Ita

First Appearance and Context

An in‑world dictionary entry presents “Ita” as an acronym (sometimes written “ITA”) whose debated expansion varies by era, and identifies the group—by later usage—as a proscribed artisanal caste tolerated in concents built around great clocks. Within the present concent, common lore ties the Ita to the under‑floor systems beneath the Mynster that drive auxiliary mechanisms such as the Great Orrery and apply subtle corrections to the rate of the main Clock. During an opening of the gates, an Ita is seen taking delivery of a custom‑machined metal component and later working with cabling on the rooftop instruments, underscoring their role in maintaining the clockworks.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Maintenance and operation: The Ita clean, inspect, and tend the gear‑trains, shafts, escapements, and other works that run up toward the tower and into the pillars of the Praesidium, keeping the great clock and its couplings in service.
• Syntactic devices: In later usage, their remit is the operation and maintenance of subsystems that employ syntactic devices—tolerated in those places where such mechanisms are integral to a great clock.
• Practical coordination: At the Concent, the Ita handle on‑the‑ground arrangements during public moments (such as where permitted visitors may go) and communicate device restrictions consistent with the Cartasian Discipline.
• Procurement and fabrication: The Ita may commission or collect precision‑machined parts from extramuros workshops when required for repairs or replacements in the mechanism.
• Rooftop and underworks presence: Ita are observed moving cabling and attending to service points reachable from the starhenge and the tower’s upper works, as well as accessing tunnels leading to the under‑floor systems.

Relationships

• Segregation and boundaries: The Ita maintain strict segregation from the Avout. Avout themselves observe limits on Ita contact and spaces; just as an Ita would not enter the chancel, avout avoid entering Ita work areas except where necessary.
• Adjacency and access: The Ita’s work connects directly to the clockworks and portals at the Mynster’s edge, enabling access to the spaces where the mechanisms are housed.
• Perceptions among avout: A traditional belief holds that Ita report to the Sæcular Power and may act as conduits for information that leads to Evocations (voco). This is expressed as rumor within the community rather than established fact.

Descriptions/Characteristics

• Quarters and portal: A reserved corner at the northeastern side of the Mynster opens by a dedicated portal into their covered quarter—described as a “covered slum” between that side of the building and the cliff that forms the outer wall. A tunnel there is said to connect into the subterranean workings of the clock.
• Attire and identification: When among their own, Ita wear a close skullcap; when moving about publicly, they draw it out into a slightly mushroomed, tall stovepipe so they can be identified at a distance. Black garments are typical; beards are common among males.
• Name and etymology: The term appears as an acronym in older sources (ITA), with scholarly disagreement over its expansion; regardless, later usage stabilizes on the role described above.
• Historical usage: Up to the Second Sack, “Ita” could denote a faculty devoted to the praxis of syntactic devices; later usage marks them as a proscribed artisanal caste, segregated but tolerated where great clocks depend on their craft.

Current Status/Location

Active and segregated within the concent. From quarters adjoining the Mynster, the Ita tend the clockworks (including auxiliary systems such as the orrery), manage practical visitor placement, and enforce limits on devices in keeping with the Discipline. They are seen at work both in under‑floor spaces and on the tower’s roof‑level service points during public openings.