Avout

Avout are the residents of a math, living within its walls under the Cartasian Discipline. Their way of life is deliberately distinct from those who live extramuros, with practices meant to minimize entanglement with outside affairs.

First appearance and context

The term is used during conversations in the New Library between avout and visiting artisans from outside the walls. These exchanges highlight differences in everyday tools and media, and they situate the avout within a broader history that, in its present form, is said to date from the Reconstitution. The same context also looks ahead to the opening of the gates for Apert.

Life and Discipline

Within the math, permitted media are restricted by the Cartasian Discipline (often summarized as relying on chalk, ink, and stone). Avout eschew common recording devices used outside and prefer observation and words. One stated purpose of living in a cloistered math is to reduce causal linkages with the world beyond the walls.

Communities and cycles

Avout communities open their gates on different cycles during Apert. Some groups open every ten years, while others are said to open only once per century. When the gates are open, traffic is limited and brief; avout may venture out and visitors may enter for a short period.

Admission and progression

New members typically enter the community during Apert. To maintain a nominal strength of about three hundred, one decennial cohort expects to take in on the order of several dozen newcomers at an approaching Apert. Sources for entrants include graduates from a Unarian math (after at least a year under its Discipline) and those who are "Collected" directly from extramuros. In addition to these, the community sometimes takes in abandoned newborns found through hospitals and shelters, as well as arrivals from small feeder maths in the region. While most movement between maths follows established paths, rare exceptions—called One‑offs—may advance early by passing through a labyrinth connecting the Unarian and Decenarian maths. Overall, the pathways by which avout arrive and move among maths are acknowledged to be complex.

Orders and vows

After Apert, bells signal the aut of Eliger, when members of a decennial cohort assemble to witness vows binding individuals to particular orders within the math. Ahead of such vows, orders may quietly sound out or recruit likely candidates. Leadership within an order can be styled as First Among Equals (FAE).

Attire and personal items

Everyday clothing centers on a long strip of cloth called a bolt, typically worn with a waist cord ("chord") and accompanied by a personal sphere used as a portable seat.

Current status

In the present era, avout describe themselves as living under the revived rule-set established after the Reconstitution and preparing for an imminent Apert.