Astlanian Calendar
| The Astlanian Calendar has both Uropian and Anuropian Months see The Moons and Their Cycles for more details. There are two Anuropian Quarter Months for every Uropian Month. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Measuring Time
| Weeks:Astlanian weeks are based upon the Uropian month and her phases. Each week corresponds to a phase of Uropia. The names of the weeks are thus Desen, Subime, Asen and Domine. Each week is 10 days long and is exactly one half of an Anuropian quarter. Days:There are 10 days in a Uropian week. The ten days are Fierday, Desday, Anday, Suday, Restday, Landay, Asday, Urday, Domday, Godsday. In many lands, Restday is a day of relaxation, and Godsday a day of religious celebration. Different lands and cultures, however, do tend to vary from this. The numbering of the days is generally done in either one of two ways. Most commonly the days are numbered 1-20, in accordance with the days of the Anuropian quarter-month, and the date is written as QM/Day/Year, where QM is the quarter-month (1-20) and the day is the day of that quarter-month. A more archaic form is to number the Uropian months (1-10) and the days of the Uropian month (1-40). However, since mixing both can lead to confusion, the general convention if using the Uropian system is to give Day-Name of Month-Year. From a practical point of view, the first system based on the Anuropian quarter-month is usually preferred, since among the common people, more people can count to twenty than can count to 40. Every five years is a leap year. At this time, a single day is added between the 20th and 1st quarter months (10th and 1st Uropian month). In other words, add an extra day between the fifth and sixth years. This day does not fall on the regular calendar, and even has a special name, so that the names of the days of the week will not get out of synch from year to year. The name of the leap day varies from place to place, but is usually either referred to as Leapday or Festival. The second name is more common because in most places, great carnivals are given at this time. It is also a popular time for Coronations, if the demise of the previous ruler can be arranged conveniently enough. Hours:Time keeping in many parts of Astlan, is not always an exact science. Most common people divide the day into quarters or fifths with major meals or getting up and going to bed marking the turning point. More precise measurements are done using clocks and other devices, however, the scaling factors on these devices tend to vary from maker to maker. However, logically, and from a Ropian point of view, it would make sense to divide the day into 20 hours. This accamodates both people who divide days into fifths and those who use quarters. |
| The one surety in all time keeping is that during the Positive Masculine Aspect of the moons, Anuropia is directly overhead at midnight. During the Negative Masculine Aspect, both Fierd and Anuropia lie in a line in the sky directly overhead. This fails, of course, during the Feminine months and when Anuropia is at the Pole |
Notes on Aspects and Phases
| One thing to note is that Anuropia is rarely completely dominant, as half the time that it is in the night (or day) sky, Uropia is also in the sky. The height of the Masculine aspect occurs when Uropia and Anuropia are on opposite sides of Astlan, (e.g. Positive Anuropia and Negative Uropia or vice versa). The strongest such occurance is with Uropia in the Negative Submissive Aspect, and Anuropia in the Positive Dominant Aspect. This is occaisionally a time of greater strife; in the Northern Hemisphere it also occurs in the last week of each season, in the Southern Hemisphere during the first week of each season (except that in this case Uropia is in its Dominant Phaser rather than submissive). One other thing to note is that due to Anuropia’s motion, Anuropian Eclipses of Fierd are not uncommon. More uncommon is an Uropian Eclipse of Fierd, and most uncommon and always of great import is a dual Uropian-Anuropian Eclipse (when Fierd, Anuropia, Uropia and Astlan are all aligned). Other rare but important moments also occur when Uropia and Anuropia are on exact opposite sides of the planet, with Fierd also in complete alignment (major upheavals usually occur). Notes on Southern Hemisphere: In the Southern Hemisphere the Masculine-Feminine Aspects are reversed. The Polarities however, stay fixed. The phases of Uropia stay the same, since its orbit is equatorial. Thus, quarter-month 20 is Morthus, which in the NH is Negative Masculine Spirit, whereas in the SH, it is Negative Feminine Spirit. Further, note that in the SH there is no month of Hearth before Winter. Rather after Winter there is the long period of Sustenance. The reason for this is that due to the elemental oppositions; in the NH the long cold, but dry season of Hearth comes before the wetter and harsher season of Winter. In the SH, on the other hand, the cold dry season, Sustenance, comes after the coldest and wetter weather of Winter. At least this is the general case, and obviously local weather conditions may vary from season to season, and no place too near the equator gets cold or snowy, but it does get wet in Winter. Finally, in the NH, Anuropian months begin when Anuropia is at the North Pole, while in the SH, Anuropian months begin when Anuropia is at the South Pole. |
Common Calendars
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Years and Calendars: It often seems that every empire and sometimes every ruling house wants to try to start a new calendar with themselves. Fortunately, in the world at large, trade and communication tends to limit this practice. Nonetheless, there are easily several hundred systems that have been used over time. Below are listed either the most prevalent today, or the most historically useful ones. Post Vargosian (PV):Dates from the fall of the Vargosite Empire, Official Calendar of the Freehold Council of Wizards and most merchants dealing with Freehold, hence most of the continents of Norelan and Eton. Vargosite Calendar (VC):Official Calendar of the now defunct Vargosite Empire, dates from the founding of the Vargosite Empire. Still common in outlying territories of the former Empire. Anichronia (AC):Oldest ‘human’ calendar still known to be in use today. While not politically popular, this calendar is in use simply due to its prevalence in scholarly circles. Many old texts use this calendar, and at one time it was extremely widespread; as such, it makes a very good reference point between various calendars. Calendar Vizenhein (CV):Often confused by nondwarves with the Vargosite Calendar, this is the calendar used by the dwarven rulers of the legendary city of Vizenhein. It predates the Anichronia Calendar, though it is not in widespread use since the fall of Vizenhein near the collapse of the Vargosite Empire. Date Oorstemothian (DO):No attempt is given to categorize or indicate historical aspects of the Oorstemothian Calendar inaccuracies in official Oorstemothian history are illegal. Rather than risk criminal prosecution by the Oorstemothian government, the author directs all such inquiries to the Oorstemothian Office of Authoritative and Definitive Historical Accuracy. |
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