Aut

Definition and Usage

In Orth (in‑universe language), an aut is a formal rite by which a Math (monastic community) or concent (walled monastic complex) carries out a collective act. Early sources record an individual sense; later usage standardizes the communal, liturgical meaning within the mathic world (monastic scholarly culture).

Context and Scope

Intramuros (within a math), the term names both routine services and extraordinary convocations. Major auts often assemble the community in the Mynster (great clock‑temple), with cohorts gathered behind their screens.

Observed Rites

• Provener: a daily named hour in the Mynster when the great clock is wound; often includes a set hymn.
• Aut of Inbrase: the official induction of arriving peregrins at a Convox (large convocation). It marks the formal end of Peregrin (sanctioned travel) and enrollment into the Convox.
• Requiem aut: glossed in a standard mathic dictionary as “the aut celebrated to mark the death of an Avout”; observed as a mourning rite among avout.
• Voco (formal summons rite): a rare, solemn aut by which a fraa or suur is called to serve the Sæcular Power (extramuros authority).
• Anathem (expulsion rite): invoked as a named aut; at Tredegarh it is said not to have been celebrated for close to a thousand years.

Ceremonial Structure and Elements

• Program and phases: auts proceed through set phases with coded movements, ancient phrases, and symbolic objects.
• Music and addresses: performances by choirs or contingents alternate with speeches from hierarchs; individual and group chants may be offered as contributions.
• Bells and timing: recognizable bell patterns precede notable auts; significant auts can be convened at unusual hours.
• Procession and setting: rites are conducted in large communal halls such as the Mynster, with processions that may formally move participants from a visitors' space into the math.
• Enrollment formalities (Inbrase): arriving peregrins are struck from the peregrin register, vows are renewed, and notification documents are dispatched to home concents; the aut commonly concludes with a communal canticle accepting the new contributors.

Current Status

Aut remains central to communal life. Within the Convox at Tredegarh, Inbrase is being held for arriving peregrins, while the aut of Anathem is reported as exceedingly rare there.