Dunarian Calendar

The Dunarian Calendar is the most widespread used system to register time and dates in the world. It was first used by the Dunarian Caravan, but later became the universal method for registering days and events. The Dunarian Calendar is based on the mooncycles of the two moons of the world.

Origin

The Dunarian Calendar was introduced by the Dunarian Caravan as a method to coordinate their global trade. Because the Caravan was present in many different areas, with each their own calendar, it was difficult to coordinate shipments and transport of goods when using said different calendars.
Consequently, the Caravan introduced their own method for time registration based on the position of the two moons of the world. This uniform method of timekeeping not only enabled the Caravan to organize their far-distance shipments, but also gave them a clear advantage on other traders. It is thus no surprise that the system soon was used not only by other traders, but also by travelers, officials and other organizations coordinating actions between different territories. From then, it was only a matter of time until the Dunarian Calendar replaced the mulititude of local calendars.

Method

Time units

The Dunarian Calendar uses four different time units: a day, a decania, a quarter and a cycle.

One cycle equals one mooncycle of the larger moon. A cycle starts and ends when the two moons overlap. One cycle equals four quarters.

Rule 1: One cycle equals four quarters.

One quarter equals one mooncycle of the smaller moon. Each quarter is named after a basic element: Fire, Earth, Air, Water. One quarter equals nine decania.

Rule 2: One quarter equals nine decania.

One decania consists of ten days. Each day has a different name. Starting from the first, those are: Prima, Secon, Terter, Quater, Cinqon, Sexta, Sepra, Octer, Nanter, Decan.

Rule 3: One decania equals ten days

One day equals 24 hours and represents the duration of one rotation of the world.

Rule 4: One day equals 24 hours

Consequently, one cycle equals 36 decania and thus 360 days. One quarter equals 9 decania and thus 90 days.

Starting date and revising

Due to its origin, the starting date of the Dunarian Calendar was put on the 1st of Fire following the founding of the Dunarian Caravan. While the starting date of the Dunarian Calendar (DC) as the founding date of the Dunarian Caravan is indeed somewhat arbitrary on a worldwide perspective, it highlights the clear influence and power of the Caravan on the development of the current time counting method.
Scholars later agreed that the calendar’s counting should renewed on the 1st of Fire 1104 DC into the Revisioned Calender (RC) after the Emergence of Don'vur due to the extreme historical consequences of said event. The robust system for time counting from the Dunarian Calander had been kept however and is a testimony to the system’s quality.

Dating system

To pinpoint an exact date for each day in a cycle, reference needs to be made to the quarter and the number of the day.

• A quarter starts on its first day and ends with its 90th.


• A cycle starts on the 1st of Fire and ends on the 90th of Water.

Thus the tenth day of a cycle will be the 10th of Fire.
The 100th day of the cycle will be the 10th of Earth, since the first quarter (Fire) has 90 days, the 100th day will fall in the second quarter (Earth).
The 200th day of the cycle will fall in the third quarter (Air). It will be the 20th of Air. (90 days of Fire + 90 days of Earth + 20 days of Air.)
The 300th day of the cycle will fall in the fourth and last quarter (Water). It will be the 30th of Water. (90 days of Fire + 90 days of Earth + 90 days of Air + 30 days of Water)
The date of a cycle is followed by the number of the cycle in the respective calendar.

• 1 DC is the first cycle of the Dunarian Calendar
• 1 RC is the first cycle of the Revised Calendar, equaling the 1104th cycle of the Dunarian Calendar.

When necessary to point at a moment before 1 DC, the abbreviation BDC can be used, referring to “Before Dunarian Calendar”.

Overview

Dunarian Calendar by Kim Pipers

Associated timeline
Fyrra Historical Timeline