Bracaran Calendar

The Bracaran Calendar refers to the calendar kept by kobolds living in the Bracaran Peninsula.

Eras

Eras are defined by the birth or death of a dragon, and referred to as dominions or forbearances, respectively. Dominions are named for the dragon, while forbearances are named for what kills them.
Years are numbered in ascending order within an era, i.e. "the 67th year of the Patrian Forbearance". When writing (in a non-Draconic language) the Bracaran year, it's commonly abbreviated, e.g. "67 Patrian," "6 Damira".

The Lunar Cycle

In contrast to the solar Patrian calendar, the Bracaran calendar is derived from the phases of the moon. A full lunar cycle in which the moon brightens and darkens again lasts 26 days, which the kobolds refer to as "a moon;" there are exactly 14 moons in every Aedean year.

Phase Names and Dates

A full moon is referred to as "abundance," and a new moon "desolation". The names of the phases between these are derived from kobold anatomy: "talon" (when only a sliver of the moon is visible), "fang," "scale," and "wing" (when nearly the whole moon is visible). These intermediary phases are prepended with either "hatching" (moving from desolation to abundance) or "nesting" (the opposite) in order to create a full name for the phase: i.e. "nesting fang".
As a memory aid, young kobolds are taught that "hatching" and "nesting" are references to the lifecycle of dragons:

• When hatching, dragons first break the egg with their talons, then their fangs; their scales become visible, and finally, they spread their wings.
• "Nesting" is a euphemism for the process that aging dragons go through as their unchecked growth begins to catch up with them. First they are unable to fly unaided by magic (a failure of their wings), then their scales cease to grow, then their fangs begin to fall out, and finally, their talons grow dull and feeble.

While often accurate, this is an overgeneralization that is not uniformly true; in particular, several dragons have broken out of their egg using only their fangs. However, the cyclical nature of dominions and forbearances serves as a useful point of reference for memorizing the lunar phases.
Dates are commonly referred to by their distance from the start of a lunar phase; i.e. "three days into hatching scale," "two days after desolation". In order to standardize this, there are agreed-upon lengths for the phases: fang and wing last two days, and all the others last three. (A memory aid for this: dragons have two wings and two fangs.) However, gadlings, and those not born to the Bracaran calendar, often simply number the dates within a moon from 1 to 26. Likewise, there are multiple written conventions; the 20th day of the Snow Moon might be "20 Snow Moon," "Nesting Fang 2, Snow Moon," or even "NF2, Snow Moon."
To put this all together, a moon contains the following phases:

1. Hatching Talon (3 days, 1-3)
2. Hatching Fang (2 days, 4-5)
3. Hatching Scale (3 days, 6-8)
4. Hatching Wing (2 days, 9-10)
5. Abundance (3 days, 11-13)
6. Nesting Wing (2 days, 14-15)
7. Nesting Scale (3 days, 16-18)
8. Nesting Fang (2 days, 19-20)
9. Nesting Talon (3 days, 21-23)
10. Desolation (3 days, 24-26)

Moon Names

There are 14 named moons in every year.

1. Snow Moon: The time of year when heavy midwinter snows cover the ground.
2. Sap Moon: The time of year when trees produce the most sap.
3. Flood Moon: The time of year when melting snow from the mountains causes the rivers to flood.
4. Egg Moon: The time of year when birds that nest once yearly lay their eggs. Also called the Dragon Moon, as this is the moon under which the gods were born.
5. Gadling Moon: The time of year when travel is safest, between the snows of winter and the storms of summer.
6. Blessed Moon: The time of year when the nights are shortest.
7. Thunder Moon: The time of year when ferocious storms whip up over the Bracaran Peninsula.
8. Buck Moon: The time of year when bucks regrow their antlers.
9. Fish Moon: The time of year when fish are most abundant in the rivers.
10. Forage Moon: The time of year when mushrooms are most plentiful.
11. Prey Moon: The time of year when animals are fattest and dying plants leave them nowhere to hide.
12. Frost Moon: The time of year when the earth freezes.
13. Long Moon: The time of year when the nights are longest.
14. Hide Moon: The time of year when shelter and warm clothes are most required. A play on words referring to both the shelter and to the skaya-hide vestments kobolds wear during this moon.

To refer to a date within a specific moon, simply append it to the end. For instance, "three days into hatching scale, in the frost moon."

Interactive Calendar

Conversion to Other Calendars

Patrian Calendar

Conveniently, both the Patrian and Bracaran calendars begin on the same date: the first day of hatching talon in the snow moon is, by the Patrian reckoning, 1 Tramplata. The easiest way to convert between the two is by knowing when each moon/month begins relative to the other:

1. Tramplata begins on the 1st day of the Snow Moon.
2. Frostbreak falls on the 20th day of the Sap Moon.
3. Ekmaia begins on the 21st day of the Sap Moon.
4. Aristillia begins on the 14th day of the Egg Moon
5. Day of Shadows falls on the 7st day of the Blessed Moon.
6. Helvidia begins on the 8th day of the Blessed Moon.
7. Sonbahar begins on the 1st day of the Buck Moon
8. Day of the Hunt falls on the 20th day of the Fish Moon.
9. Skaubalia begins on the 21st day of the Fish Moon.
10. Phrikalea begins on the 14th day of the Prey Moon.
11. Midwinter's Due falls on the 7th day of the Long Moon.
12. Táltesh begins on the 8th day of the Long Moon.

1. The Snow Moon begins on 1 Tramplata.
2. The Sap Moon begins on 27 Tramplata.
3. The Flood Moon begins on 7 Ekmaia.
4. The Egg Moon begins on 33 Ekmaia.
5. The Gadling Moon begins on 14 Aristillia.
6. The Blessed Moon begins on 40 Aristillia.
7. The Thunder Moon begins on 22 Helvidia.
8. The Buck Moon begins on 1 Sonbahar.
9. The Fish Moon begins on 27 Sonbahar.
10. The Forage Moon begins on 7 Skaubalia.
11. The Prey Moon begins on 33 Skaubalia.
12. The Frost Moon begins on 14 Phrikalea.
13. The Long Moon begins on 40 Phrikalea.
14. The Hide Moon begins on 22 Táltesh.

Originated in

Bracaran Peninsula

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