Languages And Calendar

The most common way of tracking years in the western areas of Vandacalcëa (where our campaign is taking place) is the one used in the fallen Keyelvassan empire, called the Gedian Reckoning after an ancient scholar named Ged who developed a timeline of the empire.

Our campaign began in 3432 GR. Ged dated his calendar from what he calculated as the founding of Parsus, the capital of Keyelvassa, although the empire itself was not until several centuries later, in 1127 GR. It reached it's peak in terms of geographic expansion around 2900 GR.

The orcs of Arvaddu mark their calendar as starting when Trokesh the Fated reached the top of the passes of the Ashuash mountains and first gazed upon the Arvaddun plains after the long Ages of Wandering after the Withering Frost forced them from their (near-mythical) ancient homeland in the South. The current year in the Orcish Calendar is 713.

Palvahi has its own count of years with the current year of their calendar being 5378, dated from year 0, called the Year of the Birth of Stars.

Months & Seasons

Vandacalcëa has a year of 365 days and in Gedian Reckoning, the year is divided into 12 months:

In the Gedian calendar, the new year begins on the first of Rainwane, considered the first day of Spring, with Spring spanning Rainwaine, Greenmoot, and Sunmoot. The Keyelvassans treat the months of Highsun, Keyelmar, and Trauchus as Summer. Autumn, the Harvest Months, are Duskmoot, Reaping, and Softlight. Winter is Greyfrost, Stormmoot, and Mergrymar.

The seasons don't align as well with the climate in Huir and Sigrada due to the its longer winters and shorter growing seasons, but they nevertheless use the Keyelvassan demarcations after a few centuries of colonization.

Other Divisions of the Year

Scholarly characters will know the elves traditionally divide the year not into months, but three divisions of 120 days each. Between each period are a single day considered outside the year called Quilderé, the Hushed Days, and they are sombre days set aside for quiet contemplation, pilgrimages, etc. Into the first and third periods are inserted two more extra-calendar days know as Alassëaomen (joyful meeting). The Alassëaomen are days of feasting and celebration. The elven count of days begins on January 1st (one of the Quilderé), making the first Alassëaomen fall on March 3rd and so the next Hushed Day is May 2nd. The third Quilderé is thus September 1st and the second Alassëaomen is October 31st.

The water genasi of Aulleélla tend not to bother with months and seasons. They divide their years in two, marked by the change of direction in a vast ocean current (somewhat akin to the Atlantic gulf stream) which flows in the Uttermost Sea. The two periods are sometimes called the Summer Reign and the Winter Reign, although winter and summer are terms borrowed from the Surface folk.

Equivalent of Julian Dates to Gedian Dates