Sunday, January 24, 2010

The Broherhood's Calendar

The Brotherhood of the Twin Gods forms more than just the leading spiritual organization in Valtyr. It has also served as a place of learning and teaching for centuries. Long before the Citadel was formed after the gift of magic was given to men by the dragons, the Brotherhood was the chief order associated with learning. In those early days, when mankind was but a child in the world, taking its first steps into a strange and wondrous land, the Brotherhood acted as guide and teacher to his fellow man.

One of the first things ever recorded in the written word was the Valtyrian calendar. The Brotherhood knew it needed a way to track the passage of time. As they began their arduous task of recording mankind’s progress, they developed a system of marking the passage of days and seasons. Thus was born the same calendar that, nearly 3,000 years later, is still in effect. It is described below:

The passage of a year is marked is marked by 10 months. Each month is exactly 30 days long, with days being 24 hours in length (12 dedicated to the Champion of Light, Lassic, and 12 belonging to the Wandering Star, Annwyn). Beginning with the first month in the year, the passage of months looks like this:

Newthaw, Showerfall, Rosebloom, Brightsky, Firewind,
Larksong, Harvestmoon, Frostspell, Whitedawn, Hearthfire

These 10 months form what we know of as the four seasons. Spring lasts from the 1st day of Newthaw to the middle of Rosebloom. Summer starts from the middle of Rosebloom and ends on the last day of Firewind. Autumn begins on the first day of Larksong and carries through till the middle of Frostspell. Winter then begins on the second half of Frostspell and ends on the last day of Hearthfire.

In this way, the people had a system for tracking their own passage of time and the monks of the Brotherhood developed a way to catalogue their past for future generations to revisit and learn from. The Valtyrian calendar is universally accepted in the present Age.

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