Neal Stephenson - Anathem

Regulant:See Warden Regulant.

Requiem:The aut celebrated to mark the death of an avout.

Ret:See Reticulum.

Reticule:A network; two or more syntactic devices that are able to communicate with one another.

Reticulum:The largest reticulum, joining together the preponderance of all reticules in the world.

Rhetor:A legendary figure, associated in folklore with Procian orders, said to have the power of altering the past by manipulating memories and other physical records.

Ringing Vale:A mountain valley that gave its name to a math founded there in 17 A.R., specializing in study and developments of martial arts and related topics. See Vale-Lore.

Rod:Military slang. To bombard a target, typically on the surface of a planet, by dropping a rod of some dense material on it from orbit. The rod has no moving parts or explosives; its destructiveness is a consequence of its extremely high velocity.

Sæcular:Of or pertaining to the non-mathic world.

Sæcular Power:Whatever entity currently wields power in the non-mathic world.

Sæculum:The Sæcular world.

Sack:A breach of the terms of the Reconstitution in which maths or concents are forcibly violated and despoiled by Sæcular interlopers. Normally used only to refer to Sacks-General, in which most or all of the maths and concents are sacked at the same time.

Samblites:A religious sect tracing its origin back to Saunt Bly, and centered on Bly’s Butte, not far from the Concent of Saunt Edhar.

Sarthian:Steppe-dwelling horse archers of ancient times, held responsible for the Fall and Sack of Baz, which ended the Bazian Empire and inaugurated the Old Mathic Age.

Saunt:A title bestowed on great thinkers.

Sconic:One of a group of Praxic Age theors who gathered at the house of Lady Baritoe. They addressed the ramifications of the apparent fact that we do not perceive the physical universe directly, but only through the intermediation of our sensory organs.

Sea of Seas:A relatively small but complex body of salt water, connected to Arbre’s great oceans in three places by straits, generally viewed as the cradle of classical civilization.

Semantic Faculties:Factions within the mathic world, in the years following the Reconstitution, generally claiming descent from Halikaarn. So named because they believed that symbols could bear actual semantic content. The idea is traceable to Protas and to Hylaea before him. Compare Syntactic Faculties.

Sequence:The genetic code of a living organism. In various usages, equivalent to gene, genetic, or DNA on Earth.

Servitor:At Concents that observe the mealtime tradition of the Messal, a junior avout who is assigned to wait on a doyn.

Sline:An extramuros person with no special education, skills, aspirations, or hope of acquiring same, generally construed as belonging to the lowest social class.

Sphenics:A school of theors well represented in ancient Ethras, where they were hired by well-to-do families as tutors for their children. In many classic Dialogs, seen in opposition to Thelenes, Protas, or others of their school. Their most prominent champion was Uraloabus, who in the Dialog of the same name was planed so badly by Thelenes that he committed suicide on the spot. They disputed the views of Protas and, broadly speaking, preferred to believe that theorics took place entirely between the ears, with no recourse to external realities such as the Protan forms. The forerunners of Saunt Proc, the Syntactic Faculties, and the Procians.

Starhenge:In Earth terms, an observatory, esp. one with multiple telescopes.

Steelyard:See Gardan’s Steelyard.

Suur:A female avout.

Suvin:A school.

Syndev:Contraction of Syntactic Device. A computer.

Syntactic Device:In Earth terms, a computer.

Syntactic Faculties:Factions within the mathic world, in the years following the Reconstitution, generally claiming descent from Proc. So named because they believed that language, theorics, etc., were essentially games played with symbols devoid of semantic content. The idea is traceable to the ancient Sphenics, who were frequent opponents of Thelenes and Protas on the Periklyne.

Tangle:A cultivated plot, roughly hexagonal in plan, supporting a particular set of more or less genetically engineered food-bearing plant species that, taken together, supply all of the nutritional requirements for a single avout. A web of symbiotic relationships among the species bolsters the health and productivity of the plants while preventing exhaustion of the soil. In concents that employ the tangle system, each avout is responsible for maintenance of one tangle; the produce of all of the tangles is pooled to supply food for the concent. Since a math cannot observe the Discipline when it is dependent on Sæcular trade for foodstuffs, the tangle is a fundamental enabling technology for the Reconstitution.

Teglon:An extremely challenging geometry problem worked on at Orithena and later, all over Arbre, by subsequent generations of theors. The objective is to tile a regular decagon with a set of seven different shapes of tiles, while observing certain rules.

Tenner:Informal term for Decenarian (see).

Tenth Night:The traditional conclusion of an Apert, held on its tenth and final night. A feast served by the math to any and all extramuros visitors who wish to attend. Also used to transact certain necessary items of business with the Sæcular Power, such as formal transfer of new Collects from Sæcular to mathic jurisdiction.

Terrible Events:A poorly documented worldwide catastrophe thought to have begun in the year −5. Whatever it was, it terminated the Praxic Age and led immediately to the Reconstitution.

Thelenes:A great theor of the Golden Age of Ethras, protagonist of many Dialogs, mentor to Protas. Executed by the Ethran authorities for irreligious, or at least disrespectful, teachings.

Theor:Any practitioner of theorics, which see.

Theorician:Nearly equivalent to theor, but with slightly different connotations. “theorician” tends to be used of one who is devoted to highly specific, detailed, technical work, e.g., carrying out elaborate computations.

Theorics:Roughly equivalent to mathematics, logic, science, and philosophy on Earth. The term can fairly be applied to any intellectual work that is pursued in a rigorous and disciplined manner; it was coined by Diax to distinguish those who observed the Rake from those who engaged in wishful or magical thinking.

Thousander:Informal term for a Millenarian (see).

Throw Back:An informal term meaning to subject an avout to the aut of Anathem.

Throwback:An ex-avout who was Anathematized.

Tredegarh:One of the Big Three concents, named after Lord Tredegarh, a mid-to-late Praxic Age theor responsible for fundamental advances in thermodynamics.

Triangle Ark:Alternate term for the Kelx faith or one of its arks.

Unarian:An avout sworn not to emerge from the math or to have contact with the outside world until the next Annual Apert. Informally, “One-off.”