Sæculum

First Appearance and Context

In avout discourse, Sæculum names the worldly realm outside a community’s walls and stands as the counterpart to the Mathic World. Reference entries and current conversation use it when preparing for travel under Peregrin, highlighting the contrast between cloistered life and the variability outside.

Concept and Description

Sæculum denotes the non-mathic sphere of people, institutions, media, and devices beyond concents. It is the realm governed by the Sæcular Power and distinguished from intramuros practice by different speech registers, customs, and a faster tempo of change. Avout treat it as a boundary concept: crossing into the Sæculum entails observing the spirit of the Discipline while coping with ordinary worldly logistics (clothing, money, transport, vernacular language).

A current traveler’s reflection emphasizes that going extramuros can reveal not only the commercial and urban texture of the Sæculum but also the older “ground state” of the world—landscapes and remnants that predate present cultures. In that framing, the Sæculum and the mathic world are described as having diverged from a common origin roughly seven thousand years ago; this is offered as an in-the-moment observation rather than formal doctrine.

Use in Current Discourse

• Travel norms voiced by avout: a solitary Voco is said to send one person forth in a way that strains the Discipline; a mass assembly at a Convox allows many to travel together and preserve it within their Peregrin group. These statements reflect speakers’ understanding in the moment and may vary by community.
• Practical measures cited: pairing more extramuros-fluent Tenners with Hundreders for language and everyday dealings; leaving in small, staggered groups; riding in private vehicles driven by outsiders; and adopting ordinary clothing and kit to reduce attention while abroad.
• Texture and setting: accounts contrast casinos and speelies with long drives through wild country; even low-contact travel beyond the walls is framed as part of going outside while keeping to the Discipline’s spirit.

Related Concepts and Affiliations

• Counterpart: the mathic world names life and institutions inside the walls; Sæculum names the outside realm.
• People and authority: the Avout are the mathic community who engage with the outside at regulated moments; the Sæcular Power is the external authority whose directives, when properly conveyed, can set travel in motion via rites such as Voco and in assemblies termed Convox.
• Usage note: “Sæcular world” is a common phrase in speech for the same concept.

Current Status

Active point of reference: many Evoked avout are presently traveling through the Sæculum toward a designated gathering, organizing into mixed-cohort groups and relying on practical arrangements with outsiders while striving to keep the Discipline’s spirit during the journey.