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<blockquote data-quote="tzor" data-source="post: 2995491" data-attributes="member: 12826">Well it all depends, there is the technical explanation and then there is the generic hand waving explanation.&nbsp; I love to speculate on the former, but much prefer the later.In the real world, it was those pesky monastics who wanted to get up to pray at the oddest hours of the night that drove the development of mechanical clocks.&nbsp; Prior to this there really was two time systems used, an accurate sun based one for the day (with &quot;hours&quot;) and a simple system used at night when the only people not sleeping were guards (with &quot;watches&quot;).&nbsp; Mechanical clocks extended the accuracy of hours into the night.&nbsp; Their only problem was that they were stationary, but since most monastics were stationary, that wasn't a major concern.&nbsp; The evolution of the clock that would work on a rocking ship allowed accurate determination of longitude which made navigation possible.&nbsp; This in turn led to the pocket watch, and the rest, as they say, is the reign of the tyrany of the clock.That as they say is the real world.&nbsp; In the hand waved fantasy world, clerics really sought to, ought to pray at a certain time in the day, which is more of a philosophical concept than a absolute requirement.&nbsp; It's not like his god clocks into the office at precicely 6AM and then clocks out at 9AM for his coffee break.&nbsp; (Plus the fact that it's always 6AM in some part of the fatasy world right?)&nbsp; &nbsp; So the questions of whether the natural cadian rhythm of people who are not shown the cycles of the sun is exactly 24 hours is a point only for science fiction and real world studies.&nbsp; Handwaving a 24 hours cadian rhythm is good enough for gaming purposes, although evil DM's might adopt a 25 hour cycle and cause a party underground to gain one hour for every &quot;day&quot; they think they spent in the dark.&nbsp; A couple of weeks underground and when they return they will wonder why the calendar seems to be a few days ahead.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="tzor, post: 2995491, member: 12826"] Well it all depends, there is the technical explanation and then there is the generic hand waving explanation. I love to speculate on the former, but much prefer the later. In the real world, it was those pesky monastics who wanted to get up to pray at the oddest hours of the night that drove the development of mechanical clocks. Prior to this there really was two time systems used, an accurate sun based one for the day (with "hours") and a simple system used at night when the only people not sleeping were guards (with "watches"). Mechanical clocks extended the accuracy of hours into the night. Their only problem was that they were stationary, but since most monastics were stationary, that wasn't a major concern. The evolution of the clock that would work on a rocking ship allowed accurate determination of longitude which made navigation possible. This in turn led to the pocket watch, and the rest, as they say, is the reign of the tyrany of the clock. That as they say is the real world. In the hand waved fantasy world, clerics really sought to, ought to pray at a certain time in the day, which is more of a philosophical concept than a absolute requirement. It's not like his god clocks into the office at precicely 6AM and then clocks out at 9AM for his coffee break. (Plus the fact that it's always 6AM in some part of the fatasy world right?) So the questions of whether the natural cadian rhythm of people who are not shown the cycles of the sun is exactly 24 hours is a point only for science fiction and real world studies. Handwaving a 24 hours cadian rhythm is good enough for gaming purposes, although evil DM's might adopt a 25 hour cycle and cause a party underground to gain one hour for every "day" they think they spent in the dark. A couple of weeks underground and when they return they will wonder why the calendar seems to be a few days ahead. [/QUOTE]

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