Concent

First Appearance and Context

The term describes the interior precincts of a mathic community, often discussed from vantage points high in the central works where much of the precinct can be surveyed. In observed accounts, the concent surrounds and adjoins the central hall and towers, forming the lived‑in interior of the community and its immediate courts and passages. An illustrative example is the Concent of Saunt Edhar.

Concept and Description

A concent is the inhabited, walled precinct of a Math (scholastic order/community): halls, towers, cloisters, courts, gardens, and workrooms tied together by paths and arcades. Daily life moves within these spaces—between libraries, refectories (communal dining halls), chalk halls, and clockworks. From the upper works, complementary offices maintain watch: the Warden Regulant (inward discipline warden) and the Warden Fendant (outward watch warden).

Gateworks regulate exchange with the outside. Day‑to‑day ingress and egress are controlled by clock‑coupled portals such as a Day Gate; exceptional departures and formal rites may alter schedules by order. Surrounding towns often develop immediately outside the main gate and plaza; observations suggest that the concent itself is not always a draw for visitors compared to Sæcular (outside‑world) amusements nearby. Some concents maintain a small market outside the Day Gate where recordings of their music and goods such as honey and mead are sold.

Internal organization and customs (variations)

Concents differ widely in scale and arrangements: - At the Concent of Saunt Tredegarh, activity is spread across many Dowments (endowed houses) and chapter houses (residential houses). Meals are held as “messals” (small formal dinners) in private “messallans” (small dining rooms). In this setting a junior servitor (meal attendant) stands behind a doyn (senior mentor) and may occasionally be invited to contribute to the discussion. - Other concents (e.g., the Concent of Saunt Edhar) use a Refectory (communal hall) where avout (mathic members) seat themselves more freely.

Use in Current Discourse

• Convox usage: In current speech, a concent may be designated as a Convox (large convocation), when many avout (mathic members) are formally summoned to travel together while preserving elements of the Discipline. This contrasts with solitary departures often associated with other rites and is aligned with organized Peregrin travel.
• Public depiction: Extramuros (outside‑the‑walls) media have shown distant views of named concents by their characteristic towers and spires. Commentators within the narrative infer that selecting certain sites (such as the “Inviolates”) is symbolic; this should be treated as inference rather than established fact.

Related Concepts and Affiliations

• Complementary oversight roles: Warden Fendant; Warden Regulant
• Leadership custom: a Primate (chief hierarch) commonly presides at a concent alongside other hierarchs.
• Rare mass‑assembly designation: Convox
• Historical touchstone: recollections of the Third Sack and concents remembered as “Inviolates” frequently frame how concents are discussed.

Current Status

Active and inhabited as the interior precincts within walls. Concents continue their ordinary rhythms under the Discipline; during unusual periods a designated concent may serve as a Convox, coordinating the movements of summoned avout while maintaining ordered contact with the world outside.