Milenian Calendar
by Michael Ray JohnsonI recently started a new Hollow World campaign set in the Milenian Empire. One thing that I immediately noticed was lacking from HWR3 is a Milenian calendar. All the dates in that product are given under the Thyatian calendar, which is good for the DM to have as a reference, but obviously, the Milenians themselves would not use it, since they've been in the Hollow World for longer than Thyatis existed (since 100 BC according to both the Hollow World boxed set and HWR3). Not only that, the lack of seasons and changes between day and night would require the Milenians to drop any calendar they had used on the outer world. The Hollow World set states that time is measured using the floating continents, but does not give any further specifics. So, I decided to make one up myself, using the information on floating continents given in PWA3. I came up with the following. All comments are welcome.
MILENIAN CALENDAR
One SLEEP is the period between the time when someone goes to sleep and the next time that same person goes to sleep. It is equivalent to one day on the outer world. One CASSIAN is the amount of time it takes the floating continent, Cassia, to make one complete revolution around the sun. There are 56 sleeps in a Cassian.
One DEMICIRCLE is the amount of time it takes the floating continent, Tama, to make one complete revolution around the sun. There are 168 sleeps, or 3 Cassians in one demicircle. One CIRCLE is the amount of time it takes the floating continent, Kjell, to make one revolution around the sun. There are 336 sleeps, 6 Cassians, or 2 demicircles in one circle.
The Milenians call the two demicircles in each circle, First and Second respectively. The three Cassians in each demicircle also have individual names: they are Halav, Protius, and Petra during the First demicircle, and Halav, Matera, and Petra during the Second demicircle (named after the principal Immortals of Milenia). The name of the demicircle is used to distinguish between the two Halavs and the two Petras, thus First Halav and Second Halav, and First Petra and Second Petra. At one time, there was also a First Protius and Second Protius, but as the cult of Matera became more prominent, Matera displaced Second Protius. Technically, the Cassians of Protius and Matera are called First Protius and Second Matera, but as the First and Second are already known, they are usually excluded when a Milenian gives the date.
Sleeps and circles are numbered on the Milenian calendar. Thus a complete date can be formed: e.g. the 13th sleep of First Petra in the 1114th circle of the Second Empire (measured from the time the Milenians arrived in the Hollow World; although the Milenians have forgotten their outer world roots, they do know that they had a previous empire "somewhere else" that collapsed). The 1114th circle corresponds with the year 1014 AC on the Thyatian calendar.
The complete calendar:
First Halav corresponds to Nuwmont/Vatermont
(First) Protius corresponds to Thaumont/Flaurmont
First Petra corresponds to Yarthmont/Klarmont
Second Halav corresponds to Felmont/Fyrmont
(Second) Matera corresponds to Ambyrmont/Sviftmont
Second Petra corresponds to Eirmont/Kaldmont