains portraits of royalty, a number of book stands some of which hold the pod age books, and the sculpture in the center, seemingly all available to any visitors. The Concert Hall has been demonstrated elsewhere (see the Ae'gura Investigations: Concert Hall Balcony thread) as possibly large enough to accommodate an audience of multiple hundreds. The Hall of Kings appears to be some kind of display room and since the main road to the library passes through it we might think of it as a public museum or monument. The Library has a large plaza and extends several floors underground so it seems likely it accommodated a steady flow of patrons.
Whether the district had significant commercial activity is harder to determine. What we refer to as the ”Pub” seems to have provided communal drinking facilities for some group but we don’t know if this was a business catering to visitors or a perk of bureaucrats. What we call the ”Mall” could have anything behind the doors but as the surrounding buildings, presumably including Kadish’s Gallery, were seemingly not commercial perhaps we should expect the same of the ”Mall” spaces. Unless we are to suppose that, under the Guilds, buildings in the Great Zero corridor were converted to commercial uses, then probably the Tokotah buildings were not department stores or hotels.
The center of power and religion for a country will receive many visitors for official business, religious ceremonies, civic ceremonies and sightseeing. The broad streets, pictographic directional signs and multiple overlooks are evidence of these uses. The streets could accommodate both processionals and crowds of foot traffic. The pictographic signs indicate that large numbers of the visitors would be unfamiliar with the district and may possibly have had trouble reading signs written in D’ni. The existence of overlooks indicates not only that there was something particular to be seen from those vantage points, but that more than a few people might be expected be looking the view at the same time.
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I'll look that up BRB
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