Sæcular

Saeculars are the general populace outside mathic walls, distinct from Avout and dwelling in the worldly realm known as The Saeculum. They are not an order or office within the maths.

First Appearance and Context

At a recent opening of the gates during Apert, a crowd of Saeculars—families, onlookers, and activists—assembled outside the wall to witness the event. Some recorded with handheld devices and cameras, a few arrived with children or offerings (such as a sapling for planting), and one person waved the flag of the Saecular Power. Another handed out pamphlets and attempted proselytizing; a distressed woman tried to leave a newborn with the avout and was gently surrounded and guided by attending suurs. The gathering illustrated the variety of motives and expectations Saeculars bring to brief contacts at Apert.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Live extramuros as part of the worldly realm, separate from the cloistered life of avout.
• Interact with the maths chiefly during Apert, when limited two-way traffic is permitted.
• Distinct from—but living under—the Saecular Power, a non-mathic authority recognized by avout.
• In mathic discourse, “Saecular” can also label worldly, current information; within the walls the Warden Regulant and other hierarchs work to prevent the flow of such information to avout as part of preserving the Discipline.
• Some Saeculars study under mathic teachers, notably at Baritoe where the Procians are influential; Unarian training there prepares many young Saeculars for careers in law, politics, and commerce.

Relationships

• With avout: Contact is formal and constrained. Avout sometimes refer to Saeculars colloquially as “extras,” and prepare for encounters by studying common outsider portrayals.
• With the Saecular Power: Saeculars live under its institutions, but the Saecular Power is an authority, not a demographic group. Flags and rhetoric referencing it may appear among crowds at gate openings.
• With Unarians: Curated summaries of Saecular news are compiled periodically (annually and decennially) and can circulate into mathic libraries, providing a controlled channel through which outside events become known within the walls.

Descriptions/Characteristics

• Appearances and behavior vary widely, from families and curious visitors to protesters and proselytizers.
• Common behaviors observed at Apert include filming or live-feeding with personal devices, distributing literature, bringing donations or symbolic gifts, and—rarely—attempts to leave infants in mathic care (which are refused and handled by attending avout).
• Usage: In contrast with timeless astronomical observations, Saecular information refers to contemporary events and news of the outside world.
• Usage in cloister description: some avout describe “vestiges of the Saecular” in a space as worldly artifacts or conveniences; in improvised cloistered settings these traces may be carefully removed, leaving only hand-made necessaries.
• Pedigree and standing: Extramuros descriptions may characterize wealthy families as “old and well-established by Saecular standards,” reflecting the outside world’s own frames of reference for age and status.

Language and Culture Notes

• The narrator remarks that quasi-literate Saeculars buy prefabricated letters on heavy card stock with pictures—a stilted written register used for emotional gestures. He notes that this “card-speak” is not normally spoken aloud, though he encounters a Saecular who does use it in speech.
• In informal speech and in Fluccish, “Vale-lore” is often shortened to “vlor,” a usage that emphasizes its martial-arts side over academic or bureaucratic aspects.
• Extramuros, “vlor” names an entertainment genre; for those Saeculars who actively train instead of just watching, it is also used for academies that teach it.

Current Status/Location

Saeculars are broadly present beyond the walls across the worldly realm. During the present opening, they are visible at the gates in limited, supervised contact with avout.