Marking The Hour

The Eternal Empire divides the day and night into 24 hours or equal length and individual households or institutions track time using water clocks, sundials, and time-keeping incense or candles. Since these methods can be expensive, time-consuming to keep calibrated accurately, or both, the empire instituted the ringing of bells to mark the hour.
Imperial bell may be stand-alone-structures or built into larger complexes, but in either case the ground floor usually serves some other purpose: a legion guard post, an imperial records office, or simply a storage area. In taller towers, the first few floors may be usef for non-timekeeping activity. The tower level immediately below the belfry contains a water clock, candles, and sometimes additional time-keeping mechanisms. These are periodically checked and adjusted for accuracy by an imperial magistrate. The middle floors of the tower are used by living space for the "Hourmen" who are responsible for tracking the time and sounding the bell every hour.
Khezvarans have traditionally divided the day and night into 8 inexact sections: Dawn, Morning, Midday, Szundi, Evening, Thief's Night, Ejnyom, and Witch's Night. Traditionally these subdivisions are tied to the movements of the sun and moon and therefore vary in start time, length, and end time depending on the time of year. With the coming of the empire and it's stricter timekeeping, these traditional divisions of time have become tied to specific imperial hours, each with three bells:
5am: 1st Dawn Bell
6am: 2nd Dawn Bell
7am: 3rd Dawn Bell 
8am: 1st Mornning Bell 
9am: 2nd Morning Bell
10am: 3rd Morning Bell
11am: 1st Midday Bell
Noon: 2nd Midday Bell
1pm: 3rd Midday Bell
2pm: 1st Szundi Bell
3pm: 2nd Szundi Bell
4pm: 3rd Szundi Bell
5pm: 1st Evening Bell
6pm: 2nd Evening Bell
7pm: 3rd Evening Bell
8pm: 1st Thief's Bell
9pm: 2nd Thief's Bell
10pm: 3rd Thief's Bell
11pm: 1st Ejnyom Bell
Midnight: 2nd Ejnyom Bell
1am: 3rd Ejnyom Bell
2am: 1st Witch's Bell
3am: 2nd Witch's Bell
4am: 3rd Witch's Bell

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