Calendars

Various calendars exist to mark the passage of time in the world, the majority of which are managed and accounted for by the Horological Council of Ceryne. Three major ones exist, but only one is primarily (and universally) used.

Date	Drakonian Calendar	Zaentovi Calendar	Dragomarus Calendar	Paragons Calendar	Edranish Calendar
Beginning of Zaentovi Calendar	99,574 BDC	1	109,877 BC	99,507 BB	PE -99,574
Beginning of Paragons calendar	67 BDC	99,507	10,370 BC	1 AB	PE -67
Beginning of Drakonian/Edranish Calendar (First Era begins, recorded history)	1 ADC	99,574	10,303 BC	67 AB	1E 1
The Fall of Drakonia	9,803 ADC	109,377	500 BC	9,870 AB	6E 500/ 7E 1
Beginning of Dragomarus Calendar	10,303 ADC	109,877	1 AC	10,370 AB	8E 1
Present Day/Current Year	10,653 ADC	110,227	350 AC	10,720 AB	8E 350

The Drakonian calendar

The first known calendar to be created, the Drakonian calendar is used exclusively in the city-states of Doras Edrossi. It would be quite odd for an Andorasi or a Zaentovi to cite the Drakonian calendar, unless they were Drakonian themselves. It has fallen into disuse, correlating roughly with the religion of the Dragonlord, although the calendar remains in use where the Dragonlord's religion is prominent, such as Ceryne or Lavos. The two focal points are BDC and ADC; Before and After Drakonia's Construction. It begins with the creation of Drakonia, but since this cannot be pinpointed with certainty, the calendar is often debated over. The Horological Council of Ceryne exists to 'certify' the calendar's date every year, to make sure that everyone follows the same iteration, and that other calendars update on a regular basis in regard to the Drakonian calendar, as many western calendars are rooted in Drakonian culture. The year in the Drakonian calendar is currently 10,653 ADC.

The Zaentovi calendar

The Zaentovi calendar is an odd one, and is rarely used in any context other than by historians or un-modernized Zaentovi. It revolves around a lunar cycle and the position of the stars, and one month passes every time a new moon appears, and a year passes every time the Warrior constellation returns to its original spot in the sky (for clarification purposes, this would be as it sits in the summer in the northern hemisphere, as that would be how the Zaentovi would observe it). Although this is roughly equivalent to most other calendars, the years are shorter as a result, and more have passed. There is no focal point for this calendar, simply when the Zaentovi believe life began. Not listed in traditional years, the Zaentovi name their years after a particular creature, in a cycle of thirteen. The years are not the total sum of years, but rather the number of times that particular year has happened. The year in the Zaentovi calendar is Year 8,479 of the Aurochs. The total number of Zaentovi years in their calendar is 110,227.

In what seems like irony, the Zaentovi, perhaps the least-civilized group of people on Drakonius, actually have records of these years dating back as far as 15,000 years ago and have left artifacts that scrying magic has determined to be nearly ten thousand years older than this, preceding any other known record of Drakonia or Andoras. This differs from creating a calendar, however, as the oldest records only seem to dictate the name of a year and do not follow any discernible pattern until the mid-Second Era.

The Dragomarus calendar

The Dragomarus calendar is extremely young when compared to its predecessors, but it's the most widely used calendar in the world; both Andoras and Doras Edrossi use it, and most people give the date in the Dragomarus format. The two points of the Dragomarus calendar are BC and AC; before and after the conquest. The year in the Drakonian calendar is currently 350 AC.

The Paragons calendar

A calendar unused by anyone but the Church of the Five in official decrees or statements, the Paragons calendar follows the time from the birthdate of Alzar, the first Paragon, to today. Birthdates of saints and Paragons are typically given in the Paragons format, when asking a member of the church. For simplicity's sake, the corresponding year in the Dragomarus calendar is often given as well. The year in the Paragons calendar is 10,720 AB.

The Edranish Calendar

Despite their fealty to the Dragomari, the Edranish Calendar uses dates based on era, not referencing the conquest as a turning point in their calendar. It is, of all calendars, perhaps the most logical, using both the system of Eras and the current year in that era to represent a simplified year without getting into the multitudes of thousands of years BC that the Dragomarus calendar must do. For example: 6403 BC in the Dragomarus calendar would be represented as 2E 1244, as the Second Era began in 7647 BC and would end in 6000 BC. Edranish dates display the era, then the year.(i.e. 8E 350) They reference both the age of creation and prehistory together, as PE(Pre-Era). 1E 1 is shared with Drakonia's founding as the first year of the First Era.