Alternative Calendars

[Aellyll]

<p>Perhaps this belongs under Fan Fiction or Traveller's Tales, but I am interested in knowing if there any serious calendars for Norrath.</p><p>I am aware of the 336-day solar calendar, which is:</p><p>7 days per week</p><p>4 weeks per month</p><p>12 months per year.</p><p>There's also the gnome in the Baubleshire which states something like 10 days per week, and 14 weeks per month, etc. which is very nonsensical.</p><p>I am looking for calendars of both solar and lunar (2) sorts. For instance, a Luclin-based calendar might be:</p><p>46 days per "month" (a little more than one Luclin orbit)</p><p>7 "months" per "year" (322 days in the "year" -- 2 weeks short of a 336-day year)</p><p>23 "years" per "score" (7406 days in the "score" -- 22 years each of 336 days plus 2 weeks)</p><p>24 "scores" per "cycle" (177,744 days -- 529 solar years, or 552 Luclin-based years, or 3,888 actual Luclin orbits)</p><p>I've seen a crude estimate of Drinal's orbit being 25.46 days -- has this been since refined? </p><p>Thanks for any help you can provide.</p><p>-- Aellyllea --</p>

[Cusashorn]

<p>I'm not sure if it's ever been stated how long a Drinal or Luclinitic cycle is around Norrath. The most info we do have is a book on calendars and standards found in the mage towers.</p>

[Zabjade]

<p><span style="color: #00cc00;">WHere is the one in the Qeynos Tower I must keep missing it...</span></p>

[Illine]

<p>the weeks and months depend on the world.</p><p>I think in D&D ... the weeks are made of 10 days while a year is still 365 days.</p><p>it's a fiction, they can base the calendar the way they want it. they are not obliged to follow ours.</p>

[Cusashorn]

<p><cite>Zabjade wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #00cc00;">WHere is the one in the Qeynos Tower I must keep missing it...</span></p></blockquote><p>Top floor.</p>

[Aellyll]

<p><cite>Illine@Storms wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>the weeks and months depend on the world.</p><p>I think in D&D ... the weeks are made of 10 days while a year is still 365 days.</p><p>it's a fiction, they can base the calendar the way they want it. they are not obliged to follow ours.</p></blockquote><p>Well, I really don't care about the other worlds, or even earth for that matter. I noted that here in Norrath the solar year is 336 gamedays (by the developers' definition) in the gameyear, whereas Earth has 365.2422 days per year (and which doesn't matter to us Norrathians).</p><p>The problem (for me, at least) is that 'months' derive from the 'moon' on earth, and thus our earthly calendar ties the (apparently) largest object in the sky other than the sun to the solar year, though very imperfectly.</p><p>I would expect that the similar circumstances would have led to lunar-to-solar calendar ties on Norrath, <em>relative to Norrathian observations</em>.</p><p>Now Monkeygrrl had made the observation that Luclin orbits Norrath approximately 45.716 gamedays with good confidence and that Drinal orbits Norrath approximately 25.46 gamedays with low confidence. If the developers haven't come up with anything other than the solar calendar, one might anticipate that the races of Norrath (that's us) might do so themselves on the basis of readily observable lunar periods.</p><p>So I am still seeking Norrathian calendar systems...</p><p>-- Aellyllea --</p>

[DrkVsr]

<p><cite>Illine@Storms wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>the weeks and months depend on the world.</p><p>I think in D&D ... the weeks are made of 10 days while a year is still 365 days.</p><p>it's a fiction, they can base the calendar the way they want it. they are not obliged to follow ours.</p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium; color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Agreed, this is a different planet in a different star system in a different universe, so of course they would have a different yearly cycle, as Cusa said, you can find a book in the mage towers (and the library in Kelethin) that lists the days/weeks/months/seasons even the different years</span></p>

[Thrads]

<p>Quoteth the Court of Coin:</p><p>All time is based on the movement of the stars as charted by the gnomes many hundreds of years ago. The months are named in chronological order as follows: <strong>Deepice, Grayeven, Stargazing, Weeping, Blossoming, Oceansfull, Scorchedsky, Warmstill, Busheldown, Lastleaf, Firstchill and Deadening. </strong></p><p>Nearly every four months marks a change in season. The seasons are named Decay, Growth, and Harvest. Decay is the coldest season, identifiable by a rise in nasty weather. Growth is the season of showers, sunlight and abundant, well, growth. Harvest is the calmest of the seasons with light rains being notable.</p><p>While it may not be a lunar calendar, you at least know there are 4 seasons and 12 months in Norrath.</p>

[DrkVsr]

<p><span style="font-size: medium; color: #993300; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">3 seasons <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span></p>

[Thrads]

<p>Whoops.  I can count.  Really!</p>

[Aellyll]

<p>Playing with the numbers, I now suspect that for every twenty (20) Norrathian years (each 336 days long):</p><p>Drinal orbits Norrath 264 times and...</p><p>Luclin orbits Norrath 147 times, or...</p><p>For every 49 orbits of Luclin around Norrath there are 88 orbits of Drinal around Norrath in six years and eight months.</p><p>For a Drinal-based calendar, perhaps one could adopt:</p><p>24 Drinal-based "years," each of 280 days comprising 7 months of 4 ten-day weeks (and eleven Drinal orbits.)</p><p>For a Luclin-based calendar, one might have instead:</p><p>21 Luclin-based "years," each of 320 days comprising 10 months of 4 eight-day weeks (and seven Luclin orbits.)</p><p>This would cover 20 Norrathian years, each of 336 days comprising 12 months of 4 seven-day weeks.</p><p>One challenge is to correlate the three calendars based on the orbital mechanics of Luclin and Drinal.</p><p>The other challenge (which I put to you, the gentle reader) is to come up with appropriate names for the Drinal-based and Luclin-based months and the corresponding "Days of the Week." Let us see what you have got...</p><p>Personally I think the gnomes' Starpyre Calendar's days of the week -- Feastday, Darkday, Burnday, Soulday, Windday, Steelday, Spryday, Moorday, Brewday, and Mirthday -- would suffice for the Drinal-based ten-day week.</p><p>[Edit: Added number of lunar orbits per lunar "year."]</p><p>-- Aellyllea --</p>