Timekeeping

From TJ Skiffy Wiki

Time in this world is measured in years, which have 4 seasons. The years are in the format # AN. The AN stands for ApaNehta, literally "After the Spearhead" in English. This refers to the Battle of Body Hill, where the first king of Vestrelulthithaelnactayl shoved his spear through the head of the orcish leader Raemshtaed, thus ending decades of rule of the humans by the orcs, and marking a turning point in the course of history so significant that all events were measured from that date. Time before then is now measured in MY, standing for Morna Yen ("the dark years"), and is measured backwards, with the year 0 being the same year for both times. Time inside the year is measured by the phases of the Nuruhuine, the moon of this world. Because the battle took place on a day where the Nuruhuine was full, and a convenient orbiting distance and speed, there are exactly 18 cycles of the Nuruhuine every year, with the cycles separated by the times when it is full. The astounding regularity of these cycles caused the peoples of this world to base their time system off of them. Days are measured by the sun as normal, and there are 20 per cycle of the Nuruhuine. In this system, a date would be in this format: "The #day#th of the #cycle#th cycle of Nuruhuine, (MY) #year# (AN)"

Time is measured in degrees, minutes, and seconds, with 18 degrees per day, each consisting of 60 minutes, and each of those of 60 seconds. To reduce confusion, therefore, all angles are measured in radians. Note that although there are 360 degrees per Nuruhuine cycle, it is highly discouraged to use angles of greater than 18 degrees for describing a time, as this will cause a lightning bolt to suddenly strike you, but cause surprisingly little actual damage. In this system, a time would be expressed as: (#degree#°#minutes#"#seconds#')

There is a cosmic abnormality caused by the waves of magic emanating from this world: after every 18 cycles of the Nuruhuine, the planet and the Nuruhuine stop with respect to each other and to the sun, and waves of magic surround the planet. This event lasts for the time of 5 or 6 days, culminating with a large flash where the magic energy is absorbed by the planet. During this time, the excess magic floating around can cause random transformations, explosions, and other effects. This, and the number of Werewolves going around due to the fact that the Nuruhuine is full during this whole time, causes most people to stay indoors for this whole period. This is known as the Passing Time. Time during this event is measured up to 90 or 108 degrees, depending on the year.

In conclusion, times are written as

Cycle $cycle, day $day of (MY) $year (AN), $degree°,$minutes"$seconds'

or

Passing Time of (MY) $year (AN), $degree°,$minutes"$seconds'

The current time is Cycle 4, Day 20 of 383 AN, 10 °37"47'.