Divisions of the Day

Stound

Days are divided into five large units, called Stounds. These are broad measurements of time for vague conversation and roughly correlate with basic divisions of the day.

1. First Stound: (morning) starts at sunrise and ends a little before midday
2. Second Stound: (afternoon) starts before midday and ends mid afternoon
3. Third Stound: (evening) starts mid afternoon and ends after dusk
4. Fourth Stound: (early night) starts after dusk and ends a little after midnight
5. Last Stound: (late night): starts a little after midnight and ends at sunrise

Hour

Is the most commonly used measurement of time. There are actually three different methods of sectioning and numbering hours, depending on who is speaking or where one is.

• Stound-Hours: This is the most common way of counting hours since it directly ties into the Stounds. One hour is one-quarter of a Stound Hours are named as First Hour, Second Hour, Third Hour, and Last Hour and start again once the next stound begins. For a specific time stated the stound and hour must be stated. When written, it is as a:b with the former number representing the stound and the latter the hour. The time 2:3 is spoken as "two and three".
• Whiles and Vigils: are hours used by those who still have faith in the dead gods. Shrines and churches ring bells to signify times for prayer or reading of sacred texts. Whiles are the hours during the day, when the faithful do their labors and studies, and the vigils are hours when most people are asleep. Each are dedicated to one of the eleven Greater Gods. Starting from sunrise, they are in the following order (the first seven are the Whiles and the last four are the Vigils)

1. Ortus: for Weland
2. Matin: for Deiwos
3. Meridiem: for Hausos
4. Quartus: for Westya
5. Vespers: for Mimras
6. Occasus: for Kolyos
7. Compline: for Seith
8. Lectus: for Gwenos
9. Nocte: for Menot
10. Rite: for Perkwunos
11. Lucifer: for Thunras

• Mage-Hours: used only by the Magi and by those who interact with them. Instead of using Stounds and dividing them into four hours (equaling twenty hours per day), Magi simply divide the day into twenty-four hours. This allows quarters, thirds, and halves more easily used instead of the twenty Stound-Hours.

Subdivions of the Hour

Due to time-keeping devices such as hourglasses, waterclocks, candle clocks, and sundials, times shorter than an hour are used by the commonfolk.

• Half-, Quarter-, etc.: are simple fractions of an hour
• Mileway: is a very informal unit of time. Often used for travelling, it is roughly the amount of time it takes a person to walk one mile. There is about three mileways in an hour.

Mechanical Times

These are only used due to the magi and their mechanical clocks. The names of these units are based off the circular face of their clocks. Since the magi came up with these units, they are based off their hours; although the religious use these units in regards to their own hours, thus causing some confusion and misunderstanding.

• Degree: (also called a Round) there are three hundred and sixty degrees in an hour.
• Radian: a larger unit equaling sixty degrees. This is a controversial unit as a true geometrical radian is actually just under 57.3 degrees. So some magi use replacement terms often derived from either sixth (being one-sixth of an hour) or sixty (being sixty degrees).
• Tennute: (pronounced /ˈtɛ.nɪt/ or "ten-it") derived from "ten minutes", it represents one sixth of a degree. In geometry, a degree is divided into sixty minutes, but one minute is too short of a time for it to be useful; so a unit of ten minutes is used.

When speaking of a set time, generally only the hour and radian is used in the manner "x and y" with x representing the hours and y the radian. When written, a colon is used between the units. So the time 8:5 would be spoken "eight and five" and represents the fifth radian of the eighth hour of the day. If a commoner uses the stound-hour method, an additional number is written and spoken preceding the hour. So 2:4:5 is spoken as "two, five, and five" and would represent the same original time, but instead saying it as the fifth radian of the fourth hour of the second stound.
Only magi would necessitate the use of more precise times and use the unit "tennute" at the very end. The method is exactly the same. The time 8:5:3 is spoken "Eight, Five, and Three" and represents the third tennute of the fifth radian of the eighth hour.

Terrestrial Conversion

The days in the Age of Embers equal the same duration as a day on earth. However, the different definitions of "hour" do cause some discrepancies with regards to time. Also, since the Stound, Stound-Hour, Whiles, and Vigils are based on the duration of day and night, they are known to shrink and grow throughout the year depending on seasons, unlike the Mage-Hour. Listed here are their duration during an equinox.

• A Stound is a little less than five earth-hours long.
• A Stound-Hour is one hour and twelve minutes.
• The Whiles and Vigils are about two hours and ten minutes.
• A Mage-Hour is the same as an earth-hour.
• The half-hour and quarter-hour times depend on which hour system you are using. To keep things simple, under the Mage-Hour system they equal thirty and fifteen minutes, respectfully.
• A mileway is about twenty-minutes.
• A degree/round is ten seconds long.
• A radian is ten minutes long.
• A tennute is about one and a half seconds long.