Calendaring System

Most of the nations in Mortalissar follow a calendar system introduced by Verathgar the First Wizard sometime in Mer 100s. Together with the Gods and Goddesses of the time, and the leaders of mortal creatures, he came up with an annual calendar consisting of 20 months, each month having 40 days. So a week in Mortalissar is about 10 days, half a year is 400 days and one day has 20 hours. Each hour is about 40 minutes and each minute is about 40 seconds. You can guess Verathgar has an obsession with the numbers 20 and 40. By the way, Verathgar was a mortal but he wasn't human. The old folk songs mentioned him to be a Hill Giant who became a little too wise after accompanying the Gods and Goddesses for some time. It's pretty hard to imagine if the giant's still alive today (that's more than 12,829 years ago) so...probably dead.

Anyway, Mortalissar is currently into its Second Age, known as the Tae. Each Age is expected to last ten millennia, or 10,000 years. The First Age, known as the Mer, ended with the Apocalypse of 9897 and the Divine Oath years later. If you've been reading the passages in the homepage, you'd see that the world used to be called Mer Taelysae. This means the Ages - Mer, Tae, then Lys and Sae - are the expected four Ages of the world. Mer Taelysae also means My True Self or My Tormented Soul. Since we're now in the Tae 4329, it's the Age of Truth or the Age of Torment, after the First Age of Identity (or finding your place). The subsequent Age will be the Age of Love or Age of Lies. The last Age, Sae, will be the Age of Self or Age of Soul, but it's still a long way to go to arrive into the Third or Fourth Age. ​

Here are the names of the days and weeks, and some of the festivals celebrated in different parts of the world:

Days of the Week: Fire's Day, Marksday, Talensday, Maceday, Warringsday, Arion's Day, Obeyu's Day, Feyra's Day, Maeya's Day and Felsanday. If there is a rest day it is often Felsanday.

Months of the Year: Yann, Felsun, Mardonis, Aeyr, Juran, Jomalry, Augury, Maeya, Sellestine, Dexagonis, Ryven, Yalshek, Illyrion, Valyrie, Xeptus, Sandus, Quonar, Urmon, Astrilla and Calmira.

Seasons of the Year: The seasons of Mortalissar are only applicable mainly in the northern parts of the world. These include parts of Aramyss, northern Praemos, most of the Iosian Provinces, half of the Iorensian Bridgelands, Oeren Lowlands and most of the Oeren Highlands. According to Verathgar the First Mage, the hottest regions are south, where Morassin, Fawyrn and Zargandar are (these include the Sutharii and Mortharii Islands). These regions do not experience seasonal weather and are tropical throughout. The northernmost territories, such as the northern Iosian Provinces and Iorensian Bridgelands, parts of the northern Oeren Highlands, all of Serpentriss and Northriss Isles are perpetually cold and wintry.  

• Spring (200 days): Yann, Felsun, Mardonis, Aeyr, Juran
• Summer (200 days): Jomalry, Augury, Maeya, Sellestine, Dexagonis
• Autumn (200 days): Ryven, Yalshek, Illyrion, Valyrie, Xeptus
• Winter (200 days): Sandus, Quonar, Urmon, Astrilla, Calmira

Festivals in different parts of the world:

Yann 1: Champion's Day (normally celebrated worldwide in honor of great heroes and heroines who have died)
Yann 15: Wulf's Day (celebrated in the Oeren and Morassin regions, and Gaeru nation in honor of wolves and their instincts)
Felsun 20-40: Eltherioni-Felsandur (celebrated by farmers and millers with dance, drink and song after their harvests)
Mardonis 3: Apprentice Day (usually an inauguration day to celebrate wizards who pass their journeymen tests and accepted into a guild)
Aeyr 27-29: Mortallis Calling Day (celebrated by some nations in the Bridgelands and Oeren Highlands in honor of the Gods who had perished during the Apocalypse of Mer 9897).
Juran 33: Morassin's Harvest Day (the date may not always be on Juran 33, but it's a good estimate. This is the day the sailors of Morassin sail out and find the largest bloom of Morassin in the open ocean).
Jomalry (first Arion's Day in the first week): Arion's Death Remembrance Day (celebrated by the Oeren Lowlands in honor of a great warrior-king).
Augury 12: Black Moon's Day (celebrated mainly by the lands of Aramyss, Zargandar and Iosian Peninsula, this is a day when the living honors the dead at their graves).
Maeya 1-10: Yalshegar's Week (celebrated in Djasandur and some parts of Praemos, it honors the great dragon Yalshegar, who once ruled much of these regions in his time. It has been sung in old folk songs that when he was dying, Yalshegar laid still and breathed heavily for weeks; his gigantic tail hardly moving. When he faded into dust, the imprint of his tail left behind the Sky Cliffs of Mortalissar, the bones of his tail formed the foundations of the cliff-rocks.
Sellestine 31: Silence Day (this is celebrated in the kingdoms of Serpentriss, where citizens honor their rulers in different ways but without speaking). This is also the day when the Wraith-Lord of Nethulsis sets sail with a sea-captain of choice out into the Upper Vaults.
Dexagonis 1-40: Northriss Ritual Month (this is the month celebrated in the Island of Dessan, where a crew sails for the Northriss Isles to inspect the subterranean vaults annually. 
Ryven 10: The Gathering of Highlands (this is the period when the earls and dukes of the Oeren Highlands convene to discuss plans to ride out the coming winter.
Yalshek 1-30: Althariuni's Eclipse (this is the Great Harvest period of farmers and millers, which is much larger than the one in Felsun).
Illyrion 28: Illyrion's Sorrowsday (this is celebrated in Aramyss and Iosian Peninsula, where the moon is at her brightest)
Valyrie 12: Bladesman's Day (a general holiday usually celebrated among soldiers and warriors)
Xeptus 9: Anvil's Day (a widely known celebration in the world to honor blacksmiths)
Sandus 18: Blood's Day (celebrated in some parts of the Iosian Peninsula, Praemos and Serpentriss, it is a day when blood of the recently dead are drunk).
Quonar: There is no famous holiday or celebration in Quonar, but each nation in Mortalissar may have something of significance during this month.
Urmon 1-40: Ulthuriani's Prayer Day (this is celebrated especially in Serpentriss, Oeren Highlands, the Bridgelands and some parts of the Iosian Peninsula. It's the beginning of the winter months so the celebration is meant to brighten the mood).
Astrilla 7: Horn's Day (this is celebrated by dwarves and gnomes worldwide, but never really explained why it deserves merit as nothing really happens among the dwarves and gnomes...they just drink quite a lot on this day).
Calmira 31-40: Darklight's Celebration (the last week of the year where everyone celebrates the end of winter and the beginning of a new year).

These are just some of the few festivals happening in different regions throughout the year. Each kingdom or land usually has her own local celebrations or festivals (too many to list here). I hope this gives you a better insight into how time and calendar work in Mortalissar. Till the next post then. :)

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