Difference between revisions of "Discussions/TimeInCreation"

Revision as of 08:06, 5 April 2010

The days in Creation are 25 hours long. This makes for strange math if you divide the day with the "normal" four delimiters (Dawn, Zenith, Twilight, and (mid)Night).

• At what "time" do each of these events occur?

• Does it vary by geography or season?

One thought I had was to say that the sun and moon pass each other every day, and when they meet, they stop and greet each other for one hour ("Eclipse"), the time of which varies day by day, but can be easily predicted with Astrology. In most cases, Sol stays in front of Luna, so daylight is uninterrupted.

Is there a canonical answer to these questions? Does anyone have a better idea? --Toram

Well, the idea that a day divides neatly into an exact number of hours is a modern one anyway. In medieval Europe, time was reckoned by both "fixed" and "variable" hours, with the variable hours being primary: from sunset to sunrise was twelve (equal) hours, and from sunrise to sunset also twelve hours, regardless of the time of year. Fixed hours (usually measured with candles) were regarded as an approximation to the "true" time of day or night.

Also, the 25-hour day is not necessarily canonical; various rulebooks seem to disagree as to whether the day is 24 or 25 hours long. I just liked the idea of a 25-hour day, and made it official for our game. --MF

I gotta agree, we odn't relaly now if everyone in Creation uses the 25 hour day, or just Autochthonia and the Mountain Folk. It seems liek the 25 hours, whil enifty, makes things a bit harder to mathmatically equate. It also works oddly with the fact that four of the Solar and Abyssal Castes are based on the regular cycle of the day.

I do know the idea of a daily Eclipse is out though. This is because the first Eclipse in Creation since the Usurpation was five years ago in canon time, and it was seen as very auspicious. Also, the spell Incantation of the Invicible Army, gives Eclipses additional bonuses to their rolls due to the rarity of Solar Eclipses.

My general conclusion is the 25 hour day is something used in the more "idnustrail" regons of Creaiton, while the 24 hour clock is what is seen in most places. Some places, like Varang, might have even more narrow times, and most unciviized folks will use whatever works, using the general ideas of Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and Night just like we tend to these days. Or something about to that extent atleast.

And stuff. Blaque

But what about lunar eclipses? - Malikai

Since Creation is flat, they're not theoretically possible, well, actually no-one in creation could see them. I don't have GoD or Abyssals, but given the MoonShadow caste, it would make sense that they occure in the Underworld(and only there). I don't know how this is treated, but all Solar eclipses might be annular (I.e. with a ring of the sun still visible). This would fit with the Eclipse caste mark, and total eclipses don't fit with the whole Unconquered Sun thing, IMHO(not to mention that Eclipses would look like Night caste also). -- FlowsLikeBits

"Moonshadow" does not imply to me a Lunar Eclipse. Rather, it suggests what an observer on the ground would see during a Solar Eclipse - they're standing in the shadow of the moon. I also seem to recall something in a book (I don't know which one so don't quote me) that said the first Solar Eclipse since the Usurpation took place in the same year the Scarlet Empress disappeared and the Solars began returning. Additional information from Games of Divinity and Sidereals suggests that the celestial bodies don't move on regular, predictable courses. The Sun and Moon are probably the most consistent, but I have the impression that the Five Maidens wander around to wherever they like in the sky. We're not talking about a logical and predictable universe here; the Celestines directly control their images in Creation and there's no reason to assume they couldn't move around however they damn well pleased. - LiOfOrchid

Something else: the Hottest and Coldest points of the year aren't cardinally opposite. I can't remember where I saw it, but the seasonal sequence had a short summer and a long winter, IIRC. Can anyone disprove me, please! -- JadeSerpent

It's the opposite, actually, by an exceptional margin. Highsummer is at Calibration, and three months later it's mindwinter. It takes 12 months to get from midwinter to highsummer again. (This means, assuming that we divide the times as evenly as possible on each side, that winter lasts for two months, spring lasts for TEN months, summer lasts for two months, and fall lasts for one month.) - FrivYeti