Cosmology and Time
Tidal lock
The world rotates at the same rate as it orbits the sun – one side always faces the sun as it orbits the sun. There is no day/night cycle. Time is hard to count, There is no easy reference for a ‘Day’.Years
48 weeks a year – grouped into 4 seasons of 12 weeks each – matching the cycles where the orbits of the two moons synchronise.Seasons
There are seasons, where the sun gets slightly higher and lower over the sunward horizon – pushing back the cold ever so slightly. Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring – each lasting 3 months each. In summer the rays break over the mountain range and hit the shores of the bay.Celestial bodies
There are three bodies that dominate the skies of Shadowfire.Time
Time counted by the orbits of the two moons and their long phases - lasting weeks. There is nothing in the orbits that equates to an easily measured ‘day’. Months are reckoned by the Silver Wolf’s orbit, which orbits once every 4 weeks, and the Bronze Mouse rotates every 12 weeks. The synchronisation of both marks the quarters of the year:- Fullmoon, or Moonrise – the beginning of the first week
- Halfmoon – the beginning of the second week
- Midden – the beginning of the third week
- Deadmoon – the two weeks of darkness between set and the new fullmoon.
Names of the ‘half-months’
Each two-weeks are named by the synchronisation of the two moons as they orbit, and prefixed by the relevant season. Per 12 week ‘season’:
Timekeepers
The College of Tempus – Priests, astronomers and timekeepers are in high employ, bellringing the passing ‘hours’ and days, enforcing religious observance. Magical devices are employed to synchronise time over the Bay of Five – only the rich have direct access. Remote places do not.Waking vs Sleeping hours
Is essentially a free-for-all, though the Timekeepers in the cities enforce rest time and religious observance as much as possible.
Type
Natural
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