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.
Introduction
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 resonated using a predictable pattern. This behaviour was also consistent throughout the galaxy (perhaps even the universe). Because the resonation followed a clear and consistent pattern, it became similar in function to an atomic clock, as it could reliably be used to tell the time regardless of where someone was in the galaxy. The creation of a common calendar based on this resonation was an obvious next step which helped to ease the timekeeping woes of space vessels everywhere.
How the calendar works
The length of a 'day' in the interstellar calendar is the amount of time it takes the subspace boundary to go through one resonance cycle. A small change to the resonance happens every 7 cycles; this marks out a week. A larger change happens every 28 or 35 cycles; this marks out a month.
The months with 35 cycles are months 2, 5, 8 and 11; all others have 28 cycles. This very conveniently results in consistent yearly quarters, which is helpful for business planning across the galaxy.
After what is typically 364 cycles, a huge burst of energy is released, which effectively 'resets' the resonance back to its starting point. This marks the end of the year and the start of the next one.
A normal year will follow this pattern:
| Month | Weeks | Cycles (Days) |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter 1 | ||
| A | 4 | 28 |
| B | 5 | 35 |
| C | 4 | 28 |
| Quarter 2 | ||
| D | 4 | 28 |
| E | 5 | 35 |
| F | 4 | 28 |
| Quarter 3 | ||
| G | 4 | 28 |
| H | 5 | 35 |
| I | 4 | 28 |
| Quarter 4 | ||
| J | 4 | 28 |
| K | 5 | 35 |
| L | 4 | 28 |
Leap/intercalary years
In some years, the energy burst that marks the end of the year is delayed by 7 cycles, turning the last month into a 5 week month instead of a 4 week month. The years which have this delay follow a recognisable pattern and effectively function as leap years / intercalary years.
The leap year pattern repeats every 400 years. Starting with the year 2000 the leap years would be as follows: 2000, 2006, 2011, 2017, 2023, 2028, 2034, 2039, 2045, 2051, 2056, 2062, 2067, 2073, 2079, 2084, 2090, 2095, 2102, 2107, 2113, 2119, 2124, 2130, 2135, 2141, 2147, 2152, 2158, 2163, 2169, 2175, 2180, 2186, 2191, 2197, 2203, 2209, 2215, 2220, 2226, 2231, 2237, 2243, 2248, 2254, 2259, 2265, 2271, 2276, 2282, 2287, 2293, 2299, 2305, 2311, 2316, 2322, 2327, 2333, 2339, 2344, 2350, 2355, 2361, 2367, 2372, 2378, 2383, 2389, 2395.
Notable decades
- 7250s - destruction of Valadius Prime
- 8840s - roleplay
- 9270s - card game
Out-of-universe design considerations
The interstellar calendar is based primarily on the Symmetry454 calendar, with the same "the first day is always a Monday" rule. The weekends are intended to be day 6 and 7 of each week to match with this. However, the leap year rule is not exactly the same.
How leap years are determined out-of-universe
The leap years are inserted so that (A) the deviation from the Gregorian calendar is no more than 6 days, and (B) the Gregorian date of December 31 is always in week 43 of the interstellar calendar (the last week of month J), and therefore will always occur between 22-J and 28-J of each year. This restriction was enforced to ensure that the Christmas holiday (which will eventually have a functionally equivalent festival in the Intryon universe) is always at the same time each year (at the end of month J, in weeks 42 and 43).
The mechanism to determine if a particular year is a leap year is basically as follows: Get the day-of-the-week of the Gregorian calendar's December 31 for both the year being checked and the year after it. If this year's day is later in the week than next year's, this year is a leap year. This can be seen with the year 2023. 31 Dec 2023 is a Sunday. 31 Dec 2024 is a Tuesday. Sunday is later than Tuesday, therefore 2023 is a leap year.
Quarters roughly match seasons
The four quarters of the year are also arranged so that they roughly represent the Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter of Earth's western hemisphere, although the leap week rule can sometimes result in up to 2 weeks deviation from the Earth meteorological calendar.
Naming the months
Currently, the 12 months of the year have not been named, but it is intended that they should start with the first 12 letters (A through L). 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.
