Concent-as-fortress mentality

First appearance and context

The term is voiced during a kitchen conversation among avout while preparations are under way ahead of Apert. In a discussion about past sackings and whether outside upheavals led to “reforms” or merely “changes” in the maths, a listener offers “the Concent-as-fortress mentality” as a label. Fraa Orolo replies that it is not a designation he loves, and steers the exchange toward Saunt Cartas’s framing of the mathic world as a counterbalance to the world extramuros.

Definition and rationale

As used in conversation, the “Concent-as-fortress mentality” names a posture that treats the Concent as a bastion set against worldly authority, prioritizing inward preservation over accommodation to the outside. In the same breath, Orolo cites Saunt Cartas to argue that the mathic world was founded not as an accommodation but as a counterweight, implying opposition without adopting the fortress label. The phrase therefore functions as a provocative shorthand rather than a formal doctrine.

Relationships and references

• The stance is contrasted with deference to the Saecular Power, whose actions can impose changes on the maths without possessing the mandate to “reform” them.
• The conversation invokes the history of rare sackings—collectively remembered as The Three Sacks—as background for why avout sometimes frame their community in defensive terms.

Current status

The label is acknowledged but disfavored by Orolo in the cited exchange. It serves as informal rhetoric that may surface when avout discuss risk from extramuros or preparations around observances such as Apert.