Xaeyruudh's Index

The Year 0

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This is a persistent and paradoxical phenomenon, and I feel a need to clear it up, at least with respect to my own campaigns.

Calendars are centered on events.  The day on which that event occurs, and the 364 days following the event, are Year 1.  The 365 days preceding the event are Year -1.  The only way there could be a Year 0 is if the event on which the calendar is based took up a whole 365 days… and in such a case we would choose the beginning of the event, the end of the event, or some intermediary part of the event and make that day the 0 of the calendar, and you still wouldn’t get a Year 0.

There is no Year 0.

There.  I feel much better now, don’t you?  You should.

You might ask: why does it matter?  It matters because sloppy math results in incorrect accounts of history.  To most, it doesn’t matter whether the first Pharaoh ascended in -981 DR or -980 DR… but it might be more important to those folks that their children learn that King Azoun IV took the throne of Cormyr in 1336.  Because that’s somehow important, even if the other isn’t. It was -981 (1).

And that’s the long and short answer.  It matters because it matters.  To someone.  Because truth matters, and that means accuracy matters.

Khazmahk the Mighty

In the beginning… what?

Oh.  Too far back.  Right.

Well, there are a lot of systems for tracking the years in Faerun, and we need to be able… now what?

If we’re going to compare the events in one country with those in any other — for example, who ruled the nations of the South when Jhaamdath fell?  Or the North, for that matter.  That could tell us where the survivors may have fled to, and thus where to look for remnants of that culture.  Or for something perhaps more interesting to you… what was going on in Imaskar during the time of Netheril?  Yes they existed concurrently… it was the year 1237 in Netheril when Imaskar fell.  There were at least three flying cities in the sky by that time… (2)

Of course it matters, Captain Snarkypants.  Do you suppose that no far-wandering arcanists from one of them ever happened to stumble into the other?  Of course they did.  Was there an exchange of spells?  Isn’t it possible that some Imaskari were visiting friends (or enemies, we don’t judge) in the north when the kingdom of Raurin came to a fiery end?  Yes?  Good answer.  We know at least three were. (3)

In those cases, a difference of a single year might not seem important.  In other situations, a year makes a big difference.  Suppose you’re taught that some famous swordswinger or axethrower… what?  Yes, Khazmahk the Mighty works fine.  Yes, the strongest half-orc who ever lived, I’ve heard the tales too.  Suppose the bards are all saying he was slain by the Phalabuti tribe in 1214 DR… the Phalabuti?  They were kobolds.  Yes, well, kobolds are sneaky little buggers, and a mighty half-orc wouldn’t be expecting them to be a threat and so would severely underestimate them.

Moving on.  Suppose the bards are wrong?  The Phalabuti’s victory was complete… there were no survivors outside of the kobolds themselves, and they recorded their success in their own method of timekeeping, which tragically died with them when the entire tribe fell victim to a certain red dragon we call Klauth.  A bard, stumbling some time later upon fragments of charred hide, accidentally discovered the kobolds’ crude symbols thereon and eventually recognized them as a timeline of the tribe’s victories… but he didn’t pay adequate attention to his addition and subtraction.  He had heard, of course, of mighty Khazmahk… now he knew the half-orc’s end.  And as he traveled the orc-hating portion of the Realms, for the remainder of his days, he often told of the legendary half-orc hero who fell to the legendless anything-but-heroic kobolds.

Yes, I was wondering when you were going to ask me that.  It’s important because the Phalabuti actually killed Khazmahk in 1213 DR.  Which creates a problem because it was in the following year, watched by a dozen humans and dwarves, that Khazmahk split that tree in half with a thrown axe and earned himself the title of strongest half-orc who ever lived.  So… where does that leave us?

Ah, the sound of silence.  So refreshing.  So relaxing.  That leaves us with legends that are untrue, being told the length of the Sword Coast.  It also leaves us with Khazmahk killed by kobolds, and another half-orc… who was clearly *not* Khazmahk, but took Khazmahk’s name for some reason, earning his title at Arningad and crafting a rather fearsome reputation over the remainder of his life. (4)

When it comes down to it, a year can always become a larger error, because translating between systems of timekeeping often entails going from one calendar to another, and then a third, and then a fourth.  Mistakes compound, particularly when the original scribe wasn’t sure of the exact dates, or when the writing has been worn or dampened.

No, I’m not grasping at straws, but I can assure you that if I were, the fireball I would subsequently send rumbling up your trousers would be truly inspiring.  Now get out, before I affix an orc’s mouth to your forehead that asks you insipid questions.  Accompanied, if your scrolls are incomplete again tomorrow, by a suitable slaver of drool that runs down your face carrying the odor of a much-used oubliette!

~ Auvo’s Hero, as performed at a fireside by Tammenni of the Tongues


1 – According to the succession of Pharaohs written for my “home” campaign.

2 – Adjusted slightly from official sources.  In my campaign, the cataclysm that ruined the kingdom of Raurin was in -2623 DR… the more commonly cited -2488 DR was when the rest of the world found out about it, from the first trickle of bards who were lucky enough to stagger out of the devastation after being unlucky enough to teleport into it.  More on this later.

3 – According to journals compiled recently, forthcoming uh… when I compile them.  Hilather/Halaster was not one of these; not in my campaign anyway.

4 – Arningad was more of a camp than a town, located where the Shining Creek joins the Goblintide, south of Lurkwood and west of the Trollmoors.  One of many unsuccessful and short-lived efforts by half-orcs to find some acceptance from both sides of their ancestry, as well as the grudging-if-necessary respect of dwarves and elves.  Hey, half-orcs are ambitious.  No official sources; I made it up.  Khazmahk and the Phalabuti, in case it wasn’t obvious, are also unofficial, as well as Tammenni and her impetuous brother Auvo.

Conversions

Dalereckoning to Mulhorand Calendar
after 1 DR: add 2135 to convert from DR to MC
before 1 DR: add 2136 to convert from DR to MC

Mulhorand Calendar to Dalereckoning
after 1 MC: subtract 2136 to convert from MC to DR
before 1 MC: subtract 2135 to convert from MC to DR

Dalereckoning to Netheril Year
after 1 DR: add 3859 to convert from DR to NY
before 1 DR: add 3860 to convert from DR to NY

Netheril Year to Dalereckoning
after 1 NY: subtract 3860 to convert from NY to DR
before 1 NY: subtract 3859 to convert from NY to DR

Dalereckoning to Imaskar Calendar — this conflicts with official/published material, and is only valid for material which might appear in this blog; it’s included mostly so that I don’t have to make another post like this later.
after 1 DR: add 15383 to convert from DR to IC
before 1 DR: add 15384 to convert from DR to IC

Imaskar Calendar to Dalereckoning — see notes above.
after 1 IC: subtract 15384 to convert from DR to IC
before 1 IC: subtract 15383 to convert from DR to IC

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