Time
Calendar
The current year is 5074.
- Naturally, the storyteller may adjust this to taste
- Early Kingdom records are poor; the Kingdom may be younger or older than its stated age
- There are no known equivalents to carbon dating; the age of Seln itself is a mystery
Keeping time
Years
Each year is 360 days + Equilibrium.
The standard format for dates is Year-Season-Day. Thus, the first day of the first season of the year 5074 would be marked as 5074-1-1.
Seasons
In its natural state, Seln has no regular seasons. The local elemental balance dictates the climate and weather.
Within the Kingdom, these energies have been tamed to create an approximation of the four seasons.
Like our world, these are Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.
Unlike our world, the seasons are marked as ninety days each. Kingdom geomancers attempt to cajole the seasons to turn according to these times, but the land is not tamed enough for exact precision. To account for drift, the calendar requires a yearly adjustment known as Equilibrium.
Weeks and Days
Kingdom timekeeping is derived from the Izu calendar.
The day is tracked with seconds, minutes, and hours.
The week is seven days. Izuno calendars mark the days as Sun, Moon, Fire, Water, Wood, Gold, and Earth. However, each lineage has its own names for the days of the week. Florans name the days by flowers; the Alorans count days as the seven scale colors of the rainbow; and the Wehrans seem to have named their days after a series of extinct gods!
Months are not tracked. Instead, the Kingdom uses the seasons. For example, the fortieth day of Spring would be (wait for it) Spring 40! Short form would be 5074-1-40 or 74-1-40.
The Calendar in play
Feel free to use standard English names for the days of the week. You do not need to memorize Japanese days of the week!
Equilibrium
Equilibrium marks the turning of the year.
It follows Winter and awaits the beginning of Spring. However, Equilibrium itself belongs to neither the preceding nor the following year. It is a period of change where the Realms grow closer, Harmony settles its debts, and the works of the folk weaken or function erratically.
Equilibrium is both a holiday from normal work and a period of trepidation. Its exact length varies every time and cannot be predicted, and the folk must await the breaking of the new year.
Typical Equilibriums last three to seven days, but history records occasions where the period lasted more than twenty days! Such long Equilibrium is considered an ill omen and often heralds disaster.