The Ilhdeinian Celestial Calendar

by

Finley Vorden


Long before the great kingdoms rose from nothing, the twin moons Lādīka and Elsinevīr danced their celestial waltz across our night skies. These heavenly bodies form the backbone of the Ilhdeinian Celestial Calendar (or ICC to those who can't be bothered with all those syllables).

What historians guess to be roughly 10,000 years of history fall into what we know as the Fragmented Age (FA), a chaotic period when no common record was kept and each kingdom had its own maddening way of telling time. The Unified Age (UA) that followed brought the blessed creation of our current Ilhdeinian calendar.

Large swaths of time are broken into retrospectively named Eras, with major historians from each major kingdom arguing endlessly about which events should mark these transitions.



Moontides

Each Moontide (what Ārdans call a “month”) consists of precisely 30 days, neatly divided into three ten-day periods that local officials insist I refer to as “decāds” rather than the much more sensible “weeks” I grew up using.

A complete year technically contains 12 Moontides totaling 360 days, but scattered throughout the year are five special Festival Days that exist outside the normal Moontide structure. These festival days are considered “timeless” by traditional calendrical scholars, who insist they don't belong to any Moontide at all. This gives us a grand total of 365 days per year, which keeps our farmers happy and our astronomers suitably mystified.

The twelve Moontides and their interspersed festivals are:

  1. The Festival of [[Ilhdeinir]] (ill-DAY-neer) – Day 1
  2. Daimüth (DYE-mooth) – Days 2–31
  3. Felshein (FELL-shyne) – Days 32–61
  4. The Festival of [[Rāvehnswhenh]] (RAH-vehns-wehn) – Day 62
  5. Rhœmït (RHEH-mitt) – Days 63–92
  6. Ānstrā (AHN-strah) – Days 93–122
  7. The Festival of [[Ōhgūs]] (OH-gooss) – Day 123
  8. Mōrēlan (MOH-ray-lahn) – Days 124–153
  9. Hānērān (HAH-nay-rahn) – Days 154–183
  10. Gœthen (GUR-then) – Days 184–213
  11. The Festival of [[Shūjāō]] (SHOO-zha-ow) – Day 214
  12. Āncœrīte (AHN-suh-ryte) – Days 215–244
  13. Lēnītēs (LAY-nee-tehs) – Days 245–274
  14. Ōnverlīn (OHN-vair-leen) – Days 275–304
  15. The Festival of [[Osnitan]] (OHS-nih-tahn) – Day 305
  16. Nervēr (NAIR-vair) – Days 306–335
  17. Mārleāh (MAR-lay-uh) – Days 336–365


The Decād

Our days follow a simple ten-day cycle, named after minor deities who fall into the celestial courts of several gods:

  1. Sāriz (SEHR-iz) – First day
  2. Tēsēr (TAY-sehr) – Second day
  3. Nüān (NOO-ahn) – Third day
  4. Vāōl (VAH-ohl) – Fourth day
  5. Ārcē (AHR-say) – Fifth day
  6. Wāer (WAH-ehr) – Sixth day
  7. Mērn (MAIYRN) – Seventh day
  8. Thül (thyool) – Eighth day
  9. Hārn (HARHN) – Ninth day, often a day of rest
  10. Fēöx (FEY-ooh) – Tenth day, often a day of rest