Tihagi Calendar

Telling Time in Saleh'Alire

Saleh'Alire » Introduction ⭲ Calendars ⭲ Tolara

Structure of the Day

The Aliran day is equal to approximately 30 hours in length. However, the Tihagi Calendar itself has no actual concept of hours, minutes, or even seconds. Instead time is told based on the placement of the sun and moons in the sky. They day is then divided into four main sections based on which is positioned highest- and when.

Name	Time	Activity
Light's Crest	Midnight ➤ Sunrise	Sleep / Leisure
First Breath	Sunrise	Waking / Breakfast
Last Dew	Sunrise ➤ Noon	Market / Work
Sun's Kindling	Noon	Lunch / Bread
Late Blaze	Noon ➤ Sunset	Work / Market
Last Light	Sunset	Dinner / Curfew
Night's Shade	Sunset ➤ Midnight	Leisure / Sleep

Most of Aliran society lives and operates by these four daily quarters, creating little need for more precise measurements. However, more precise measurements do exist even if rarely used. This manifests as a simple cross-quartering of the day in order to insert and additional 4 subpoints between the four standard quarters. Any further need for precision is measured by the phrases "just past", "half passed", and "nearly"- and their variants.

Structure of the Week

Like with hours, the Tihagi Calendar has no concept of weeks- let alone any further divisions of time within a month. Viewing it as unnecessary since each one follows a relatively consistent cycle, the passing of time throughout the monthly (and yearly) cycle is simply marked by what day it is within the month.
In terms of cyclical occurrences, or other consistent public events that may occur with within any given month (such as market days or worship days), Alirans prefer to schedule them in increments of two, three, or even five. For instance, in Saethar'Kori, Market Days are held every 3rd day- and the Executioner's run is held every midpoint. In Rothshield, however, Market Day is every 2nd day; alternatively they may be held on certain lunar cycles- or in line with the significant celestial events.

Origins

The Tolaran Calendar, formally called the Tihagi Calendar, was developed by the Orkind people of the Talaina'Vao region in Tolara; specifically it originated with the Rokur Clan, whose current tribal lands are located in the Hiatal mountains, on Tolara's isolated Southern Peninsula.
Seeking to create a time-telling system that could easily be used by anyone of any status or profession, Voltak Tihagi of Rokur Clan simply observes how her told time amongst themselves. It was from her Clan's folk methods of time-telling that the Tihagi Calendar was eventually derived.
The final calendar uses both the rotation of the world's two visible moons (Dhea and Tau) and the continent's three seasons (Cold, Wet, and Dry) to count the passing of time in terms of daily, monthly, and yearly cycles- leading to a calendar that remains surprisingly precise despite being highly simplified.
Its simplicity made it easy to use across a wide variety of cultures, languages, and customs during the early days of Tolaran settlement. As a result, many adopted it as their official calendar on the southern peninsula, where it spread north via the Adventurer's Guild. Eventually it became so widespread within Tolara as to become the only calendar used on the continent- becoming officially adopted during the signing of the Astrantia Charter. Since then its use has expanded to other areas in the world, leading many to simply call it the Common Calendar.

Monthly and Yearly Cycles

The Tihagian year follows the flow of the seasons. As a result, the year begins with the Wet Season and ends with the Cold Season- with the Dry Season marking its midpoint; while the length of these seasons can vary per year, each lasts for aproximately 4 months, and the entire process of season progression takes an average of 360 days.
Nowadays the days of the year, as well as the alignment of the heavenly bodies in the sky, are meticulously tracked by Archivists and Arcanists alike, and days are added or removed from the end of the year as necessary to maintain consistent seasons.
Within the length of the year, time is further divided between 12 months following the cycle of Saleh'Alire's two moons. Dhea, being the largest of the two, is used to determine a monthly length of 30 days (or one full rotational cycle)- while its smaller twin Tau, with its shorter 15 day rotation, is used to mark each month's midpoint; each of these months begins and ends with a double dark moon when neither Dhea nor Tau are illuminated, and the midpoint occurs when Dhea is full and Tau is absent.

Tihagi Calendar by Anna Boyett

Rotation	Name	Season	Avg Temp	Avg Precip	Activity
1	Jenethi	Wet	Cold / Brisk	Heavy Rain	Herding
2	Fenet	wet	Brisk	Heavy Rain	Gathering
3	Marca	wet	Temperate	Showers	Lambing
4	Amir	wet	Temperate / Warm	Showers	Sewing
5	Moras	Dry	Warm	Rare	Maintenance
6	Jenia	Dry	Warm / Hot	Rare	Maintenance
7	Javir	Dry	Scorching	Drought	Butchering
8	Alarius	Dry	Hot	Rare	Harvest
9	Sarnathi	Cold	Temperate / Brisk	Light Snow	Inventory
10	Oboron	Cold	Cold	Light Snow	Storage
11	Nedalia	Cold	Freezing	Heavy Snow	Spinning
12	Dariven	Cold	Freezing	Ice	Maintenance

Putting It All Together

Each year, or seasonal cycle, is assigned a number stemming from a single point in history considered the Beginning of Known Time. This point in history, 1 Jenethi 0, was the first date for which Saleh'Alire has any record of civilization on the planet at the time of its global adoption. From there, all dates increase in number. So the 4035^th year after 1 Jenethi 0 is just that: The 4035^th year.

If an Aliran wanted to write the date for the 20^th day of the 11^th month of the year 6624, they would write it as 20^th Nedalia 6624; alternatively, if a celestial event had occurred on that day, then Archivists could choose to write the date as Nedalia's Double Eclipse of 6624 instead.

If an Aliran needed to tell someone to meet them at noon on the 13^th day of the 8^th month of the year, they would say "Meet me at Sun's Kindling on 13^th Alarius"; if the time sits somewhere between a quarter and a crossquater, they would say "I rise half between Light's Crest and First Breath".