Calendar and Holidays (Shard Ne'Vaal Supplement)
General Time
The general passage of time has not been warped despite the Gorge. However, the climate has. Prior to the Gorge, the world's calendars were largely oriented by the seasons. Throughout most of the globe, there were usually four main seasonal patterns observed, even if they were sometimes at different times on opposing sides of the planet. This excludes some exceptions along the planet's poles and equator. When a global calendar was established, it was centered around these five intervals: Frost, Bloom, Storm, and Harvest.
Within these intervals, there were two months, which detailed the nuances within the seasonal intervals. Every month was composed of 3 weeks, and every week was 10 days. A week, therefore, is also sometimes called a tenday. Within a day is 36 or so hours. Around the middle of every month was a Night of Rust, or Blood in some cultures, where the moon turns a rusty red color and vanishes until the next night.
A lot of this has shifted somewhat in Shard Ne'Vaal. For example, years are sometimes now called rounds, and are now based on the shadow of the World Tree as the broken world rotates and revolves about the sun. Seasonal changes are almost nonexistent, and stagnant climate is based on the levels in the tree instead. Months are sometimes called arcs. Tendays and days largely retain their terminology, though days can also be referred to as spins. No longer are things based on the seasons, but now are focused on the tree on which all the world's survival depends on. The moon also has since been shattered and devoured by the gorges which circle the world.
Old World Time
Time and dates vary based on the time system which is employed. For example, the civilizations of the Dasoon and Okut continents largely operate via a lunar calendar, and have very similarly spaced dates. That was known as the Kiruaz Calendar. Meanwhile the continents of Bevel, Himmländ and Sarushian Isles instead have a calendar based on the phases of the sun, known as the Epherz Calendar. However, around the Age of Pawns, a global calendar was established, the common 300-day one. The holidays on the calendar still differed based on location.
Every day is 36 hours long, and every week is ten days, hence why a week is also called a tenday, particularly in Hocheim and neighbors. That means there are 30 weeks in a year. Months are divided rather loosely, and there was great dissent about whether to split them evenly or have exceptions due to some associated days requiring that they be in the same month. In the end, it was decided that there would be a 10 month year, with 3 weeks per month. Seasons are dictated by agricultural and nautical cycles of climate shift. Typically winter is from Delia to Onuiro, called the Cold Time. Spring and Summer last from mid-Onuiro to the middle of Reng. Autumn is very short, lasting only from mid-Reng to the end of Iritos. Not all areas recognize these seasons, as some places have only one season all year round.
Common Calendar | Kiruaz Calendar | Epherz Calendar |
Onuiro | ||
Ragas | ||
Ferx | ||
Erju | ||
Hamad | ||
Reng | ||
Iritos | ||
Delia | ||
Vexit | ||
Ghido |
Shard Ne'Vaal Time
With the breakage of the world, time became very erratic in some ways and more standardized in others. This is primarily true for the layers of canopy, trunk, and roots, which are exposed to varying degrees of light and darkness. There is only the common calender now, but it has been reformed to follow the passage of time on the World Tree rather than seasons which no longer occur as usual. A year is now a round, and a month is a bloom (when the tree buds and blossoms). There are only 4 blooms in one round, and the segments of the rounds are also accentuated by the shadow of the tree. This shadow varies depending on the position of the sun at the time of the round. Within a bloom is about 40 days on average, meaning a round has 160 days. Weeks are a bit more amorphous and not everyone uses them as a measure anymore.
Common Calendar |
Verdant Bloom |
Withering Bloom |
Slumber Bloom |
Budding Bloom |
Shard Ne'Vaal Campaign Settingv | ||||||||
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Players' Handbook | Races, Languages, Classes, Backgrounds, Themes, Magic, Psionics, Religion, Literature, Legends and Lore | |||||||
Shard Ne'Vaal Crash Course | History, Geography, Climate, and the World, Bestiary, Flora, Factions, Calendar and Holidays, Cosmology and the Planes, Politics and Law | |||||||
Dungeon Master's Guide | About, Items of Legend, Campaign Ideas, Consumables, Sample Places, NPCS, Variant Rules | |||||||
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