Praxic Age

Definition

The Praxic Age is a named historical era used in mathic teaching and reference. It follows the Rebirth (post‑sack revival) and precedes the Terrible Events (catastrophic upheaval), with the Reconstitution (post‑crisis reforms) marking the renewed era that follows. The label emphasizes praxis—the wide application of theorics (formal natural laws) to devices, works, and everyday life.

Context and Usage

• Reference usage: Entries in The Dictionary tag senses and examples by period (e.g., “Praxic Orth,” “Late Praxic Age”) and date figures or usages accordingly; period labels are also used in displays and summaries that situate the Praxic Age among adjacent eras.
• Liturgy and instruction: Accounts note that certain rites lapsed during Dispersal (diaspora period) and the Praxic span and were restored afterward; teaching frequently frames practices as before or after the Reconstitution.
• Language: Period labels for Orth (standard language) include Praxic stages alongside older and newer forms; usage notes sometimes contrast Praxic versus later senses of terms.
• Comparative benchmark (current discourse): Speakers use “Praxic Age” as a yardstick for capability. In discussing a newly observed spacecraft, an avout remarks that nothing seen on it “couldn’t have been built” during their own Praxic Age; hypothetical counter‑measures are likewise framed in Praxic terms. This reflects conversational usage, not a complete technical inventory.
• Prospective “second” usage (current planning): In preparations for a possible dispersal (“Antiswarm”), some avout explicitly describe a “second Praxic Age,” envisioning cells that move among the Sæculum while staying coordinated over the Reticulum; each cell would include Ita, ending the customary segregation. This phrasing reflects planning language rather than a formal period designation.

Characteristics and Examples

• Shift to configuration‑space work: Senior theors describe that during this era it became standard to “decamp” from three‑dimensional Adrakhonic space into Hemn Spaces for analysis, treating physical histories as worldtracks in configuration space.
• Thermodynamics and named figures: The Dictionary’s entry for Tredegarh identifies its namesake as “Lord Tredegarh,” a mid‑to‑late Praxic Age theor credited with fundamental advances in thermodynamics; the concent at Tredegarh bears his name. This points to the era’s engagement with formal heat‑and‑work theory as part of its praxis.
• Industrial texture: Narrative descriptions associate mid‑period settings with cheap steel construction, rail‑borne heat engines, oversized cranes, cast‑iron machine foundations, and later the ubiquity of standardized steel shipping boxes repurposed in older compounds. A major northern port’s commercial fjord arm is noted as having been built at the end of the Praxic Age specifically to handle cargo in steel boxes, and it has changed little since.
• Exchange with the Sæculum: Earlier in the era the gates of the Old Maths were opened; avout mingled with wealthy and titled Sæculars, taught their children, and gathered in salons—for example, at the house of Lady Baritoe.
• Theoretical and technical literature: Avout cite treatises and handbooks from this period in present discussions (for example, a volume titled “Praxic Age Exoatmospheric Weapons Systems”); earlier accounts also refer to general frameworks like configuration‑space methods when explaining motion.
• Urban geography and centers: Accounts distinguish a Late Praxic Age phase marked by “great cities.” Tredegarh is described as sited farther from those Praxic‑era urban centers than many peers. This geography helps explain Tredegarh’s later reputation for isolation despite its proximity to settled landscapes.

Related Periods and Terms

• Placement: After the Rebirth; before the Terrible Events; followed by the Reconstitution. Earlier discussions also mention an “Old Mathic Age.”
• High‑water mark: Sconic thought is described as emerging near the height of Praxic‑Age civilization; the term “Sconic” groups Praxic‑Age theors who addressed how perception mediates access to the physical world.
• Alternate phrasing: A lay speaker recalls The Mechanic Age as a rough label for an early phase when dynamics began to enter practical use; in current accounts it is treated as a colloquialism rather than a distinct, formal period name.

Notes and Open Questions

• Post‑Praxic reforms: Later summaries describe limits placed on certain praxes and the segregation of tolerated device subsystems under the care of the Ita (device custodians) at places organized around great clocks.
• Speculative legacy: Among vigilant avout, there is a voiced suspicion that certain protected sites (“Three Inviolates”) were left unsacked because they house “Everything Killers” (catastrophic weapons) and other hazardous leftovers from Praxic‑Age projects. This is presented as a view held by some, not as established fact in current material.

Current Status

A completed era used as a period label in instruction, liturgy, and reference. Exact dates, scope, and full institutional contours remain to be detailed in the information available so far.