The Columns are the abstract axes that cross every dimension of the shared cosmos and hold up its cosmological architecture. Each column is the essence of a concept (violence, vanity, greed, wisdom, fertility) and supports a zodiacal platform and, through it, its current guardian.
| Type | Concept |
| System | The Game of Shadows |
| Houses of the Cycle | ⟳ House of the Rotating Office · ☷ House of the Descent |
| Spanish entry | Las Columnas |
Nature
A column is constant as a concept but not as a style: it manifests differently in each universe. The column of violence, which supports the Platform of Aries, appears subtly in the dream world, expressively in the intermediate world (also given as the Mayan world), and lethally in the medieval-fantasy universe.
The column does not change; the guardian changes and the platform is reactivated.
Columns and platforms
The platform is the stage; the column is the axis. A platform can be mapped, crossed and conquered; a column cannot be crossed or conquered, only suffered or served. Whoever defeats a guardian does not break the column but inherits it.
In the original geometry, the onion layers are projected as pizza slices; sectioning their stack in two dimensions determines the columns. The platform is horizontal; the column is vertical.
Known columns
Each zodiacal sign supports a column. Those activated in modern times:
- Aries — violence (current guardian: Gabriel)
- Taurus — obstinate fixity (future guardian: Erzebeth)
- Pisces — mutual forgiveness (see Platform of Pisces)
The other nine are in varying states of activation; some have confirmed guardians, others await the group that will wake them. Not every column is enumerated: some lie outside the zodiac and appear only when someone names them, so the full set is undetermined.
Related
The Dual Corruption regulates the guardians who hold the columns; the platforms manifest in the Lands of Crystallization; the Eisagogika sets out the columns in its astrological layer; the Cakravartin is sovereign of the greater system.