Calendars

The following is a short and non-exhaustive summary of calendars in use in the current cycle.

The Year

Each of the following calendars are based on the Prime Year (I am treating this as pretty much standard across all calendars for sanity purposes). The year is divided into months which are further divided into weeks and days.

• A day is one cycle of light and dark.

• There are 7 days in the standard week.  The Messenger (the smallest and fastest moon goes through its cycle in approximately this time.)

• There are 28 days in a month. The Dragon (the biggest moon) follows this schedule like clockwork.  The 28th day of the month is always the last day of the full moon.

• There are 12 months in a standard cycle of seasons.   Therefore there are 336 days in a year.

Months

Week in Month Day in Month Ending Dragon Phase Messenger Phase

1 1-3 Dragon Waning Messenger Waning

1 4 Dragon Waning New Moon at Dusk

1 5-6 Dragon Waning Messenger Waxing

1 7 (Half Moon) Dragon Waning Full Moon at Dawn

2 8-10 Dragon Waning Messenger Waning

2 11 Dragon Waning New Moon at Dusk

2 12-13 Dragon Waning Messenger Waxing

2 14 Last Day of the New Moon Full Moon at Dawn

3 15-17 Dragon Waxing Messenger Waning

3 18 Dragon Waxing New Moon at Dusk

3 19-20 Dragon Waxing Messenger Waxing

3 21 (Half Moon) Dragon Waxing Full Moon at Dawn

4 22-24 Dragon Waxing Messenger Waning

4 25 Dragon Waxing New Moon at Dusk

4 26-27 Dragon Waxing Messenger Waxing

4 28 Last Day of the Full Moon Full Moon at Dawn

Days and seasons are less precise and are longer and shorter based on the current state of balance between light and dark (i.e. who is winning!)  However there are some generic things...

Days

There are 24 hours (more or less) in a day. There are 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in a minute.  However- except for ritual Wizards people don' t use seconds. 

Common folk use the following:

• A candlemark is approximately 15 minutes

• A heartbeat is approximately 1 second

• A day has four quarters:

  • Noon (12:00am)

  • Midnight (12:00pm)

  • Dawn (6:00am - varies based on light/dark balance)

  • Dusk (6:00am - varies based on light/dark balance)

• The midpoints between these quarters are (all of these vary based on light/dark balance):

  • Mid-morn (9:00am)

  • Mid-work (3:00pm)

  • Mid-rest (9:00pm)

  • Mid-sleep (3:00am)

In Maera they use the prayer station names for these.

The Tolnians began using hours about five hundred years ago as they developed more accurate time pieces  (However they still need to be reset at noon every day).  Hours also caught on in Doria and Dau-Sho but no where else.  A concept very similar to hours caught on in Maera and the Frankish Lands as well but these are called "bells" because they are demarked by the Church tolling the hours.

Calendars

The Epochs and Eras Dating System (EDS)

This is a human calendar that is rarely seen except in certain academic circles. It has limited popularity in these academic circles but can still be found in many texts as a comparison dating systembecuase of its simplicity. This system is on the one hand it is far reaching and appropriate for covering a wide range of events and at the same time completely glosses over the simultaneous reality viewpoints and retroactive nature of discipline shifts. This system is most popular at the present amongst the human historical scholars of Doria and Rhellania.

For brevity this document uses the date system of epochs and eras although it is acknowledged to be inaccurate and insufficient for a true causal analysis of the events described.

This calendar separates the "past" into five epochs. Each epoch is delineated by a major traumatic event which reshaped reality in some way (usually a cataclysmic battle).

Epoch Prime Entities Magic

Epoch 1 Elemental

Epoch 2 Insects First Sorceries

Epoch 3 Amphibiods First Wizardries

Epoch 4 Dragons - Lizards

Epoch 5 (The current epoch)

Each epoch is the divided into further eras. Eras last around ten thousand years each and are usually delineated by a significant event that alters reality without completely recasting its nature.

Eras are divided into millenia which are divided into centuries which are divided into decades. Each of these subdivisions are regular demarcations of time.

Dates in the epochs and eras calendar can be expressed in short form as a:b:ccccc.ddd EDS

Where: a is the epoch, b is the era, ccccc is the five digit year within the era and ddd is an optional three digit day.

Mardenal Natus (MN)

This calendar is centered around the founding of Marden. The zero year for this calendar is 5:2:00464.000.

Note: The zero year for the calendar is based on the construction of the old palace which is about 290 years after the declared founding of the city limits of Marden and 1250 years after people first started populating the area.

This is the predominant calendar of use in modern times in the free states.

The Year of the Golden Empire (GE)

This calendar is centered around the founding of the capitol city of the Golden Empire. The zero year for this calendar is 5:1:10500.000.

After Mark (AM)

This calendar is centered around the year of King Mark's ride. The zero year for this calendar is 5:2:01639.000.

This is the predominant calendar of use in modern times in the feudal lands.

Dal-Kon Reckoning (??)

This calendar is centered around the Diaspora. The zero year for this calendar is 5:2:00800.000.

This is the predominant calendar of use in modern times in the dal-kon lands.

New Tolnian Calendar (??)

This calendar is centered around the crowning of the emperor ??. The zero year for this calendar is 5:2:02012.000.

This is the predominant calendar of use in modern times in the tolnian empire.