Pagan calendar

The Pagan calendar is mostly only hinted in the game, although the Theurgy spell IN WIS can later in the game give the exact data in the calendar system.

Description

Calendar System

The Pagan day consists of 6 times, each equaling four hours:

Bloodwatch – 00:00-04:00

Firstebb – 04:00-08:00

Daytide – 08:00-12:00

Threemoons – 12:00-16:00

Lastebb – 16:00-20:00

Eventide – 20:00-00:00

The Pagan week is divided into 6 days:

Guarday – to honor the Guardian (whom they think is a benevolent being)

Earthday – to honor Lithos

Waterday – to honor Hydros

Airday – to honor Stratos

Fireday – to honor Pyros

Blackday – to remember the war and the Destroyer

The Pagan year is divided into 6 months:

Stonemark

Skyrock

Windbreak

Stormpeak

Firefall

DarkFlame

Analysis

The naming convention of these months is not obvious and the names mostly remain mysterious. The Pagan month has 45 days, consisting of 7 weeks and 3 days. The Pagan year therefore has a length of 270 days divided into 45 weeks. The Avatar arrived on Pagan on the first day of the year on Guarday the first of Stonemark.

Unfortunately, it is unknown which year the Avatar arrives in Pagan. Some hints are available:

• The year-count obviously starts after the "battle" of the Titans against the Destroyer.
• Enough time had passed after the battle for the Pagans to erect monuments for the Titans and severe infighting occurring between them, before Lithos is pacified.
• Many generations passed, before Kalen trapped Hydros, which could mean about ~150-200 Pagan years at the minimum.
• Stellos was already a rather old man when Stratos made him immortal. He claims to be over 200 years old – roughly when she called to him. This only happened some years after Hydros was trapped.
• In The Chronicle of Pagan, it is said that the Sorcerers came into being "centuries" after Stellos' founding the order. Also, again centuries passed after the founding of the cabal.
• Malchir, a later Sorcerer master, was already old when Gorgrond was a toddler.

Putting all these clues together, several things can be concluded. Stellos' number of 200 years is clearly too low. Judging by the events with the Sorcerers, Stratos approached him at least over 400 years ago (centuries in plural means at least 200 years each time). A conservative approach with the minimum time since the battle that almost destroyed the world, is about ~800 Pagan years. However, a higher number cannot be ruled out.

It can also be concluded from the name of noon-time that Pagan actually has three moons.

Trivia

• 6 times, 6 days, 6 months can be condensed to "666", the number of the Beast.
• The calendar was to be used again by the orcs in Ultima X.

See Also

• Britannian calendar
• Serpent Isle calendar