Ringing Vale

Ringing Vale is a mountain valley renowned for the many small streams that spill down from glaciers above, producing a musical sound likened to the ringing of chimes. It is also the site of a math (monastic community) founded there in A.R. 17. The avout (cloistered scholar-monks) of this community have long specialized in study and development of martial disciplines and related topics commonly grouped, in New Orth (modern Orth language), as Vale-Lore.

Not to be confused with Ringing Vale (Math), the avout community based in this valley.

First Appearance and Context

• Described in a reference entry as a glaciated mountain valley "also known as the Rill Vale," and (poetically) the "Vale of a Thousand Rills," noting that a math was founded there in A.R. 17.
• The same source associates the community's traditional focus with Vale-Lore (martial disciplines and strategy).

Names and Usage

• Also called "Rill Vale"; the article-led form "The Rill Vale" is used in speech.
• A poetic variant "Vale of a Thousand Rills" emphasizes the multitude of streams.
• The article-led form "The Ringing Vale" is used in speech, including when referring to its avout; "Ringing Vale" is also common and may be used metonymically to refer to the math established in the valley. This page covers the place itself.
• The shortened forms "the Vale" and "Vale" occur in speech, especially when referring to its avout collectively.

Roles and Affiliations

• Home to a Math whose avout are strongly associated with Vale-Lore, an umbrella that includes armed and unarmed practice as well as the study of military history, strategy, and tactics.
• Within the Mathic World, the valley's name is a byword for that specialty.
• During a Convox (large convocation of avout), Ringing Vale avout were present at Tredegarh; some avout from other houses worked out with them. Observers note that beyond physical techniques, their strength lies in a deep command of military history and tactics.
• In later operations centered at a caravansery in Elkhazg, Valers worked alongside an avout cell to inventory equipment and train for orbital work; the Vale leader, Fraa Osa, urged the group to proceed despite incomplete knowledge of the broader plan. During this time, Valers publicly honored Fraa Jad after he completed a new Teglon tiling on a Decagon courtyard.
• During a subsequent orbital approach, Valers used cold-gas thrusters to stabilize a roped formation, reflecting practiced coordination under pressure.
• When signs suggested imminent deployment of the World Burner on the Daban Urnud, a four‑person Ringing Vale detachment (named in accounts as Fraa Osa, Suur Vay, Suur Esma, and Fraa Gratho) executed a covert glide and boarded the device. Shortly thereafter, bright flares and a shock through the ship’s frame were observed from a nearby observatory. Contemporary witnesses treated the situation as an emergent crisis; the Valers’ immediate status was not confirmed in those moments.
• In the aftermath, an account from the ship’s leadership attributed thirty‑one fatalities to fraas and suurs from Ringing Vale during the confrontation, and said that eighty‑seven more had been sealed in a chamber. An avout explanation described the latter action as a safety measure to keep noncombatants out of harm’s way, not as hostage‑taking.
• Following negotiations about the treatment of the fallen, formal honors were rendered during opening ceremonies in an Urnudan orb. The four coffins of Osa, Esma, Vay, and Gratho were borne to the water’s edge by an honor guard, ferried across a ceremonial pool, and then transferred to the Arbran contingent.
• During early works associated with the Second Reconstitution at the site to be named for Fraa Orolo, ex–Ringing Vale avout are seen on the crater rim with Fraa Lio, surveying boundary lines with colored strings, setting stakes for planned walls, and explicitly planning interlocking fields of fire between bastions as a contingency; they fetch stake‑bundles and respond quickly to emerging conditions on the slope.
• For the organization based here, see Ringing Vale (Math).

Practices and Philosophy

• Training emphasizes the cultivation of disciplined, holistic decision-making that functions under pressure and uncertainty—an ability described by Vale avout as "something different" from enumerating all possible moves. It is presented as essential during emergences when rational analysis alone cannot suffice.
• Members speak of a familial bond to their fraas and suurs of Ringing Vale and acknowledge nested, overlapping loyalties; when obligations conflict in an emergence, they fall back on ingrained responses arising from long practice rather than attempting to untangle every allegiance in the moment.

Description

• Geography: a high valley with rocky walls and overhanging glaciers. Numerous rills and cascades descend into the vale, producing the characteristic chiming, or "ringing," that gives the place its name.

Perception and Idiom

• In a traveler's description, "as bald as the head of a Ringing Vale avout" is used as a simile, implying its avout are commonly shaved-headed.
• A comparison to "being used for stick‑fighting practice in the Ringing Vale" is used to convey punishing physical treatment, underscoring the Vale's reputation for rigorous sparring associated with Vale-Lore.
• An oft-quoted Vale aphorism holds that "the only way to preserve the integrity of the defenses is to subject them to unceasing assault," cited in discussions of systems that must remain robust under constant testing.

Current Status

• Recognized within the mathic world as both a notable landscape and the seat of a long-standing community devoted to Vale-Lore. Specific coordinates and broader surroundings have not been detailed.
• Ex–Ringing Vale avout are active around the crater‑lake foundation for Saunt Orolo, assisting with surveying, staking, and early works associated with the Second Reconstitution.