Midland Calendar

Nine months, each of 20 days, except for each third month which contains only 19; for a total of 177 days in one year. The orbital period of Mecada around its star is precisely 59 Earth days, 1 hour, 24 minutes, and 14.4 seconds. The Midland Calendar therefore roughly traces three of the planet's actual astronomical years. The planet exists in a binary system, and interactions with the other star in the system result in unusual seasonal patterns on the planet's surface. Each of the three years in a calendar period is of a differing average temperature than the other two. What we would consider proper seasons — fluctuating temperature gradients occurring strictly within a single year — are negligible on Mecada. The calendar's format was standardized in the 700s BT, prior to the establishment of eras based around the Theft of Souls. It replaced multiple local astral calendars in use throughout the Midlands up to this point. Initially the calendar's years were measured against the traditional date of its own invention; the BT and AT eras would not become standard until roughly 200 years following the Theft. There are three instances in which an intercalary leap day may be added to the Midland Calendar. The calendar recesses — that is, drifts behind an entire day — once every eighteen (18) astronomical years. The custom is thus to add a 20^th day at the end of Dybenni (month nine) every six calendar years. This does not exactly correct the calendar's drift, but does keep it much closer in line. Another leap day must be added every 342 astronomical years, in addition to the typical leap day that comes with the period of eighteen. This second leap day is added to the month of Media (month six). The most recent time this happened was in 2735 AT, and it will next occur in 3077 AT. The calendar even after these additions is not exactly correct, and there is a mechanism to add a third leap day, but the requirement is so infrequent that not once in the recorded history of the Midlanders has it been activated. Technically, the month of Tothel (month three) should receive a 20^th day every 48,906 solar years — 16,302 calendar years. The first recorded double-leap year was 685 BT, so the very first triple-leap year should not occur until 15,617 AT. The Midland Calendar is the traditional timekeeping system in the Land of the Three Kingdoms. Though it has by the modern era been replaced as the formal standard by the more scientific Patrician Calendar, it remains the most common calendar in everyday use.

Hot months

I. Decrel (20 days)
Cinnamon.
Pastry.
Red.
Assertive, brash, pragmatic.

II. Ochel (20 days)
Ginger.
Steak.
Orange.
Forward, calculating, logical.

III. Tothel (19 days)
Spearmint.
Tart.
Magenta.
Pensive, curious, decisive.

Cold months

IV. Taifa (20 days)
Almond.
Cake.
Cyan.
Gregarious, boisterous, easygoing.

V. Coisa (20 days)
Rosemary.
Creampie.
Chartreuse.
Amorous, punctilious, sentimental.

VI. Media (19 days)
Garlic.
Chestnut.
Chocolate.
Optimistic, mindful, abstemious.

Wet months

VII. Rhewi (20 days)
Wintermint.
Hot chocolate.
Gold.
Warm, introverted, munificent.

VIII. Beldri (20 days)
Coconut.
Tea.
Cerulean.
Magnanimous, continent, grandiose.

IX. Dybenni (19 days)
Barley.
Artisan bread.
White.
Vibrant, communitarian, contented.

It is interesting to note that after the first triple-leap year, by my calculations the drift value of the calendar will be exactly -0.001: After 1,000 periods each of 48,906 solar years — that is, 16,302,000 calendar years — the calendar will enter a triple-leap year following which it will be exactly one day behind. If a fourth leap day is added in this year, then the calendar will match up exactly with itself as it was in the year of its invention, entirely undrifted. This will obviously not be the case in practice, as the universe is hardly peaceful over such an obscene amount of time. Even a moderately sized earthquake can disrupt a planet's orbit by several milliseconds.

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