Proposal: Time Keeping in the Isles

pacdidj

First Post
I ran into this the other day in the adventure I'm running, and couldn't find anything on the wiki, so I'm proposing an addition to the setting. It seems to me that L4W deserves its own calendar and system of enumerating dates. What I'm proposing here is purely flavor and shouldn't alter the setting significantly or change the course of anyone's adventure. It would also only apply to Daunton, so DMs would be free to invent alternate calendars for the various cultures of the near and distant lands that their games take place in.

So here's what I've brainstormed so far. Feel free to amend or add to it as needed:

Dauntonians keep a 360 day calendar year. There are 12 months, each consisting of 30 days, and each named after one of the 12 deities. The order of the months is as follows:

Code:
Persefa  ~  January   -  Winter's Solstice, season of the full circle
Mireva   ~  February  -  Late Winter, season of solitude
Maros    ~  March     -  Early Spring, season of approaching change
Apoli    ~  April     -  Late Spring, season of sun's return
Vena     ~  May       -  Early Summer, season of fecundity
Juna     ~  June      -  Mid Summer, season of prosperity
Joven    ~  July      -  Summer's Solstice, season of power
Vulkar   ~  August    -  Late Summer, season of resolve
Merkari  ~  September -  Early Autumn, season of hopeful harvest
Netari   ~  October   -  Late Autumn, season of rains
Dayna    ~  November  -  Early Winter, season of the hunt
Lauto    ~  December  -  Mid Winter, season of ending
I've attempted to pair like-sounding months as with the Roman calendar so that they roll off the tongue easier in succession. Also, I've suggested qualities and seasons associated with each month. My thinking about the seasons is that Daunton has greater weather extremes than North America/Europe, thus longer (and hotter/colder) summers and winters, with relatively shorter transitional seasons.

Dauntonians keep a 7-day week, with names of days as follows:

Code:
Sunday     ~ Sunday, day of rest (Weekend)

Moonsday   ~ Monday, day of mourning (Workday)

Heavensday ~ Tuesday, day of vigor (Workday)

Windsday   ~ Wednesday, day of tribulation (Workday)

Starsday   ~ Thursday, day of thanksgiving (Workday)

Feyday     ~ Friday, day of revelry (Workday)

Shadowday  ~ Saturday, day of things ill done (Weekend)
Again, I've tried to preserve the rhythm of the way weekdays are spoken in succession, and suggest moods and associations for each day of the week.

As far as the enumeration of years, I was thinking something along the lines of dividing by the fall of the Allarian Empire. The current era could be called the Age of the Isles, abbreviated A.I., with the present being somewhere around 437 A.I. The past era would then logically be the Age of Allaria, abbreviated A.A. Rather than having the dates running backward as we do with BC (or BCE) enumeration, Dauntonians would measure history always moving forward with a number of different eras preceding the Age of Allaria. My thinking was that the Allarian Empire probably ended sometime in the 18th century of the Age of Allaria, i.e. the year 17XX A.A.

I realize we probably don't want to hard code years and dates, as it's nice for DMs to have flexibility with the time line. But, it seems like it would also be nice to have a common frame of reference.

Thoughts on any/all of this?
 

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ScorpiusRisk

First Post
Well the only problem I see, and I think it's a good sized one, is two DM's running, in Daunton, declaring it two different seasons.

Two adventures can easily start at the same time where on only takes place over a day IC, the other takes several months IC. PC's from both pop into the tavern at one point while another DM is recruiting for an adventure ties very specifically to the time of year (ie harvest, snowed in, etc).

I don't think it's a problem to have names for months and seasons. I love me some flavor.

I just don't think its a good idea to try and coordinate/enforce what season it is, even limiting ourselves to Daunton.
 

pacdidj

First Post
Well the only problem I see, and I think it's a good sized one, is two DM's running, in Daunton, declaring it two different seasons.

Two adventures can easily start at the same time where on only takes place over a day IC, the other takes several months IC. PC's from both pop into the tavern at one point while another DM is recruiting for an adventure ties very specifically to the time of year (ie harvest, snowed in, etc).

I don't think it's a problem to have names for months and seasons. I love me some flavor.

I just don't think its a good idea to try and coordinate/enforce what season it is, even limiting ourselves to Daunton.

Agreed. I was thinking of all this purely as a flavor element to be used within the context of an adventure, so PCs could find dated documents and know how much time they have to complete a task, or simply so a DM could reference a season and the prevailing weather.

Dates and seasons should probably be kept out of the tavern as much as possible so there are no continuity breaks.
 

Dekana

Explorer
Perhaps we could extend the shifting nature of the geography to time as well. Time passes slower/faster in some areas, so it is actually different dates in different places.
 



Lord Sessadore

Explorer
I likes this too. Far more flavourful to have "Heavensday, 20th day of Apoli" than "Tuesday, the 20th of April". ;)

If necessary, I vote YES.
Perhaps we could extend the shifting nature of the geography to time as well. Time passes slower/faster in some areas, so it is actually different dates in different places.
I've been acting under that assumption actually. The mists of the shifting seas can be very odd afterall.
I was thinking of saying something to that effect when I saw the title of this thread. :)
 

H.M.Gimlord

Explorer
The two DM's doing different things can't be avoided, but I like the names and the conventions. I vote YES and we'll all just put up with the confusion.
 

pacdidj

First Post
Any other judges want to weigh in on this? Looks like it's pretty much a yes, but wanted to wait for the required 3 votes before updating the wiki.
 


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