New Orithena

Context and first mention

New Orithena is the name avout (monastic scholars) gave to an ad hoc camp they erected on a beach of a nearby island upwind of Ecba, after the events at Orithena and during an eruption visible from the shore. The site was commandeered and cordoned by the Sæcular Power (worldly authority), which treated the area as a quarantine and processing zone.

Description

Within a ring of larger military tents, the avout organized a small compound "like a math" (order within a monastic community), putting up a canvas cloister at its center and mounting a digital alarm clock on a pole so that Provener (midday rite) could be observed. Living conditions were austere and controlled: arrivals were marched through decontamination sprays, issued paper coveralls to burn when soiled, and given bags for bodily waste. Food was military rations. Interviews, phototyping, and biometric scans occurred at irregular intervals.

Activities and roles

• Ritual life continued: the community celebrated Provener and said an aut (formal rite) of requiem for the dead, including Fraa Orolo.
• The camp served as a rendezvous point where representatives connected to the Convox (rare mass convocation) met with those from New Orithena. They arranged custody and shipment of key "givens" (data samples), including preserved vials and a recovered body, under the oversight of the Sæcular authorities.
• The Orithenan community and soldiers mingled at times; impromptu gestures such as braided garlands appeared during a celebratory gathering among the evacuees.

Relationships and affiliations

• Named in conscious reference to Orithena; its layout echoed a cloistered mathic space.
• Operated under the authority and procedures of the Sæcular Power while being sustained and organized by avout.
• Functioned as a forward staging and handoff point connected to the broader Convox effort, with onward movement to Tredegarh arranged for selected people and materials.

Current status

New Orithena is presented as a short-lived, emergency encampment used for a few days. Some members and materials departed onward; any subsequent fate of the camp is not described.

Notes

• The name "New Orithena" is informal and used on site by participants, highlighting continuity of practice amid displacement.
• Descriptions of procedures and restrictions are from observers within the camp and reflect quarantine protocols rather than ordinary mathic customs.