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Light and Time

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The Sun

CAERULAS spends the Night amidst the fires of Hell. Before He is due to Rise He leaps into His flying chariot, which is pulled by the Eight Golden Horses of the Sun, and accelerates up the great Shaft from Hell to Heaven. First light occurs as His sunbeams become visible, shining out from Heaven. As Dawn approaches they quickly grow in brightness, and illuminate a larger area of the sky. At Sunrise CAERULAS bursts into the sky from the top of Mt. Anar, and light sweeps over the land as He hurtles higher into the heavens. He slows as He goes, so as to become stationary on His reaching perihelion, high up above the World. The time from Sunrise to perihelion is about three-quarters of an hour.

About the same amount of time before Sunset CAERULAS drops again towards the Mountain, accelerating as He falls, and re-entering the Shaft at Sunset, after which His sunbeams soon die away in red and gold in the skies above Heaven, whilst the Sun God heads for Hell; there to spend another Night.

The full cycle of one Day followed by one Night is known as a Caeriad.

CAERULAS is at His brightest at Midsummer, average in Autumn and Spring, and dimmest at Midwinter. The Year is based upon one such Solar Cycle.

The tides are daily, High Water sweeping widdershins around the Ocean from the South in twelve hours.

The Moon

MIRIMI is a Chaotic cursed with a Lawful cycle. She goes from New Moon to Full Moon to Old Moon to New Moon again in a period of 25 Caeriads. This period is a Lunar Month, and it corresponds to the menstrual period of Her fellow women.

Phases of the Moon 2506

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MIRIMI frequently dwells in Heaven, and often takes to random flight across the night sky (and occasionally by day) in the form of a huge sphere, or in the Lunar Chariot, which is pulled by the Silver Unicorns of the Moon. Sometimes She does not even bother to appear at all. It is said She may only walk the surface of the World at New Moon.

EvenStar

The brightness of RAYLIT is half dependent upon that of His father, the Sun, and half dependent upon that of His mother, the Moon. He usually appears as a bright light or shooting star in the South Western sky around Sunset and in the evening (First Watch of the Night), illuminating the forests of His elven friends.

The Calendar

Most races use the Imperial Calendar, also known as the Valdresian Calendar (after its inventor, the ancient Valdrean sage, Valdrys). There are six Caeriads in a week. They are named Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The Imperial Calendar

    I Aval         II Destri/y    III Kemel      IV Varech
S   1  7 13 19 25     5 11 17 23     4 10 16 22     3  9 15 21
M   2  8 14 20 26     6 12 18 24     5 11 17 23     4 10 16 22
T   3  9 15 21     1  7 13 19 25     6 12 18 24     5 11 17 23
W   4 10 16 22     2  8 14 20     1  7 13 19 25     6 12 18 24
Th  5 11 17 23     3  9 15 21     2  8 14 20     1  7 13 19 25
F   6 12 18 24     4 10 16 22     3  9 15 21     2  8 14 20


    V Sarm         VI Jerem       VII Oscow      VIII Estender 
S      2  8 14 20  1  7 13 19 25     6 12 18 24     4 10 16 22
M      3  9 15 21  2  8 14 20     1  7 13 19 25     5 11 17 23
T      4 10 16 22  3  9 15 21     2  8 14 20 26     6 12 18 24
W      5 11 17 23  4 10 16 22     3  9 15 21     1  7 13 19 25
Th     6 12 18 24  5 11 17 23     4 10 16 22     2  8 14 20 26
F   1  7 13 19 25  6 12 18 24     5 11 17 23     3  9 15 21 


    IX Lastra      X Numist       XI Garrack     XII Tekrim
S      2  8 14 20  1  7 13 19 25     6 12 18 24     5 11 17 23    
M      3  9 15 21  2  8 14 20     1  7 13 19 25     6 12 18 24
T      4 10 16 22  3  9 15 21     2  8 14 20     1  7 13 19 25
W      5 11 17 23  4 10 16 22     3  9 15 21     2  8 14 20
Th     6 12 18 24  5 11 17 23     4 10 16 22     3  9 15 21
F   1  7 13 19 25  6 12 18 24     5 11 17 23     4 10 16 22


    XIII Weven     XIV  Yarom / Iarom      
S      4 10 16 22     3  9 15 21
M      5 11 17 23     4 10 16 22    All even-numbered Years not
T      6 12 18 24     5 11 17 23    divisible by 20 are leap
W   1  7 13 19 25     6 12 18 24    years, in which the month of
Th  2  8 14 20     1  7 13 19 25    Yarom has only 25 days, the
F   3  9 15 21     2  8 14 20 (26)  26th being "leaped".

The Years are numbered consecutively, starting with the Year 1, which was the first Solar Cycle. The indefinite period prior to then, during which the World was created, is sometimes known as the Year 0. There is no generally accepted creation myth.

Dates are expressed as e.g. 1 Numist 2501 or 1 X 2501.

Spring begins 19 Destri.     1 Aval is New Year's Day.
Summer begins 7 Jerem.       Midsummer's Day is 26 Oscow.
Autumn begins 19 Lastra.     24 Weven is Empire Day.
Winter begins 7 Weven.       Midwinter's Day is 25/26 Yarom.

The Clock

The Caeriad consists of a Day and a Night of 12 hours each. The Night is subdivided into 3 Watches of 4 hours each. These periods are constant throughout the Year, CAERULAS being Lawful.

One hour is made up of 60 minutes, of 60 seconds each.

The Day begins at Sunrise (One o'clock: 01.00), and ends just before Sunset (12.59).

The Night begins at Sunset (One o' clock o' First Watch: 1.1.00), and ends just before Sunrise (3.4.59).

Midday, or Noon, is at 07.00, and Midnight at 2.3.00. The first 6 hours of the Day are morning (a.m.), the last 6 afternoon (p.m.).

This counting of the hours is known as the Imperial Clock, or Imperial Time.


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