{white:Celestial Phenomena}
As most people can tell by looking up at the night sky, Ferdarchi has two moons. The larger moon, also called the first moon or the Greater Moon has a cycle of 15 Ferdarchi days. The smaller moon, called the second moon or the Lesser Moon has a cycle of 24 Ferdarchi days. The Ferdarchi year is almost precisely 12 cycles of the first moon.
{white:Calendrical Systems}
The presence of two moons has given rise to two major calendrical systems in current use in Ferdarchi. These are, naturally enough, out of sync with each other and generally incompatible. Not only do they base their months and years off of different celestial bodies, they date years from a different starting date. These two systems are referred to as the Common Reckoning and the Thorpian Reckoning.
{white:The Common Reckoning}
The Common Reckoning is based off of the first moon. This system was first invented by the elves, but was subsequently adopted by most of the races of Ferdarchi.
Each month has fifteen days and is divided into two-and-a-half weeks of six days. Each month starts on the day the greater moon shows the first crescent.
The Common year traditionally begins on the day midway between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. This is usually the time of year after the harvest is in, the herds have been thinned, and food and smoked meat put up for the winter months. It is usually marked by feasting and celebration. The beginning of Greentide is also traditionally a time of feasting, and celebration.
(See 'help common calendar' for further details.)
{white:The Thorpian Reckoning}
The Thorpian Reckoning was invented by Rowans and is based off of the second moon. The Rowans, scholars and magicians that they are, use a base eight counting system, taken from the eight colors of magic (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet and octarine). The Thorpian Reckoning is commonly used by Rowans and Mages.
Each Thorpian year consists of eight Thorpian months, named after the colors, beginning with Red. The Thorpian year has very little relation to the seasonal cycle of Ferdarchi -- it didn't matter to the non-agrarian Rowans that the first of the year did not match with the start of any season.
The secondary moon has a cycle of 24 days. The Thorpian month begins on the first day that the second moon shows a visible crescent after the new moon. It is divided into three eight-day weeks.
The new year is generally marked by introspection and meditation, as the cycle goes from Octarine back to Red once more.
It is incessantly argued which of these systems is the elder, especially by Rowans and Elves. Only the gods know.
(See 'help thorpian calendar' for further details.)
{white:See also}: help common calendar, help thorpian calendar, help time, and help set calendar, help day calendar* and help week calendar*.
* These print out a table of RL time, Common date and Thorpian date for a period of time (24 hours and 1 week respectively) surrounding the current Ferdarchi day.