Chapter Summary

Orth is a language used within the mathic world, contrasted with extramuros speech such as Fluccish. The Dictionary distinguishes multiple historical forms—including Proto Orth, Old Orth, Middle Orth (sometimes divided into Early and Late), Praxic Orth, and New Orth—and sometimes contrasts earlier versus later Orth within entries.

An authority within the mathic community who enforces the Discipline and assigns penance; the office is also tied to an inward-facing watch from high windows beneath the rooftop aerie, complementing the Warden Fendant’s outward watch.

An in-world reference work that compiles definitions and tracks shifts in meaning across forms of Orth. It is cited as an authority in a 4th edition dated A.R. 3000.

The term for members of the mathic community who reside within a math. Avout live under a strict Discipline distinct from the extramuros world; some communities observe long Apert cycles, including groups that celebrate only once every hundred years.

A.R. is a date-style notation used in in‑world citations and formal decisions within the mathic world (e.g., “A.R. 3000” attached to the Fourth Edition of The Dictionary and to a Millennial Orth Convox). The expansion of the initials has not yet been stated in the text.

The central multi‑towered building of a math, centered on the Præsidium where the great clock’s dials are mounted. Its upper works support the starhenge and house the Warden Fendant’s aerie and sentry walkways that overlook the surrounding concent.

The central tower of the Mynster that carries the four great clock dials and anchors the upper works, including the starhenge. It houses the main weights and winding mechanisms that drive the community’s great clock.

An avout within a mathic community who leads an interview with an artisan from extramuros in the New Library. He mentors Fraa Erasmas and adheres to the Cartasian Discipline, favoring firsthand observation rendered into words over mechanical recordings.

An avout known as Fraa Lio in a Decenarian math. A solidly built peer of Fraa Erasmas, he serves on the clock‑winding team and is noted for earthy pragmatism, sudden bouts of wrestling, and occasional forgetfulness.

A cohort within the mathic world, also referred to as the Thousanders. Their math stands on a crag overlooking the Mynster, and they are associated with deep-voiced parts in the rite at Provener; outside the walls they are better known through rumors than confirmed accounts.

An office within a math responsible for the outward watch from the Mynster’s rooftop aerie, whose sentinels patrol the perimeter walkway. It stands in contrast to the inward-facing authority of the Warden Regulant.

A mathic cohort also called the Hundreders, whose communities are said to celebrate Apert only once every hundred years. At the concent, their math lies across a walled meadow from the Decenarian community, and the south nave of the Mynster is reserved for them.

An Orth term denoting the world outside a math’s walls. Its nuance shifts across eras, ranging from the literal “outside the walls” to broader senses of the non‑mathic world and nearby settlements beyond a math.

An extramuros craftsman allowed into the New Library to address an urgent repair before Apert. He speaks with Fraa Orolo (with Fraa Erasmas as amanuensis) and later observes Provener from the Mynster’s north nave, carrying a speelycaptor.

A roofed gallery encircling a rectangular garden at the heart of a math, serving as a quiet, contemplative space and a thoroughfare connecting key buildings. The term’s meaning in Orth has varied historically; here it refers to the central courtyard and surrounding walkway within the math.

An official written record kept within a math for entries required by the Discipline; in plural (“the Chronicles”) the term also denotes the concent’s collected historical records consulted by avout during liturgy and study.

A practical organization within the mathic community, often referred to collectively as "the Ita." At the concent, they occupy quarters adjoining the Mynster and are responsible for cleaning and inspecting the great clock’s mechanisms, and they also coordinate practical arrangements such as visitor placement.

A complex assembly of megaliths, domes, pent houses, and turrets mounted atop the Præsidium’s roof within the Mynster, mechanically coupled to the great clock. It supports telescopes whose polar axes are powered as add‑on loads of the same clock‑works.

A handheld device used extramuros to capture moving‑picture recordings (often called “speelies”), also referred to by some avout as a “Farspark chambre.”

A suur who serves as the Warden Regulant within a Decenarian math. She is noted for imposing penance on Fraa Lio after he neglected his clock‑winding duty.

A mathic complex centered on the Mynster and home to multiple maths, including the Decenarian community. Visitors from extramuros may enter at controlled times to observe rites from the north nave.

The octagonal central space at the heart of the Mynster, enclosed by eight perforated screens and opening toward four great naves. It serves as the primary ceremonial and mechanical locus where avout assemble and wind the clock.

A cohort of avout in a Decenarian math who gather in the southwest corner of the Mynster. They are neighbors to the Centenarians (Hundreders) and are seen preparing for the observance of Apert.

A clock‑driven portal at the Concent of Saunt Edhar that opens daily to admit and route visitors from extramuros into the Mynster’s north nave. Its operation is coupled to the great clock’s works and timed to sunrise and sunset.

A collective term for three historical sackings of the concent. These upheavals disrupted practice and infrastructure, and are cited as rare times when the great clock was not wound by the avout.

A clock-driven portal within the Mynster that opens on a ten-year cycle. It is actuated by the great clock’s octahedron weight and is associated with the Decenarian community’s periodic opening to the outside world.

The inhabited world on which the mathic communities and the extramuros society exist. It is referenced in descriptions of the great clock as having a metallic core like the meteorite weight used to wind the Mynster’s works.

A liturgical hymn sung by avout during the daily winding rite at Provener inside the Mynster. It addresses Hylaea and exists in many authorized versions; a unison passage is used to help break static friction and set the great clock’s winding in motion.

An honorific of veneration in New Orth and the mathic world, applied to great thinkers, almost always posthumously. Historically intertwined with the term "Savant," it appears in stone as SAVANT (or abbreviated St.) and has spawned several orthographic variants.

The vast airy space behind the Præsidium’s dials in the Mynster where the great clock’s chains, gears, and escapements converge. It is tended by the Ita and houses upper works critical to keeping the clock running during winding and rare interruptions.

A Tenner-level avout in a Decenarian math, peer of Fraa Erasmas, known for serving on the clock‑winding team in the Mynster and for a past meadow fire incident that left his sphere imperfect.

One of the four cardinal naves of the Mynster, aligned with the north façade. It serves as the entry and viewing space for extramuros visitors allowed to observe auts such as Provener.

The east-facing nave of the Mynster, officially the building’s formal entrance. It is currently little used and generally stands empty.

The western nave of the Mynster, used primarily by the Unarians. It is noted for the finest stained-glass windows and stone-carving among the four cardinal naves.

A term within the mathic tradition for learned thinkers whose theoretical perspective and practices shaped liturgy and scholarship. Historically described as gathering under the Halls of Orithena and later withdrawing into the maths, the term remains in current use within avout discourse.

The south-facing nave of the Mynster, reserved for the Centenarians and directly reachable from their side of the meadow. It serves as their principal gathering space for rites viewed through the chancel screen.

A clock‑driven portal within the Mynster’s gate system that opens on a hundred‑year cycle. It is actuated by the descent of the dodecahedron auxiliary weight mounted on the Præsidium’s pillars, paralleling the Year and Decade gates.

The most recent of three historical sackings of the concent. It is cited as a turning point after which standards declined, and its aftermath left the concent largely empty for decades while the great clock sustained itself in hibernation.

One of the three historical sackings affecting the Concent of Saunt Edhar. It is cited as the time when the pipe‑organ that once stood in the Mynster’s east nave was torn out; later, stricter Discipline banned other musical instruments.

A mechanically actuated gate associated with the Mynster’s great clock, opened once per year by the descent of a cube-shaped auxiliary weight on the Præsidium’s pillars.

A named geographic formation known for its black volcanic rock. The Cliffs of Ecba supplied stone for the geometric counterweights used in the great clock mounted on the Præsidium within the Mynster; historical accounts also place the Halls of Orithena on Ecba’s black rock.

A named gene sequence described as present in crops grown outside the math’s walls. It is associated with reduced melancholy and greater ease in dismissing such thoughts among those who eat such food.

An ancient ceremonial complex remembered for its marble-columned dome where theors gathered at midday beneath an oculus. Its rite is cited as a precursor to elements of mathic liturgy now practiced within the Mynster.

A term in mathic liturgy symbolizing the pre‑systematic state of thought before Cnoüs. During the aut at Provener, the complex, overlapping music of the Anathem depicts Kaos before resolving into a unison that helps set the great clock in motion.

A math within the concent reserved for the Centenarians (also called Hundreders). It lies across a meadow from the Decenarian community and has direct access to the south nave of the Mynster.

A plant-like substance treated within maths as strictly proscribed and handled under burn-on-sight procedures associated with the Eleven. It is also noted in liturgical accounts as something consumed by slines.

A senior hierarch associated with the Mynster, connected to a private compound at its northwest corner. The Primate presides over ceremonies within the chancel and may delegate officiation to an aide.

A large clock-driven orrery located just inside the Day Gate of the Mynster. It is one of the add-ons powered by the Pre6sidium
9s great clock, alongside lesser orreries and the starhenge telescopes.

A restricted area adjoining the northwest corner of the Mynster, used by the Primate, wardens, and other hierarchs within the concent.

A named cliff formation associated with Ecba, cited as the source of black volcanic stone used for major components of the Mynster’s clockwork. The stone is described as being hauled over the North Pole to reach the math.

A named historical dispersal referenced in mathic liturgy. It is cited as a turning after the Old Mathic Age and before the Praxic Age, during which older rites fell out of practice, later contrasted with their revival after the Terrible Events and the Reconstitution.

An avout in a Decenarian math at the Concent of Saunt Edhar. A peer of Fraa Erasmas, he serves on the four-person team that winds the great clock during Provener in the Mynster.

A minor entrance on the meadow side of the Mynster, used as an alternative approach to the Ten-year community’s corner of the building.

A colloquial subset of Vale-lore concerning the behavior and control of fire, including practices like setting counterfires—invoked by avout as “fighting fire with fire.”

A math set on a crag east of the Mynster, home to the Millenarians (the Thousanders). It connects to the Mynster by a covered, hand‑carved stone stair that reaches the southeast corner.

A polar location on Arbre mentioned as part of a long overland route used by sledge trains hauling black volcanic stone from the Cliffs of Ecba for the great clock’s components.

A named period of upheaval referenced by the mathic community. It is cited as preceding the Reconstitution and as the turning point after which the Hylaean Anathem was revived in a new, clock-centered form.

An extramuros religious community noted for worship spaces called “arks.” Used by avout as a familiar reference point when describing the layout of a nave and the behavior of congregants during ceremonies such as weddings and funerals.

A named historical period referenced in mathic accounts. It is noted as following the Dispersal to the New Periklynes and is associated with a time when the Hylaean Anathem fell out of practice, prior to later revival after subsequent upheavals.

A historical period in the mathic world when a liturgy, drawn from older rites, was practiced throughout the maths. It is referenced as preceding the Dispersal to the New Periklynes and the Praxic Age, and as part of the lineage of the Hylaean Anathem.

A named historical turning point in the mathic world. Liturgical histories distinguish what came before it from what followed, and after the Terrible Events key rites were revived in a new, clock‑centered form within the Mynster.

An ancient center of learning remembered for the Halls of Orithena and a great dome ceremony at midday. It was destroyed long ago; its rites later informed mathic liturgy now practiced within the Mynster.

A formal convocation associated with the language Orth. The A.R. 3000 session is cited as the moment when the term “saunt” was accepted into standard usage.

An order within the mathic world that occupies the west nave of the Mynster. They are described as the best‑endowed of the maths and are numerous enough to fill their nave; members wear green robes and at times lead the singing during Provener.

A named spot along the cloister gallery within a math, used as a passage and gathering space. It has a back exit into a covered alley between chalk halls and workshops, providing a practical route toward the Mynster.

A named high ledge within the Mynster associated by name with the Warden Fendant. It is mentioned as reachable by a spiral stair rising in the Tenners’ southwest corner of the Mynster.

An extramuros term for moving‑picture recordings or media. Avout refer to it when contrasting their meaning of “screen” with the outside world’s usage.

A revered figure invoked in mathic liturgy, associated with the dawning of Light and the transition from chaos. Named in the hymn as the father of Hylaea and Deät.

A fraa who serves as Warden Fendant at the concent of Saunt Edhar, observed seated among the hierarchs during Provener in the Mynster.

A mythic figure invoked in mathic liturgy, described as one of the daughters of Cnoüs and credited with bringing his light. Hylaea is central to the Hylaean Anathem sung during the winding rite at Provener.

A revered figure within the mathic tradition associated with developments in finite group theorics. According to liturgical accounts, he was Thrown Back by his Warden Regulant and later killed by slines who had first worshipped him after he persuaded them to stop consuming blithe.

A mythic figure invoked in mathic liturgy. Along with Hylaea, Deät is named as one of the two daughters of Cnoüs and is represented musically during the hymn sung at Provener.

A historical migration undertaken by surviving theors after the destruction of Orithena. It is cited as a turning point when older rites fell out of practice before the later retreat into the maths.

A roofed gallery of seven linked staircases that connects the Tenner math to the stone patio before the portal of the Mynster. Commonly used by avout heading into the building, especially around Provener.

An elderly avout at the Concent of Saunt Edhar who routinely opens the Tenners’ screen door in the Mynster before the daily rite of Provener.