History of the Druids

This is a subset of the History of the World, based on when the druids arrived in Eikeozoa. In order to keep myself real to the development of civilization, my History of the Druids timeline uses both BCE/CE per the real world calendar and BDR/DR for the made up one. This timeline is not going to line up with the Universal Timeline Date (UTD) used with the histories I'm building for the world! (Click the timeline link or scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Timeline" for the events laid out without all the exposition.)

Multiple Calendars in Use

In the novel, there are different groups using different calendars. Some agree on things like months and days, while others do not. For the most part, the months will sync up well; only the years and new year choices will not.

Druidic Calendar, by Druid Reckoning (DR or Before DR/BDR)

As the druids came from off-continent, their histories date back to a different set of seasons, different milestones, and so forth. Their months are offset the Midlands Calendar, but the druids count moons and weeks based on the lunar cycle just as the native people of the continent do. The druid new year is Longnight, the shortest night of the year, when the sun begins its return. Their year is divided by the Wheel of the Year celebrations, eight equidistant solar celebrations, and twelve named moons. Over time their naming system for the moons grew to match the Eikeo peoples’, as their former names of moons referred to seasons which Eikeozoa does not have. (Beginning with the first day of Winter: Ice Moon, Snow Moon, Sap Moon, Sprouting Grass Moon, Flower Moon, Strawberry Moon, Buck Moon, Sturgeon Moon, Harvest Moon, Hunter's Moon, Beaver Moon, Cold Moon.)

• 1DR / 8500 BCE: Arrival of the Druids on this continent, the earliest date relevant to the story. Their timeline goes back much, much further, but I'm really only concerned with this continent at present. The druids don't usually have any kind of year zero fixed point, but rather date from significant events or eras. Their first year on Eikeozoa is considered year one by Druid Reckoning (1 DR), which the druids refer to as "the first year upon the soil of Eikeozoa". (Since theirs in primarily an oral history, they don't really use any sort of notation; the "DR" is generally used by others so they can match dates.) This year began the Time of Transition.

The Time of Transition was a period where they spread out in the Lowlands (and started into the Midlands) and had to transition to work with the native people; this transition took a great deal of time as not all of the natives desired to have new people involved. (There may be another name for the Time of Transition among Druids, something more like the Time of Insensitivity or Xenophobia… something they wouldn’t use in public, but some lingering issues with it? Obviously it’s been more than eight thousand years since, so I doubt they have lingering anger in feeling, but trying to teach about the era may be worded more harshly than “transition”.)
The Times That Came Before (?-0 BDR) refers to the traveling time from the cradle of druid civilization (Mesopotamia analogue??), during which many new things were learned, experienced, and otherwise added to the druids’ oral history. This encompasses the entire Druidic Diaspora that moved towards Eikeozoa, as well as the eras prior, the names of which are no longer in use in the common oral history.

• 8 BDR / 8509 BCE: the Death of Idris Emrys (the historical figure) is estimated to have happened less than a decade prior to the Arrival of the Druids on Eikeozoa.

There needs to be a larger era (or several) from before the Diaspora, knowledge and information that is rarely referenced, but there’d be a term for it and it probably comes up in Book Two.
There is then a period from whenever the Time of Transition ends—couple hundred years DR (-8500 RR + 200)—until the current era that needs to be broken up into eras and those eras named. (Current era is probably dated from the end of the last distinct era... DR will still be used, but I'll have to work out druid reference points.)

Midlands Calendar, by River Reckoning (RR or Before RR/BRR)

Universal Timeline Date (UTD) starts at 0 to match this calendar.
The Midlands Calendar starts from the Reelcana River Flood as year zero (3900 BCE/4601 DR), and counts moons (each of the revolutions of the primary moon, Tiansen) and weeks based on the lunar cycle, which is a thirty-day, five-week cycle, of which there are twelve each year. (Mazzetwili, the second moon, moves offset, but there aren't holidays based on "the Child" moon.) They follow the seasons, and while the druidic Wheel of the Year is convenient to keep in mind, the celebrations in the Midlands are more secular than religious. Their first month begins with the vernal equinox, which becomes part of their new year celebrations. Over time, their names for the moons have superseded other naming systems, so their moon names are used by most people. (Beginning with the first day of Spring: Sprouting Grass Moon, Flower Moon, Strawberry Moon, Buck Moon, Sturgeon Moon, Harvest Moon, Hunter's Moon, Beaver Moon, Cold Moon, Ice Moon, Snow Moon, Sap Moon.)
See the History of the Midlands for more information.