The World of Oerth
The world on which the City of Greyhawk stands has not been extensively explored. The majority of the world hasn't been visited at all by adventurers from the Flanaess, and what little broad knowledge exists is superficial and misleading. Several reasonably accurate descriptions of the world follow, from the accounts of learned ones.
Most timekeeping on Oerth is performed by means of sundials. The modern versions are sophisticated enough to indicate not only the time of day but the month and day of the year, seasons, holidays, and so forth. This is because Oerth’s axial tilt causes the sun’s shadow to wander in a curving pattern over the ground that repeats every year; a sundial can track this effect, which was known as far back as the days of the Suel Imperium. Water clocks and mechanical clocks, powered by coiled wind-up springs or pendulums and weights, are also used, but these are complex and costly to make, usually gaudy in decoration, and prone to inaccurate readings. Magical timepieces have been invented by ptiests and wizards, but these are pticed beyond the reach of the general public. Guilds for navigators and nightwatchmen are the primary buyers of such devices, which are, of course, perfectly accurate. Minor spells allow sundials in public areas to register the time even on cloudy days, and these are sufficient for most public needs.
With sundrals, it is also unfortunately true that no two cities in the Flanaess have exactly the same daily time at any given moment, unless they lie on the same longitude line. For every 5 degrees of longitude eastward of a given base point (equal to 350 miles, at 70 miles per degree of longitude), a sundial records the time as 20 minutes ater in the day; for every 5 degrees westward, the time is 20 minutes earlier in the day. A full 15 degrees of longitude makes an hour's difference, one degree means four minutes, and so forth. At sundown in Hepmonaland, it is full daylight over the Sea of Dust. This can easily be contirmed by any wizard with a teleport spell. As I’ve heard it said, “The correct time is wherever you happen to be.” Fine distinctions in time are luckily of no importance to nine out of ten of us, and we can ignore them.
The clerics of those deities concerned with time, such as my own Blessed Istus, Cyndor, or Lendor, are often consulted and even employed in cities as official timekeepers. I myself have a perfect sense of time, and my associates and students are well accustomed to my punctuality. I can glance at the sun or stars and immediately know the exact passage of time since any prior event. Like many timekeeping priests, I can also guess with great accuracy the current time at any spot on Oerth, given an accurate map to study and a moment of meditation. Priests concerned with time are valued and sought for their timing of ceremonies, complex spells, and military activities, and they are gainfully employed by certain merchants, governments, wizards’ guilds, military outfits, and so on. Were it not for us, the issue of determining longitude at sea would still be a mystery, despite the claims of our colleagues in the temples of Xerbo and Osprem.
— Mathilde Dessenter Matriarch of Istus, Free City of Greyhawk from Introductory Marine Chronography
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