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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Knightfall" data-source="post: 281094" data-attributes="member: 2012">More tidbits...The Calendars of HarqualThere are three distinct calendars on Harqual.  The continent's most widely used calendar, or the New Calendar as it’s called, is also Harqual's most important one.  Two hundred and fifty two years after the end of the Divinity War, a man named Gabriel Stonn came to power in a city-state, called Araig, on the Jagged Peninsula on the eastern shore of Northern Harqual.  Gabriel was the first man to have a vision of what Harqual’s future should be without also wanting to oppress its peoples.He reformed Ariag’s failing political and justice systems and introduced widespread change throughout the city’s military to weed out corruption.  He put the power of rule in the hands of the citizens of the city-state.  Women and even those over the age of fifteen had the right to voice their opinion, although one still had to be at least eighteen to vote.  It was a radical change that would reshape Harqual’s history in the region.  It was this that brought about the creation of the New Calendar.Before this time the only method of tracking the days and seasons of the years was by using the archaic Calendar of Swords designed by the Imperium.  The CoS, as it was abbreviated, was designed for recording historic and military achievements of the Imperium.  It was never used to track the birth dates of the masses, festivals, or the changing seasons.  The only birth dates ever recorded on the CoS were those of the King-Priests and a few of the more ambitious Dead Emperors.Another problem with the calendar was that only a few individuals on Harqual knew how to decipher it.  The CoS was written with strange archaic symbols that are still etched into the ziggurats.  (The current year is 2459 CoS.)Stonn knew his Kingdom of the Jagged Peninsula, needed a new calendar to track the seasons and the days.  And since Gabriel was a humble man, he refused to name it after himself or the city-state he ruled.  He would simply call it the New Calendar and be done with it.  (The current year is 749 N.C., The Year of the Return.)However, Gabriel was also a pious man and was true to the gods of the Pantheon of the North when so many others were not.  He honored the gods by naming each of the months for one of the Divine Children that fell during the Divinity War.  Thus, the twelve months of the New Calendar are named Anon, Zealot, Sialic, Thorn, Truce, Hansa, Hela, Seraph, Nessus, Euphoria, Tulle, and Jaeger, in that order.  (See below for more details on the structure of the New Calendar.)The New Calendar spread through the lands of the eastern coast and eventually to the west and even to the far south.  Only the barbarians of the Northlands have never adopted it fully, as it is not in their nature to write things down.  They simply track the passage of time the way they had since Cronn built the Hall of the Northlands.  The barbarians of the Northlands do honor Gabriel Stonn for the pious life he lead and honor the celebrations and cycles of the calendar when visiting the southern lands beyond the Greystone Mountains.The third calendar is not really a physical calendar at all.  The abbreviation D.W. refers to the time that passed from the end of the Divinity War to the Year of the Dawn.  Thus, it only spans from 1 D.W. to 1001 D.W.  No one ever uses it to refer to events before or after these years and most never use it regardless.  This abbreviation only came into use after the tabaxi returned to Harqual in 749 N.C., the Year of the Return.  After it had occurred, their was finally a way for scholars to note when the Divinity War actually ended. (These years correspond to -253 N.C. to 748 N.C.  Note that there isn't such a thing as 0 N.C., the calendar starts at 1.)As for Gabriel Stonn, the man ruled Araig and the kingdom that was built around it for his entire lifetime.  At his death in 52 N.C., the city and the kingdom were both renamed Stonn in his honor by the people that had grown to love him.  Stonn's kingdom still exists and is the oldest human kingdom on Harqual (the silver elf Kingdom of the Silver Leaves is the oldest).  Its birth is celebrated every 100 years from the 1st year after Gabriel’s death to the present.  The next celebration is in three years.The New Calendar follows a 12 months (365 days) per year cycle.  Each month is broken down into roughly 4 weeks made up of 6 days per week.  Each month is made up either 30 or 31 days.  The year has 4 seasons that follow the same basic seasonal patterns of Earth - Springdawn, Summerfall, Autumnwind, & Winternight.As noted above, the gods of Harqual are directly linked to the creation of Harqual’s calendar.  Each month is named for one of the Divine Children, as they are now called, that died in the Divinity War against the Pantheon of Swords.  All but three of these Children were lost to oblivion.  Jaeger's legacy is noted above in the section on the Honorbound but more details are needed regarding Hansa and Hela.Hansa was buried under the earth during a battle with Hiisi’s godson's, Deltum and Enduma.  It was the cat god Tu that sent Hansa spiraling down into ground forming what would become the Twilight Valley.  To this day, he struggles to free himself from his underground prison, which causes seasonal earthquakes that plague Harqual.  However, he is slowly dying and each time the earth shakes, Cronn hopes it will be for the last time so that his grandchild may rest.Hela’s is an even more tragic tale; Thera bound Hela's essence to the sea of the Sword Gulf so that Peace Goddess could never rest.  Thus, when violent storms break against the western coasts near Onaway and Avion, they are storms of Hela’s sorrow, raging to be free of her living death.  Lord Aegir can often hear her wails from his underwater domain of Hlesvang (beyond the island of Teverroot in the heart of the sea that shares his name).The elements are also linked to Harqual’s calendar by way of the names of the days of the week and the moons of Kulan.  The days in order of first to last are Moonsday, Earthday, Fireday, Seaday, Windday, & Starday.  The four middle days are of course directly linked to each of the Four Elements - Air, Earth, Fire, & Water.Elementalists all across Harqual perform special rites and prayers, each week, on their associated day of the week.  If this is not done, then the elementalist loses one spell level for the remainder of the week.  If the rites are missed again the next week the elementalist incurs a –1 penalty when casting any spells from their Elemental School (this continues each week until the Elementalist performs the rites on the proper day (this is cumulative, -2, -3, etc).The first and last day are also linked to the elements but hold less daily significance to elementalists.Moonsday, of course, refers to Kulan’s two moons – Novan and Lithe.  Novan is a water world and is considered the source of power for Water and Air Elementalists.  Lithe is a bare, mineral rich airless void that is considered the source of power for Earth Elementalists.Starday is named for both the stars and Kulan’s sun.  It is considered a special day for astronomers, especially during an eclipse or other celestial event (such as a comet).  This day is also important to Fire Elementalists as it denotes the sun and the source of their power.  Solar eclipses are considered ‘bad’ by these elementalists as this lessens their power for the duration of the eclipse [reduced by one level for 1d4+1 turns before eclipse, full duration of eclipse (including partial), and 1d4-1 turns after the eclipse].Calendar NomenclatureAnon (ah-‘nän)Sialic (si-‘al-ik)Hansa (‘han(t)-sah, ‘hän-(,)zä)Hela (‘hel-ah)Seraph (‘ser-ahf)Nessus (‘nes-ahs)Euphoria (you-‘for-ee-ah)Tulle (‘tül)Jaeger (‘yeh-gar)</blockquote>

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