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. They also attend service points on the tower and atop the Praesidium, including the fixed all‑sky instrument Clesthyra's Eye.

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 its pillars, keeping the great clock and its couplings in service.
• Syntactic devices: In later usage, their remit includes the operation and maintenance of subsystems that employ syntactic devices—tolerated 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.
• Device oversight and privacy enforcement: In a documented case relayed during a later inquiry, the Ita evaluated an extramuros artisan’s speelycaptor and barred its operation inside the Mynster because the device’s capabilities might have imaged across the chancel screens into other naves. An avout present inferred that features such as zoom, low‑light enhancement, and stabilization were the relevant concerns; the specifics were not recorded verbatim.
• Rooftop inspections and optics: Regular midday visits by an Ita technician to the rooftop optics have been observed, including cleaning and polishing the zenith mirror and the lens of Clesthyra’s Eye and making brief checks of its access cover; on one occasion the technician retrieved a paper dust jacket that had blown against the installation. Later in the season, the same technician arrived with very dark protective goggles (of the sort used around bright arcs) and, after servicing, remained on the parapet during lunch while staring directly at the sun.
• Communications and networks: Avout accounts credit the Ita with operating the Reticulum, a communications network used to convey directives between concents.

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, and take direction from, the hierarchs. In current talk, it is further suggested that the Ita cannot relay every observation in real time and therefore exercise judgment in what to pass on and what to withhold when informing the Warden Regulant.

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. When required for work, they employ heavy eye protection suitable for viewing intense light.
• 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; regular midday cleaning and inspection of the rooftop optics has been observed, with a shift to sungazing during one series of later visits noted above.