Circle

First appearance and context

An in‑world dictionary entry introduces the Circle as a like‑minded group led by Saunt Proc during the late Praxic Age, active in a brief window between the Second and Third Harbingers. Proc is assumed to have been liquidated in The Terrible Events. Following the Reconstitution, Proc was recognized as the patron Saunt of the Syntactic Faculty of the Concent of Saunt Muncoster.

Role and function

The Circle is described as holding a strongly syntactic stance: symbols have no inherent meaning, and all discourse that purports to mean anything is merely a game played with syntax—that is, with rules for putting symbols together. In later tradition this places the Circle within the lineage associated with the Syntactic Faculty (contrasted with the Semantic Faculty under Saunt Halikaarn), though the Circle’s internal organization and practices are not detailed.

Relationships and references

• The Circle’s ideas and reputation are tied to Saunt Proc, who is treated as progenitor of orders tracing descent from the syntactic tradition after the Reconstitution.
• A present‑day order bearing a related name, the New Circle, is active within the mathic world; its First Among Equals is Fraa Corlandin. The existence of the New Circle indicates the Circle’s intellectual legacy, though no specific doctrinal continuity has been stated.

Current status

The Circle is referenced as a historical group; no ongoing activity is described. Its name survives as an influence and as an apparent namesake in the New Circle.