Amphoreus' Calendar

Life Edition

Amphoreus' calendar was personally measured and defined by Kephale — people consider it an enduring constancy within increasingly volatile chaos. But perhaps at some moment in the future, even this unchanging constant can't escape the winds of change. The Week and the Days Within Excluding the Month of Fortune, the number of days in each Amphorean month is highly standardized: Every month has four weeks, and every week has seven days, with Sunday being a rest day. Such a custom has been passed down since before the sun faded, and there is a legend of its origin... During the Era Creatura, Aquila and Oronyx exerted authority over day and night respectively. However, the night skies of those days were only scattered with clustered stars, hardly a match for the massive celestial body such as the sun. Driven by a competitive streak, Oronyx utilized gems to absorb Aquila's radiance, intertwining it with the satin of the night and shaping a satellite planet that would illuminate the night sky — what everyone knows now as the moon. This undertaking only cost a day's effort. Oronyx scrutinized this article, proud of their own creation of perfection. But one meager moon could not rival the brightness the sun offered. And so Oronyx continued to toil away for six sleepless days and nights. For each night that approached, an extra moon would light up the sky. On the sixth day, six shadows accompanied the footsteps of all creatures. The presence of the six moons sowed chaos with the tides, incurring Phagousa's scorn. And thus, on the seventh day, with sweet ambrosia incomprehensible to mortals, Phagousa drowned Oronyx in a drunken stupor, causing the latter to sleep the day away. When the night veil fell, the number of moons finally ceased to grow. Phagousa's actions were but a prank on Oronyx, but inadvertently prevented yet another possible war between Aquila and Oronyx. However, the existence of six moons did not adhere to balance. Talanton, who had come after catching wind of this, stirred the scale and eliminated two-thirds of the moons, leaving only the red and gold moon, representing the Scarlet Month and Golden Month respectively. When the sun rose on the eighth day, an awoken Oronyx was forbidden from creating any more moons. And that was how the week's cycle was determined. When amending the celestial laws, Kephale designated the seventh day that Oronyx slept through as a rest day. Periods of a Day When finalizing the calendar, Kephale divided one day into five major periods, to teach its people to punctually rise, work, rest, and slumber. Ever since the scorching sun departed from the sky, the task of illuminating Okhema fell to the Dawn Device — shifts in its light were not obvious to the people in the beginning, and they could only maintain their routines by adhering to the five major periods from before. Entry Hour The time period when various activities gradually begin. People start to rouse from their slumber, summoning their consciousness back to their bodies from distant realms, as if traversing a formless doorway. They fetch water, wash up, and head to the morning market. Those who need something will commit to prayer. Lucid Hour/Ascent Hour The period of the day when one is most awake, thoughts shining into their minds like light piercing glass. People engage in conversation, share teachings and insights and anecdotes, akin to golden threads interwoven with one another. Scholars perform their tasks at twice the speed during this period. Action Hour/Descent Hour The period when enlightenment of the mind starts to wither. People put down their books, exit outdoors for exercise and labor, take care of plants and animals, their perspiration dripping down, seeping into the soil. Scholars and idlers file into the bath in an attempt to invigorate the mind's eye with Phagousa's waters, but the session inevitably ends up in drunken revelry. Parting Hour The period when production activities start to come to rest. People end their day's work at this time, bidding their friends and companions farewell. The army or travelers will usually choose this period to embark on an expedition to minimize disruptions to residential lives. Curtain-Fall Hour People draw their curtains, a period of pillowed rest. A thief star belonging to Zagreus will sail across the sky when this moment ends, punctuating its descent with a long trail, signaling to people that a day has passed. This is also the period when thieves are most active. About the Thief Star: A characteristically distinctive, but ultimately aimless meteor, its trajectory varying in each appearance. People often see it in the east one moment, then in the west the next. Although the stars of the present have dimmed because of the Dawn Device, the Thief Star remains visible. In extremely rare circumstances, the Thief Star will emanate crimson, heralding the advent of a red moon — this is interpreted as an ominous sign, when plans will go awry, and crushing defeats suffered in battles. Quints within Periods People have further divided the five major periods into five sections called "quints." When sections of time need to be explicitly indicated, people will often express said time with a combination of the period and instant, such as "Curtain-Fall Hour's third quint," "Entry Hour's first quint," etc. Units of time smaller than quints are rarely used, since people do not need such precise moments of measure. The finer the sections time is cut into, the busier life becomes.