Prodatean Calendars

The Solar Cycle

The year on Prodat is 336 days long. The length of the year is determined by the cycle of seasons, which is tied to the change in the elevation of the sun (formally called Light or Light-bringer in most cultures). The sun’s elevation changes from a high point to a low point and then back to a high point at a consistent rate over a cycle of 336 days. When the sun rises lower in the sky, the weather turns colder, leading to autumn and winter. As the sun rises higher in the sky each day, the weather generally gets warmer, producing spring and summer. As a result, the cycle of the year can be tracked using solar elevation, similar to how it is done on Earth. There are still solstices and equinoxes at the same points. The annual pattern is exactly 336 days, with no variation. It is only natural that the gods made the world so that this happens in perfect synchrony between Prodat and the Light.

The Lunar Cycle

While Prodat does not have a moon, it does have particular stellar patterns that oscillate 12 times in a year, on a 28 day cycle, and in sync with the annual solar-driven cycle of seasons. Largely because of this, in most places on Prodat, the year is made up of 12 months of 28 days
There is a star formation in the night skies over Prodat called Lunaris. It is a set of six stars, one in the center and then 5 stars nearby, in the pattern of a 5-pointed star. The outer stars are equidistant except for the Point (the top/northernmost) star, which is about twice as far from the central star as the others. Lunaris has two elements to its monthly cycle: it rotates clockwise, completing one rotation every 28 days; and the entire cluster changes brightness, with peak brightness at the start of every month (when the Point is pointed north) and fading to near-darkness 2 weeks later, when the Point is pointed south. The time of peak brightness is referred to as “full” and the opposite is called “empty”. Because Lunaris is also rotating, this fluctuation is often referred to as turning, e.g. “turning to full” or “turning from empty”. Sometimes the cycle is referred as waxing and waning (similar to Earth’s moon) starting at full, then waning to empty then waxing to full again. At its peak, Lunaris shines with about half the brightness of Earth’s moon. Ocean tides on Prodat also fluctuate on this same cycle, with higher tides when Lunaris is full and lower tides when Lunaris is empty. Unlike Earth, the cycles are regular and unvarying, and so tides are generally more stable and predictable than on Earth.

Zantor and Galea

In Zantor and Galea, the start of the new year is the Spring Equinox. Each major culture has its own names for the months of the year.

Month	Earth Equivalent	Bartol (Humans)	Zantea (Dwarves)	Eridane (Elves)
1	April	Thawn II (Blooming)	Arnomm (Waterrun)	Gwirith (Budding)
2	May	Thawn III (Planting)	Bagdith (Freshwind)	Lothron (Flowering)
3	June	Summer I (Growing)	Vannup (Heatherrise)	Nórui (Brightday)
4	July	Summer II (Ripening)	Amânzenat (Thrushknock)	Larie (Sunshine)
5	August	Summer III (Sweltering)	Bagdarash (Hotwind)	Urui (Heat)
6	September	Harvest I (Cooling)	Athmâruzud (Retreat of the Sun)	Leorui (Shadyday)
7	October	Harvest II (Leaffall)	Ikhresh (Cutting)	Ivanneth (Harvesttime)
8	November	Harvest III (Calming)	Bagdumgul (Chillwind)	Hithui (Mistyday)
9	December	Winter I (Snowfall)	Naisralabam (Snowfall)	Girithron (Shivering)
10	January	Winter II (Long Night)	Buzrâlabam (Snowdeep)	Garwain (Sunturn)
11	February	Winter III (Winterchill)	Bagdubalb (Icewind)	Ninui (Wetness)
12	March	Thawn I (Warming)	Igbêr (Melting)	Gwaeron (Windy)

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Bartol

It was not until recently (historically speaking) that the scribes and sages of human kingdoms began to reckon in absolute years, as compared to the relative years of different rulers (Year 32 of King Jehonin, year 18 of Queen Ana, etc.). To avoid sounding like they were copying the elves or dwarves, the early Kingdom of Bartol simply started calling things Year X, starting about 300 years before Galea was discovered, during the reign of King Erek (one of the Great Unifiers). There were also numerous more local reckonings, usually based on the reign of the current ruler of the area. One exception to this was Errestan, who started a reckoning from the supposed founding of the city. This practice started over 700 years ago with Year of the City 256, making the current Year of the City 1017 (in AF 427).
There are also a large number of variations of names for months and even seasons in various human areas of Zantor, but the ones listed above are the official ones used by Bartol and the more colloquial names used informally in central Bartol. So the 15th of March would be referred to officially as 15 Thawn I, or colloquially as Warming 15 or the 15th of Warming.
The official names for months were also used across the different settlements of Galea, even of different races, since the first explorers of Galea sailed out of Errestan and so they used the Bartol calendar. As a result, those months became part of the Galean calendar system, and thus eventually part of the Unified Calendar (see below).

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Zantea

Dwarven years are traditionally reckoned from the earliest record of a King-Under-the-Mountain (KUM) in Dwaveshome, and as listed as Year Under the Mountain (YUM). This dating practice runs back nearly 3000 years, but is currently reckoned 2593 or thereabouts. Dwarven records are usually recorded as “YUM XXXX of KUM yyyy” or sometimes “Y of K XXXXyyyy”
Because of the length of some of the words, dwarves took to sometimes shortening the names of some months, and then shorthand for others followed, Shorthand forms are mostly colloquial usages (marked with (c)) which are usually related to the original meanings (as listed but not all are (e.g. Arn, Resh, Ber).

Month	Shorthand
Arnomm (Waterrun)	Arn (c)
Bagdith (Freshwind)	Ith (fresh (c))
Vannup (Heatherrise)	Vann (heather)
Amânzenat (Thrushknock)	Zenat (knock(c))
Bagdarash (Hotwind)	Rash (hot (c))
Athmâruzud (Retreat of the Sun)	Athmâ (retreat (c))
Ikhresh (Cutting)	Resh (c)
Bagdumgul (Chillwind)	Umgul (chill)
Naisralabam (Snowfall)	Naisra (falling of)
Buzrâlabam (Snowdeep)	Buzrâ (deep)
Bagdubalb (Icewind)	Balb (Ice)
Igbêr (Melting)	Ber (c)

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Eridane

Elven written history dates back almost 7000 years, and oral histories even further, back to the days of the Banishment of the Drow and Raising of the Mountains. In fact the elves of Eridane did not use a common dating system amongst the various parts of the kingdom until just over 2000 years ago. However, when they came to an agreement they started with the year 3486, which means the current Elvish year (in AF 427) is actually 5624.
Although the Eridannin year may have 12 months, it differs from the human year by the understanding of seasons. In the Eridannin mindset, there are six seasons in a year rather than four, and they are not at all identical in length although from one year to the next the length of a single season tends to be close to the same. Neither do they begin on certain dates. They are not judged by date but rather by weather; spring begins when it begins to look and feel like spring, and so on. Nevertheless, to the Eridann, seasons are not merely a vague concept, but about as important to their concept of calendar as months and years.

Season 1 - Ethuil ("spring")

Weather is warming, rain is plentiful, plants are sprouted and growing Tends to span from near the beginning of Gwirith to near the end of Lothron

Season 2 - Laer "summer"

Weather is hot, plants dry out if there is not enough rain Tends to span from near the beginning of Nórui to near the end of Urui

Season 3 - Iavas "autumn"

Weather cools somewhat, still warm, leaves begin to fall from trees Tends to span from near the beginning of Leorui to near the end of Ivanneth

Season 4 - Firith "fading"

Weather is cool, often rainy, trees and many bushes lose all leaves Tends to span from near the beginning of Hithui to near the middle of Girithron

Season 5 - Rhîw "winter"

Weather is cold, snow falls Tends to span from near the middle of Girithron to near the middle of Nínui

Season 6 - Echuir (Coirë) "stirring"

Weather is chill, snow melts, rain is plentiful, plants begin to sprout Tends to span from near the middle of Nínui to near the end of Gwaeron

These seasons, although not entirely regular, still play a role in dating. While this may seem pointless to a human, from the perspective of a race that has a lifespan of thousands of years, or from the perspective of a historian, this dating technique could prove a source of interesting information. For example, stating that an event happened in the month of Girithron tells a reader that the weather was cold, but adding that it was the season of Firith would paint an added picture of rain and bare trees, whereas stating that it was the season of Rhîw would tell the reader that there was snow. Since seasons do not follow months or days precisely, the latter would not provide setting information while the mentioning of season with a date would do so very succinctly.

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Other calendars

The halflings and gnomes of Zantor did not care for too much recordkeeping or silly number crunching (especially the halflings) -- they could dead reckon many dates and events from their extensive oral history, but there was never a widespread dating system used by either race.
While it may be that various other races (orcs, giants, etc.) may have some sort of calendars of their own, no one in Zantor has ever paid much attention to them.

Galean Dating and the Unified Calendar

Years in Galea are based on the “AF” system, which stands for “After Founding”, i.e., years passed since the Founding of the Peace, which actually happened in the late summer over 400 years ago, but which is now celebrated at the New Year (spring equinox). When needed, dates before the founding can be referred to as “BF”.
With the increased commercial economic and political links that came as settlement and trade with Galea boomed, the different kingdoms came to realize the possible benefits of a unified calendar. It was at the Great Conference of Kingsport in AF 45 that the three kingdoms agreed there should be a shared calendar. The Galean system was adopted because it was the closest thing to a common system between the different areas of Zantor and Galea as well. The people across Galea had been using the same reckoning for almost 50 years, and this was the example that led to the agreement by the leaders of Zantor. And so the Joint Declaration on Time and Commerce established the Unified Calendar (as well as adding new tariffs and regulations on sea trade between Zantor and Galea, of course).

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Inspiration/Sources

Names for Dwarvish months borrowed heavily from the astonishingly extensive Dwarvish linguistic work found at http://www.dwarrowscholar.com/library.html.
The commentary on Elvish seasons borrowed heavily from http://lostworldofennor.angelcities.com/time.htm). Names for months were derived from that source and additional linguistic delving at https://www.elfdict.com.
For those interested, there is a fairly good review of Tolkien’s Middle Earth calendars at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle-earth_calendar.