Zandru
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Registered: 10-2005
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Darkovan Time
With no emphasis on either literacy or clocks, time on Darkover is pretty flexible. Weather and other natrual events affect how long it gets from place to place and most Darkovans are quite comfortable with, 'around daybreak' or 'in a few days time'. The year is divided up into 9 Cadredis. There are special holiday weeks that don't fall within a Cadredis, like Midwinter (called Solistu), which last 10 days. Summer (Veranu), is short and lasts only 1.5 Cadredi, Spring and Fall last 2 Cadredi, Winter lasts three.
There are a few major holidays and some intermittent, irregular events. Solistu is the Midwinter Holiday and is centered on light, fire and the return of the sun. Solveranu is the mid-summer holiday and lasts five days, it centers on harvest, fertility and so forth. The Ghost Wind isn't a holiday, per se, but a semi-regular disruption in highland society. When the four moons align, which often coincides with a heavy kireseth bloom, is also a holiday of sorts - happens once very two years or so.
Days are divided into 'candlemarks'. The most common form of 'clock' on Darkover is a wrist thick candle of pale, hard wax that burns in many homes and public taverns. They're made by the Nevarsin monks and burn very steadily. The wax is colored in alternating bands of blue and white; each band is a candlemark and the candles last for one full Darkovan day/night period. The rich may have waterclocks, which are very accurate, but they're mostly curiosities. Most Darkovans are reflexive experts at judging the time of day by the sun, moons and stars.
Note: Cadredis is a canon term. The names of the holidays were never mentioned, thus I made up ones that sounded 'Darkovan' to me. And, Piedro discussed time and seasons in his yahoo group earlier, from which I drew some of this information.
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Welcome! We have nine hells to better serve you!
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10/28/2005, 3:06 pm
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