Feral

Definition

Feral denotes an Avout living extramuros outside a Concent and apart from the everyday structures of a math. It is a descriptive status rather than a formal office or order.

Context and Usage

• Long-term vs. situational: Speakers use “Feral” both for those who leave to live independently and for avout who, by circumstance, remain outside the walls for a time. In this account, one avout describes himself as “technically a Feral now” while traveling beyond the walls and later remarks that he feels comfortable being a Feral.
• Relation to the Discipline: Living as a Feral places a person beyond the day-to-day enforcement of the Cartasian Discipline. Accounts suggest that, while outside, individuals may still try to keep its spirit even as they engage with the Sæculum.
• Example in current accounts: A narrator states that Fraa Jad anticipated that a Feral like Fraa Orolo would take an over‑pole migrant route to Ecba, showing “Feral” used as a label for an avout living and traveling outside the walls.
• Distinction from formal calling: Being Feral is not the same as being Evoked. “Evoked” denotes a formal status conferred for praxic work; “Feral” is a label for living outside the walls independent of such rites.
• Distinction from being Thrown Back: Present accounts contrast voluntary Feral living with being “Thrown Back” (Anathematized), a formal expulsion that also places an avout outside the walls. One speaker even anticipated that outcome while already living Feral, underscoring the difference between voluntary and imposed extramuros status.
• Verbal usage: Speakers also use it as a verb—“to go Feral.” In a formal session at Tredegarh, one interlocutor asserted that an avout “went Feral” soon after beginning a peregrination, contrasting that choice with others who reported directly to the host when summoned.
• Membership and address: An avout described as Feral may still be a member of a chapter and be addressed with customary honorifics (e.g., “Fraa”), underscoring that “Feral” describes current circumstances rather than renunciation.

Related Terms

• Avout; Concent; Extramuros; Cartasian Discipline; Saeculum; Evoked.

Notes

• Usage carries a tone of difficulty and independence: accounts describe Ferals as working without the tools, protections, or community a math provides, which can make sustained theorics or observation harder.
• The label is descriptive and can be self‑applied; duration and implications vary by circumstance, and present sources preserve that ambiguity.
• Connotation and rhetoric: in disputes or formal dialog, “Feral” may be wielded pejoratively to imply noncompliance or disloyalty, while other speakers use it neutrally as a matter‑of‑fact description.
• Present accounts also show that someone who has been living Feral can later be permitted to take part in communal rites when authorities allow it, indicating the status can be temporary.