Subspace calendar

The interstellar calendar is a common calendar system used by most of the known races in the Intryon universe. In particular, it is familiar to both the Valadians and the Mirali, and provides a common timekeeping method which can be used throughout the Azuria galaxy.

The calendar is divided into 13 months. Each month has 4 weeks, and each week has 7 days, giving months that are 28 days long. Between each year there can be either 1 or 2 intercalary days, typically counted as the 29th and 30th days of the 13th month; the addition of the intercalary days give years that are either 365 or 366 days long.

In-universe origins

Creating and using a calendar based on the time flow of a single planet is not very applicable to outer space. This posed a problem to the various species of the galaxy as they began to venture forward into the wider universe.

During the development of warp drive technology by new civilizations, they were generally quite quick to discover that the boundary between normal space and subspace seemed to resonate with a universal frequency, almost like a background hum. This resonation seemed constant throughout the entire galaxy. Using it as a reference point, the calendar was devised. Because the subspace resonation is both obvious and constant, it became similar almost to an atomic clock as it could reliably be used to tell the time regardless of where you were in the galaxy.

Notable decades

• 7250s - destruction of Valadius Prime
• 8840s - roleplay
• 9270s - card game

Out-of-universe design considerations

The interstellar calendar is based on the International Fixed Calendar, which is a 13-month perennial variant of the Gregorian calendar. It consequently has the same day and week length, as well as the same number of days per year.

Currently, the 13 months of the year have not been named, but it is intended that they should start with the first 13 letters (A through M). Written dates can then simply use the letter for the month, which avoids the confusion of date ordering (10-A-8000 and A-10-8000 are not ambiguous, whereas 10-1-8000 and 1-10-8000 are). This also lends itself well to computerized date ordering, which can be formatted as YYYY M DD for easy sorting, using the letter (since this will still sort) and remaining unambiguous. As an additional advantage, using a letter for the month avoids confusion with Gregorian dating.