Britannian calendar

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The Britannian calendar differs greatly from game to game:

Ultima IV[edit]

The year has 12 months of 30 days each, for a total of 360 days.

Ultima V[edit]

The year has 13 months of 28 days each, for a total of 364 days.

Ultima VI and onward[edit]

The Britannian Year[edit]

The Britannian year is a little shorter than the Earth year with 336 days, meaning that Britannia's orbit around its sun is a little closer. The year is divided in 12 months which are divided into 4 weeks of 7 days. Each day is divided into 24 hours. The hours, minutes and seconds are the same as on Earth, as proven by an Earth pocketwatch.

Britannian Months[edit]

The length of the month can be measured by the calendar display in Ultima VI. The month is adjusted to the cycles of the moons Trammel and Felucca, so that the first of a month – and therefore the first of a year – always falls on double new moon, which only happens once a month. This also means that the astronomical alignment can only happen during the first of the month at double new moon.

The months have the same names as on Earth's calendar, possibly thanks to Lord British:

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

The Year Count[edit]

The year count starts with the founding of Britannia, which happened sometime between Ultima III and Ultima IV. By Ultima V it was the year 139 (calendar display). The start of Ultima VI is in 161 (again calendar display). Ultima VII takes place exactly 200 years later, thus in the year 361. Britannia does have leap years, in which an extra day is added due to the fact that the lunar cycle and calendar days do not match up perfectly over time, in order to correct any errors that appear. This is proven by the date at which Denyel got trapped in a cave, which had been February 29th 227.

Cycles of the Moons[edit]

The cycles of the moon during the month are as follows. Both moons change phases at exactly midnight.

Trammel changes phases every night, except that it lingers in Moonglow for two nights, or three when a month rolls over. In Python terms:

   trammel_phase = max(0, (day+8) % 9 - 1)

Felucca spends two nights in each phase, except Moonglow and Minoc, where it spends only one.

Day of Month Trammel Felucca
1 Image001.gif Moonglow Image001.gif Moonglow
2 Image001.gif Moonglow Image002.gif Britain
3 Image002.gif Britain Image002.gif Britain
4 Image003.gif Jhelom Image003.gif Jhelom
5 Image004.gif Yew Image003.gif Jhelom
6 Image005.gif Minoc Image004.gif Yew
7 Image006.gif Trinsic Image004.gif Yew
8 Image007.gif Skara Brae Image005.gif Minoc
9 Image008.gif New Magincia Image006.gif Trinsic
10 Image001.gif Moonglow Image006.gif Trinsic
11 Image001.gif Moonglow Image007.gif Skara Brae
12 Image002.gif Britain Image007.gif Skara Brae
13 Image003.gif Jhelom Image008.gif New Magincia
14 Image004.gif Yew Image008.gif New Magincia
15 Image005.gif Minoc Image001.gif Moonglow
16 Image006.gif Trinsic Image002.gif Britain
17 Image007.gif Skara Brae Image002.gif Britain
18 Image008.gif New Magincia Image003.gif Jhelom
19 Image001.gif Moonglow Image003.gif Jhelom
20 Image001.gif Moonglow Image004.gif Yew
21 Image002.gif Britain Image004.gif Yew
22 Image003.gif Jhelom Image005.gif Minoc
23 Image004.gif Yew Image006.gif Trinsic
24 Image005.gif Minoc Image006.gif Trinsic
25 Image006.gif Trinsic Image007.gif Skara Brae
26 Image007.gif Skara Brae Image007.gif Skara Brae
27 Image008.gif New Magincia Image008.gif New Magincia
28 Image001.gif Moonglow Image008.gif New Magincia

See Also[edit]