Calendar & Timekeeping
Calendar
Year: A Year consists of 425 days.
Seasons: The year in Creation consists of five seasons, beginning with the Season of Air and concluding with Calibration following the Season of Fire, in the order: Air, Water, Earth, Wood, Fire. The coldest time is Water, the warmest Fire, the optimal planting season is Earth and optimal harvest is Wood.
Months: Each Season is divided into 3 Months of 4 Weeks (28 days). The months are titled Ascending, Resplendent, and Descending. In the constantly temperate climes of the Blessed Isle, each season contains one agricultural cycle: planting on Ascending and harvest on Descending. The months follow a complete circle of Luna’s faces: the 15th of each month is a full moon, the 8th and 22nd of each month are half moons, the 2nd and 28th of the month are the thinnest crescent moon.
Weeks: A week consists of 7 days, proceeding in constant order: Sunday, Moonday, Marsday, Mercuryday, Jupiterday, Venusday, and Saturnday. The weeks of a month see the complete progress of one of Luna’s faces: the first week of a Month occurs under the Half Moon, followed by Waxing, full, and Waning. During the normal year, the mon remains visible every night, though at the start of Waxing or end of Waning, it may be but a sliver. For five days of the year, on Calibration, there is no moon whatsoever to be seen in the sky.
Calibration: Not a season, not a month, not even a week: An odd set of five days that fit nowhere in the Calendar, and within which scary things happen… yadayadayada and all that. During Calibration, the celestial bodies of the Incarna cannot be found in the sky, nor can the stars.
Terms: Slightly off-set from the seasons are the 'terms' of the year, periods of similar weather and ecology. On the Blessed Isle, these have no practical existence, and are mostly important for poetic imagery amongst witty Dynasts.
-- Descending Water, Ascending Earth and Resplendent Earth are the 'spring' term, where plants begin to sprout.
-- Descending Earth, Ascending Wood and Resplendent Wood comprise the 'growing' term.
-- Descending Wood, Ascending Fire and Resplendent Fire are the 'summer' term. Resplendent Fire is typically the hottest month of the year.
-- Descending Fire, Ascending Air and Resplendent Air are the 'autumn' or 'fall' term.
-- Descending Air, Ascending Water and Resplendent Water are the 'winter' term. Ascending Water is usually the coldest month of the year.
Timekeeping
Day: Each day consists of a full cycle of day and night, about 1440 Earth-minutes. A day begins with dawn's first glow, and ends in the moment before that glow breaches the horizon... the Unconquered Sun is precise in his appearance, so there is no dissonance between days measured in this manner.
Watches: Each day is divided into 8 ‘watches’, corresponding roughly to 180 Earth-minutes. These are Dawn, Morn, Zenith, Afternoon, Dusk, Eve, Midnight and Small/Night. Collectively, the Eve, Midnight, and Small periods are referred to as ‘night’. Each watch is divided into three ‘hours’. Temple bells typically sound the watch during daylight hours to mark the five daily prayers to the Unconquered Sun. Water-based clocks commonly sound out the watches of day.
Hours: Three hours, approximately 60 Earth-minutes, occur in a watch. These are named Ascending, Resplendent, and Descending. They are nominally subdivided into ‘segments’. Hours are often measured using hourglasses or other sand-shifting devices.
Segments: Each hour is divided into five segments of approximately 12 Earth-minutes: Air, Water, Earth, Wood, and Fire. These are further divided into ‘minutes’.
Minutes: Each segment is split into three ‘minutes’ (approx four minutes Earth-time). These are titled Rising, Proceeding, and Falling. Minute measurement is a matter for clockwork and artifacts.
More Precise Measurements: Once upon a time, in the First Age, time was measured with incredible precision. Now, such is the purview only of elder Sidereals and sorcerers fortunate enough to stumble upon First-Age devices capable of timekeeping.
Specific Occurrences:
-- Sunrise: Water Segment Resplendent Dawn.
-- High Noon: Earth segment Resplendent Zenith.
-- Sunset: Wood Segment Resplendent Dusk.
Military Time: The Legions follow a variant system of periods, simply numbering the watches: 1st (Dusk), 2nd (Evening), 3rd (Midnight), 4th (Small), 5th (Dawn), 6th (Morn), 7th (Zenith), 8th (Afternoon). Watch (evening). A Legion march invariably begins at the start of 5th Watch, and construction of camp at the beginning of 1st Watch.
Solar, Lunar, and Astrological Calendars: The Calendar of the Realm is based upon none of these, unlike Earth-based equivalents. The Moon is steady enough to measure months but little greater, the Sun is an abstract representation of a divinity which passes directly overhead of any observer. The stars display not constant points but the twists of fate, and the constellations do not have positions or movements of any consistency. For measuring time, or even navigation, the celestial spheres are worthless to all but those with the most specialized of artefacts.
