Thousanders

First Appearance and Context

At the Concent of Saunt Edhar, the Thousanders are the crag-dwelling cohort based in the Millenarian Math. In the hall they are heard from behind their screen during major rites, and local usage associates them with the deepest parts of the singing.

At Saunt Tredegarh during a large Convox (formal convocation), a section identified as the Thousanders sat behind a dedicated screen in the Mynster. When a newly inducted peregrin sang a computational chant, listeners attributed an audible stir to that section, and the singer fancied he heard a phrase echoed back; this is reported as an impression rather than a settled fact.

Role and Structure

• Long-cycle cohort: The Thousanders are the thousand-year cohort resident on the crag. At this concent they are identified with the Edharian Order.
• Title usage: The term "Millenarian" appears as a personal designation appended to an avout (monastic scholar) name, e.g., "Fraa Jad, Millenarian," indicating affiliation with the Thousanders. Singular usage: speakers also say "a Thousander" when referring to an individual member (e.g., "Fraa Jad, a Thousander").
• Convox responsibilities: Accounts state there have only been a few great "Convoxes"; the first coincided with the Reconstitution, then ones at each Millennium have compiled the next edition of the Dictionary and handled other business concerning the Thousanders. Additional Convoxes have been held for the Big Nugget and at the end of each Sack. During a Convox (formal convocation), avout travel together to preserve the Discipline within their Peregrin (sanctioned journey outside) group, contrasting with solitary departures under Voco (official summons). The designation of a concent as a Convox is situational and made as needed.
• Practical life: Because their precinct has little room for livestock, Thousanders are noted as typically eating little meat.

Activities and Influence

• Red-light tracing: One night a narrow, grainy red light fell from above onto the crag; smoke and steam raised from the math made the beam’s path visible, letting observers trace it to a moving red point aloft. News images soon showed similar red light on the Millenarians’ spire at the Concent of Saunt Rambalf, and on works at Saunt Tredegarh. As inferred by Fraa Jad, the choice of those three sites—remembered locally as "the Three Inviolates"—may have been a deliberate signal; this is presented as interpretation rather than established fact.
• Farewell at a Voco: In a recent overnight calling, a respected Millenarian elder was among those Evoked; the cohort answered with a powerful farewell before the group departed.
• Peregrin leadership and discipline: While traveling extramuros (outside the cloister) in a Peregrin cohort, a Thousander elder has been observed directing group movements and exercising discretion over sensitive notes, underscoring the deference often shown to Millenarians by other avout.
• Perceived insight in the field: In one account, "Fraa Jad, a Thousander" traveled extramuros (outside the cloister) with other avout to a remote site. Observers remark that he drew connections quickly from what he saw, while another fraa explained this as a natural result of shared focus within the Lineage (intellectual tradition), not any secret communication. At Bly’s Butte he reportedly noted leaves on a cell wall and inferred that a fraa had gone to Ecba, an inference later described as obvious to those versed in the same inquiries.
• Ecba excavation awareness: Travelers report a large, long-running excavation on Ecba to reach the buried Temple of Orithena. Discussion credits Edharian sponsors with launching the effort during a millennial gathering and notes that many Edharian maths contributed avout to establish a math at the site; a Millenarian at Saunt Edhar is said to have recognized images of the dig immediately. Subsequent look-ups on public reticules attribute the project to Edharian initiators and date its inception to A.R. 3000.
• Perception and lore: Among extras—and sometimes among avout—the Thousanders are credited with uncanny foresight or near-supernatural insight; others treat this as reputation rather than fact. Poets are described as wondering what the Thousanders are "doing up in their turrets" on the Precipice; at Tredegarh the Inviolateness of that height is attributed to a long-standing arrangement with the Sæcular Power (civil authority) and to sealed tunnels beneath used to store nuclear waste. A commonly retold, contested account from near Muncoster claims that overnight chanting from the Thousanders’ tower coincided with the abrupt disappearance of a newly uncovered skeleton in a parking ramp; tellings stress that physical traces vanished but "ripples" in records remained. The story is preserved here as circulating lore rather than established history.
• Convox discourse: During a Plenary at Tredegarh, an interlocutor’s line of questioning led a witness to infer pressure to “give up the Thousander,” interpreted by that witness as referring to Fraa Jad; this is preserved as the witness’s reading of the exchange rather than an explicit statement.

Relationships and Affiliations

• Within this concent: The Thousanders share the Mynster with other cohorts but maintain a screened presence and a dedicated, covered stair to and from their crag precinct. Locally they are aligned with the Edharian Order.
• Wider ties: In current movements, some avout connected with this concent are traveling in Peregrin toward the Concent of Saunt Tredegarh, which is acting as a Convox receiving Evoked from multiple concents.
• Iconographies and public narratives: According to adherents of an extramuros ark known as the Warden of Heaven, the Thousanders are cast as bearers of hidden truth set against Tenners and Hundreders in a conspiracy-tinged story. Avout speakers describe this as outside rhetoric rather than mathic doctrine.

Current Status

Active on the crag above the hall. A number of avout associated with this concent have lately departed under Voco toward a distant Convox, while the resident community continues its long-cycle work on the crag.