Ita

First Appearance and Context

Early in-world usage treats “Ita” as an acronym whose expansion varies by era; later usage stabilizes on a practical order tolerated in concents organized around great clocks. Within the described concent, their work is tied to the Mynster and its Clock, from quarters that adjoin the central complex of the Concent.

Role and Structure

The Ita constitute a segregated, hands-on order distinct from the Avout. They work from a reserved quarter by the Mynster with access into under‑floor and service passages, tending mechanisms and tolerated subsystems. Public identification is maintained through attire (notably tall stovepipe hats) so that others can observe boundaries and etiquette.

Activities and Influence

• Maintenance of core mechanisms: cleaning, inspection, and upkeep of gear‑trains, shafts, synchronizers, and couplings tied into the main works that drive the clock and associated loads.
• Tolerated devices: operation and maintenance of syntactic-device subsystems permitted where integral to the great clock; in public moments they also place visitors and communicate limits consistent with the Cartasian Discipline, elevating issues to the Warden Regulant when needed.
• Rooftop service: routine inspections and cleaning of rooftop optics (e.g., zenith mirror and lens surfaces) and brief checks of access covers.
• Communications: avout accounts credit the Ita with creating and operating the Reticulum, a network used to circulate directives across concents and convey them locally.
• Information handling (current account): on instruction from a hierarch, an Ita retrieved a photomnemonic tablet placed at the co‑named telescope of Saunts Mithra and Mylax and, lacking any explicit security order, made a personal copy before delivering the original; the image was later shown to avout. This is reported in Orth by the Ita himself and is included here as described (treated as a direct account). Reference point: the co‑named instrument includes Mithra.
• Procurement and field practice (current account): while traveling extramuros, an Ita companion used information stored on his jeejah “in lieu of money” to help acquire supplies, and when coverage was poor he managed with a shoulder bag of tools and gadgets.
• Colloquial shorthand (current account): companions jokingly invoked “the Ita” as rule‑keepers—calling themselves “the girl Ita” and threatening to “Throw the Book” at a friend—while glancing toward their Ita companion bent over a handheld. This suggests a common association, in casual speech, between the Ita and strict proceduralism/communications work.

Relationships and Affiliations

• Segregation and etiquette: contacts with avout are bounded by strict custom. In one observed gathering, some senior avout refused to hear an Ita speak; others objected to seating an Ita with a Thousander, citing respect hierarchies. Countervailing views held that traveling with an Ita was preferable to traveling only with outsiders when preserving the spirit of the Discipline was at stake.
• Authority and reporting: in day‑to‑day practice the Ita act under direction of hierarchs and interface with the Warden Regulant on matters of access, devices, and closures.
• Saecular interface (current account): an Ita describes direct reticule contact from the outside authority that prompted him to approach an avout without involving hierarchs. He expresses uncertainty—and some fear—about potential repercussions once these actions become widely known.

Current Status

Active, segregated, and operating from their quarter by the Mynster. During the ongoing Peregrin associated with a Convox, one Ita has joined a Tenner‑led group traveling extramuros while others remain at post; inside the walls they continue maintaining mechanisms, communicating device limits, and relaying Reticulum‑borne directives. While on the road, the traveling Ita (see Sammann) intends to try tracking Orolo, works from a jeejah with sporadic coverage, carries a shoulder bag of tools and gadgets, and has used information on the device in lieu of money when resupplying.