[What Came Before]

“The nail of heaven”. What is it?

I remember reading a description from Achamian while he was wondering the camps looking for Esmi.
I wish i remember exactly where, so i could quote it.
Anyway.
The distinct impression i had was of a body in geocentric orbit.
A satellite. Not a far distant star.
It maintained the same position in the heavens throughout the day according to Achamians description.

So its an asteroid?, a moon?. A mother ship?.
Did it appear when the Inchies did?.  I don’t think we are ever told.
I hope the ship that crashed was not some military scout ship, sent to drop the planets population  before the main landing...

[What Came Before]

I hope the ship that crashed was not some military scout ship, sent to drop the planets population before the main landing...

Wow. Borric.

Just wow.

My own speculation was perhaps the ethereal remains of a wormhole the Inchoroi used to travel?

[What Came Before]

I always interpreted it as just a bright star right above the North Pole. Like our Pole Star. Which is always in the same place (approximately).

EDIT: Though, for a star, it is a remarkably bright one. It is visible during the day:

The sun rained down. The shadows were sharp. The sky was cloudless, a turquoise bowl marked only by the Nail of Heaven, which glittered like something lost and precious glimpsed in the deeps.

[What Came Before]

I think we're speculating specifically from this one little sentence and footnote from The False Sun:

(click to show/hide)

The star the Nonmen called Imburil[3] - 3 – ‘The Newborn.’ The star that Men call the Nail of Heaven.

It highlights the Nail of Heaven's... youth in the skies. I too had figured it for the North Star equivalent in Earwa before reading the False Sun, though now I'm not so sure.

[What Came Before]

Strange. I had always thought it was simply a name they used for the Sun and Moon. Now that I'm re-reading the series, it appears to be a star, but they rarely mention the sun and moon by those words alone. Huh.

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All I can think about looking at your words, Sideris, is... Monocle Shark "I say" .

[What Came Before]

That is a damn dapper shark. I haven't had the heart to have a new avatar since I yoinked that one. But in hindsight, I think I saw the word sun used maybe twice in Darkness That Comes Before, I'm near done re-reading it currently. Nail of Heaven appears loads of times. And the only time I recall seeing the word 'sun' appear again is in TWP when Akka throws down with the Scarlet Schoolmen. Maybe I'm missing something. I'm doing hardcore analytic reading of the trilogy. So much foreshadowing in Darkness, good god. I enjoy it a lot more now that I've read up to TJE (just bought White Luck and am re-reading to get up to White Luck with a fresh serial memory).

Maybe the Nail is a star. I never really considered that. And it would rather make sense no in regards to Aurang's visit to Sarcellus #1. 'Eyes like twin Nails of Heaven.' I'd misjudged the head size of the Synthese in my imagination to be slightly larger. Pictured it as twin suns, etc. Not twin stars. Hrm.

[What Came Before]

I think we're speculating specifically from this one little sentence and footnote from The False Sun:

Very interesting, didn't notice that before. Thank you Madness.

[What Came Before]

I've suggested it might be the inchie dropship/deathstar before on westeros with a similar line of thinking, here's a summary of the counter arguement.

If it's a pole star it would be aligned with the north or south pole, evidence for this is when it is described that the other stars rotate around it.

If it's in a geostationary orbit it would be above the equator and would only be visible depending on whether it was in the planets shadow - unless it emits its own light, of course.
This would make it appear to move past or through the other stars.

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I think there is a passage in WLW where Akka remarks he has only seen the Nail so high in the sky in Seswatha's dreams, which also would support it being above the North Pole.

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I wish i had my copy of the warrior prophet with me (a friend has borrowed it).
The sentence I’m thinking of is in there somewhere, but i can’t remember exactly where.
Maybe you can keep an eye out for it Sideris, what i do remember is Akka searching the holy war camp looking for Esmi.
He emerges from a tent (a prostitute he has visited i think) looks up and describes the Nail in detail.

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Had to go check TWP. There are a couple of passages there that clearly indicates that the other stars seem to rotate around the Nail. So it wouldn't be in geostationary orbit.

About the Nail of Heaven, clouds of stars wheeled above them, numbering their dead.

And about the Nail of Heaven, the stars revolved, like clouds hurried across winter skies.

The second quote is a little dodgy, since it's from Kellhus's weird No-God dream at the circumfix.

[What Came Before]

I think there is a passage in WLW where Akka remarks he has only seen the Nail so high in the sky in Seswatha's dreams, which also would support it being above the North Pole.

I believe this refers to a constellation called the Flail, not actually the Nail. I'll have to check later. Not sure if the Nail is in set constellation.

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Found it. It's in Chapter 3. In the Mop, right before Kosoter kills Hameron.

The Nail of Heaven glittered above, higher on the horizon than he had ever seen it before - with his waking eyes at least.

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Strange. Yet something else to be explained later in TUC.