Landsoftheblacksea:Main page/time calendars
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Time
Lunar Cycle
The Lunar Cycle of The Lands follows a 27-day cycle, and many of the Realms have developed their calendars around it.
Solar Cycle
The solar cycle of The Lands is approximately 372 days; this is not exact, and various calendars adjust for the cumulative offset in various ways.
The time where the sun is highest above the southern horizon is termed the Summer Solstice in the common tongue; when it is lowest above the southern horizon the Winter Solstice; and the days of equal day and night are the Vernal and Autumnal equinoxes. These four dates divide the year into approximately equal quarters and for countries sufficiently far north, the seasons.
Calendars
Athernian Calendar
The Athernian Calendar is used across most of the Athernian peninsula, as well as across Veniri and B'Narj. There are no weeks tracked in most of the Athernian peninsula. The day of the month is kept (e.g., the 5th day of Unnus).
The Athernian Calendar uses 12 months of 31 days uniformly, yielding a calendar where the equinoxes and solstices of the solar calendar are more-or-less fixed dates, and do not move around from year to year. The lunar phase does shift with respect to the calendar date, however.
In Athervon, the day is broken into fairly large chunks, primarily based on the sun: Dawn, Midmorn, High Sun, Late Day, Sunset More precise measures of time are done via candle burn rates; chandlers can make candles which can keep track of time to within approximately 30 minutes over a 24 hour period, with increments of approximately one hour. These increments are typically called “Marks” due to their being marked off on the candle.
Jhonian Calendar
Used across the entire Jhonian Empire, and many lands nearby. Uses same 1-year span as Athernian Calendar, but year 1 is marked as the year the Prophet of A'Salam appeared out of the desert and began converting people to the True Faith (AY712).
Elvish Calendar
Used by most major Elvish communities; starts many thousands of years before any of the other calendars, beginning with the arrival of the Elves in The Lands.
Dwarvish Calendar
Used by most major Dwarven communities. Starts approximately 2000 years before the Athernian calendar, when the Dwarves descended into The Lands from the Frozen Wastes and founded their first great settlement, which has since been utterly destroyed and is lost under the sea.
Niharian Calendar
Most ancient of the human calendars, starts over 1000 years before the Athernian Calendar, at the time of the founding of the first Niharian dynasty.
The Niharian calendar is based on 13 months of 27 days (= 351 days) synchronized to the lunar, vice solar, calendar; the equinoxes and solstices move about on the Niharian calendar, and a Niharian year is only (351/372) = 94% of an Athernian year.