Sæcular Power

First Appearance and Context

Avout refer to the Sæcular Power when contrasting life within the walls to the outside world. At the Concent of Saunt Edhar, distinctive bell changes announced Voco — the rite by which the Sæcular Power calls avout into its service. A sealed note was opened, multiple names were read, and the named departed promptly through the Day Gate at the Concent of Saunt Edhar.

Role and Structure

The Sæcular Power is a non‑mathic authority that governs in the Sæcular realm beyond the concents. Within the maths it is treated as legitimate but outside the Discipline; its communications arrive in formal, sealed fashion and its orders, when read in the Mynster, are regarded as binding.

Activities and Influence

• Issues formal calls through Voco, including unprecedented multi‑name Evocations. In the wake of a large calling, the Evoked were directed to gather at the Concent of Saunt Tredegarh for a Convox.
• Logistics extramuros: accounts at Saunt Edhar suggest that outside authorities leaned on local employers to permit an avout gathering at a machine hall, and that volunteer drivers from religious arks helped transport Evoked groups. This is presented as the avout narrator’s inference based on conversations with locals, not an official statement of the Sæcular Power.
• Infrastructure and expectations (hearsay): locals reported that navigation satellites failed simultaneously during the night; extras expressed confidence that “the Powers That Be” (including military authorities) would restore service quickly. The cause was not known to them; any connection to other phenomena is unconfirmed and should be treated as conjecture.
• Legacy responsibilities (conjecture): a Thousander proposes that three historically inviolable concents (including Edhar, Rambalf, and Tredegarh) were used by the Sæcular Power to store nuclear waste; this is framed as inference from contemporary signals and should be treated as conjecture. See also Concent of Saunt Rambalf.

Relationships and Affiliations

• With concents: Interacts chiefly through formal rites in the Mynster, notably Voco at Saunt Edhar, and by designating a Convox site at Saunt Tredegarh.
• With the Sæcular: Governs the populace and institutions outside the walls; its actions are perceived through signals, directives conveyed by intermediaries, and the involvement of civilian organizations.
• With the Inquisition: Distinct from the mathic oversight body. Voco may proceed with or without Inquisitors present; in a noted multi‑name service, no Inquisitors appeared.

Current Status

Active and engaged with the maths through established rites. Recently observed directing Evoked avout to assemble for a Convox at Saunt Tredegarh, with extramuros arrangements—per local accounts—facilitating transport.