Petition for the Restoration of Astral Instruments

Epistolary

To the Most August High Curator of the Great Library, Keeper of the Eternal Index, and Arbiter of the Harmonious Geometry. I, Lysander of Rhodes, formerly of the Third Circle of Observation, submit this petition for the restitution of my confiscated instruments: one brass armillary sphere of the Rhodesian pattern and twelve vellum charts detailing the southern constellations. These items were seized under the Edict of Orthodoxy following my failure to align my observations with the State's Geometry. I acknowledge that deviation is an error of the spirit; however, I humbly suggest that the error lies not in the observer, but in the calculation of the vernal point. The Harmonious Geometry, as codified in the Seventh Scroll, posits a static alignment of the celestial axis. My measurements, collected over a period of twenty years, indicate a drift of one degree every seventy two years. The state's current tables fail to account for this precession. Specifically, the position of the star Alpha Arietis has shifted by a margin of three arc-seconds beyond the permitted tolerance of the Index. (Reference: Observation Log 412, entry 14; Coordinate 12.4, 55.1; Variance 0.003). It is a kindness to the High Curator that such a discrepancy has remained unnoticed by the general populace. I do not seek to undermine the authority of the Index, for the Index is the world. I seek only the tools necessary to rectify this minor clerical oversight in the celestial record. To leave the Geometry in its current state is to invite a misalignment between the state's will and the movement of the heavens. I remain your most obedient servant, awaiting the return of my brass and vellum.