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If this caught your imagination, you'll want to read the short story "Manuscript Found in a Police State" by Brian Aldiss

Aldiss also has described the Wheel of Kharnabar in "Helliconia Winter": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helliconia#Helliconia_Winter

Also, the “great wheel” in his Helliconia books (which takes this idea to rather extreme levels).