| The Calendar of Harptos | - | - | - | Special days |
| Dragon | Calendars | - | Best of Dragon, Vol. V | Dragon 47 |
(This is the version from Dragon #47; there are slight differences between this version and the version in The Best of Dragon, Vol. V.)
When I first started DMing, and was
laboriously putting together a fantasy
world,
I found myself looking for some sort of
handy justification for a multitude of
factors.
These included how a large variety of
ferocious creatures (including man) could live
so close together without rising en masse
to
smite each other, and why trade could
be at
once imperiled by pirates, monsters, and
greedy player characters and at the same
time be so profitable as to allow everyone
to
wallow in gold pieces—even to the extent
of leaving odd piles of loot in nasty,
dirty
holes in the ground.
An effective answer was to tailor the
setting itself to create the conditions
de
sired. Climate, for instance: a rich growing
season to ensure prosperity, violent winters
that make large-scale movement impossible
in the coldest months—thus limiting
wars to the busy growing season and thereby
keeping them small in scale. A perfect
situation for adventurers: lots of treasure
about, lots of little feuds and skirmishes
but
no large armies or wandering hordes to
avoid; everything solved. (Well, you know,
almost . . .)
To keep track of the seasons, and of the
customs which accompany them, one
needs a calendar. Designing one’s own
time system is far too much fun to allow
use
of our present Gregorian calendar, with
its
months and holidays so familiar and jarringly
incongruous in a fantasy setting. A calendar of one’s own devising can
also aid
bookkeeping by being uniform. Aberrations
such as months of differing lengths or
leap
years can be avoided if one wishes, since
the DM can decree the exact frequency
and
duration of solar and lunar cycles (if,
that is,
your world has a sun and moon . . .)
On the other hand, keeping to the familiar
aids bookkeeping, too. The fewer details
the DM must keep track of, the more he
or
she can concentrate on what the party
is
doing to the surroundings—and what the
surroundings are doing to the party.
The following calendar is specifically
tailored for my world (the climatic and
political conditions of the place should be obvious), but it may be adopted,
adapted, or
culled for ideas to use in other campaigns.
Wars, by the way, are usually fought after
the harvest is done, continuing as late
as
the weather
permits. The bulk of the fighting
takes place in the month of Uktar, and
the
ironic practicality of the Feast
of the Moon is
readily apparent.
The year consists of 365 days: 12
months of exactly 30 days each (due to
the
obedient moon), plus 5 days that fall
between months. These days are special occasions. Leap year is retained
purely for
social convenience (it provides a sixth
special day that is used as the basis for longterm agreements and such).
Months are subdivided into 3 ten-day
periods. These are known variously as
“eves,” “tendays, “domen,” “hyrar,” or”
“rides” throughout the Forgotten
Realms.
Although the months themselves are
standardized (for my convenience!), the
system of dating also varies from place
to
place. Usually, years are numbered from
an
event of great political or religious
signifi
cance; each world will have cultures with
unique histories, and thus different reckon
ings. The system below is named for its
inventor, the long-dead wizard Harptos
of
Kaalinth.
The name of each month in the Calendar
of
Harptos is listed below, from the beginning
of a
calendar year to the end. Each month’s
name is
followed by a colloquial description of
that month,
plus the corresponding month of the Gregorian
calendar (in parentheses).
Special days are listed when they
occur between months and appear in italic type. Each
special day is described in a paragraph
following
the calendar itself.
1. Hammer; Deepwinter. (January)
2. Alturiak; The Claws of Winter,
or The Claws of the Cold. (February)
3. Ches; The Claws of the Sunsets.
(March)
4. Tarsakh; The Claws of the Storms.
(April)
5. Mirtul; The Melting.(May)
6. Kythorn; The Time of Flowers.
(June)
7. Flamerule; Summertide. (July)
8. Eleasias; Highsun.(August)
9. Eleint; The Fading.(September)
10. Marpenoth; Leafall. (October)
11. Uktar; The Rotting. (November)
12. Nightal; The Drawing Down. (December)
Midwinter
is known officially as The
High Festival of Winter. It is a feast
where,
traditionally, the lords of the lands
plan the
year ahead, make and renew alliances,
and
send gifts of goodwill. To the commonfolk,
this is Deadwinter Day, the midpoint of
the
worst of the cold.
Greengrass
is the official beginning of
spring, a day of relaxation. Flowers that
have been carefully grown in inner rooms
of
the keeps and temples during the winter
are
blessed
and cast out upon the snow, to <ceremony: consecrate
item?>
bring rich growth in the season ahead.
Midsummer,
called Midsummer Night
or The Long Night, is a time of feasting
and
music and love. In a ceremony performed
in
some lands, unwed maidens are set free
in
the woods and “hunted” by their would-be
suitors throughout the night. Betrothals
are
traditionally made upon this night. It
is very
rare indeed for the weather
to be bad during
the night—such is considered a very bad
omen, usually thought to foretell famine
or
plague.
Higharvestide
heralds the coming of
fall and of the harvest. It is a feast
that often
continues for the length of the harvest,
so
that there is always food for those coming
in
from the fields. There is much travelling
about on the heels of the feast, as merchants,
court emissaries, and pilgrims
make speed ere the worst of the mud arrives
and the rain freezes into snow.
The Feast
of the Moon is the last great
festival of the year. It marks the arrival
of
winter, and is also the day when the dead
are honored. Graves are blessed,
the Ritual <cf. ceremony: burial,
death
prayer>
of Remembrance performed, and tales of
the doings of those now gone are told
far
into the night. Much is said of heroes
and
treasure and lost cities underground.
Once every four years, another day is
added to the year in the manner of February
29 in the Gregorian calendar. This day
is
part of no month, and follows Midsummer
Night. It is known as The Shieldmeet.
It is a
day of open council between nobles and
people; a day for the making and renewing
of pacts, oaths, and agreements; tournaments,
tests and trials for those wishing to
advance in battle fame or clerical standing;
for entertainment of all types, particularly
theatrical; and for dueling.