Stardate Calendar

The Stardate Calendar system of measurement was developed by the nomadic Vardan traders to estimate their arrival at ports of call. The calendar has since been adopted across Vazdimet as a universal conversion rate for interplanetary dealings. Governments and businesses with dealings off-planet will reference the Stardate in addition to local time, while most everyday citizens limit their dealings to local times and calendars.

History

Without ties to a planet of their own, the Vardan held no requirements to tie their timescale to any of the movements of celestial objects in the Void. Instead the Vardan Council built a new system of measurement from the ground up, utilizing a base ten wherever possible for convenient calculations although the days per week was kept at seven to limit confusion due to the typical seven day weeks kept elsewhere.
The calendar was readily adopted as a universal unit of time measurement across much of the universe, propelled in part by the desire to understand when Vardan shipments would arrive. Interplanetary ships quickly adopted the calendar for their own use, with the exception of military vessels from the larger factions who continued to rely upon the calendars and times of their own homeworlds.

Calendar Breakdown

Stardays were set at 25 hours per day, allowing for convenient tracking and overlap of the standard ten hour Vardan workday, with four days on and three days off. The 7 day week means each Vardan's typical schedule remains consistent across both time and weekday.
Each month contains 5 weeks for a total of 35 days, resulting in 350 days per year spread evenly across 10 months.

Stardate Callouts

Written dates begin with the year, followed by the month, week, and day, for a format of YYYY.MM.WD. While the months have names these are rarely used outside the Vardan, as the names reference the parts of the caravan ships traditionally targeted for maintenance that month. Weekdays were provided clear and easily distinguishable names to prevent confusion if spoken aloud.

Execution

Conversion calculators are readily available for those planning off-planet vacations or seeking to track their birthday and other significant dates when moving to a new planet or pursuing a life in the Void. Those who work with the calendar regularly praise its ease of use and calculation, although conversion factors do grow complicated due to the different orbits of planets across Vazdimet.

Related Organizations

• Vardan

Related Ethnicities

• Kin

Further Reading