Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Time and Distance

Nations and Empires is played in quasi real time which means that actions occur constantly and do not wait for players to take a turn.

However, time usually flows faster in the world where the Zekresh Empire is located than it does on Earth. It also seems to flow at an uneven rate. Usually time passes ten to twenty times faster in the world of the Zekresh Empire than on Earth. Players should expect to see ten or twenty days pass for every real day that passes on Earth. But the rate of flow is uneven and unpredictable. Sometimes five days may pass in Zekresh for one on Earth. Sometimes a year may pass on Zekresh in the blink of an eye.



Measures of Distance

The "Talong" is the principal unit of distance in the Zekresh Empire. It is approximately equal to 500 yards or half a kilometer. Unlike most other Zekresh words, the plural of Talong is also Talong, not Talongo. This is because Talong is not originally a Zekresh word.

Measures of Time

The Zekresh people measure time in days, months and years in much the same way as we do on Earth. The names of these are different in the Zekresh language. Also the length of a day, a year, etc. is different in Zekresh because the Zekresh Empire is located on another planet which rotates at a different speed and completes an orbit around its star in a different amount of time than it takes the Earth to orbit the sun. The planet the Zekresh Empire is located on also is not the same size as Earth nor does it have the same amount of gravity or atmospheric pressure, but these are close to the same as Earth. You may ask why the people of the Zekresh Empire look so much like humans and why they have some of the same plants and animals as Earth. Good question. There are many mysteries in the game. If you investigate them enough, you will find interesting answers, not just gaps in realism where the game developers haven't thought through the implications.


mit = moment, second, a very small but imprecise amount of time.
foss = hour (one tenth of a day or night)
velasik = week (consisting of 9 days)
salgan = month (42 days each, there are ten months per year)
adonsik = year (422 days)
oron = day

(In units of time as with other words in the Zekresh language, an "o" ending makes the word plural.)

In the Zekresh system of time, the day (oron) is divided into ten hours (fosso) and the night is also divided into ten hours (fosso). Thus, a full day and night is twenty hours long, not 24 hours as on Earth. A foss is not equal to an hour, but is similar. No one has yet devised any method for attempting to measure exactly how long a foss is in terms of Earth time. No one in the Zekresh Empire has ever even heard of Earth and it may be located in a different universe anyway.

On Earth, the month is derived from the cycles of the moon which are related to the orbital period of Earth's moon. In the Zekresh Empire, there is a moon in the sky and its cycles are used as a unit of time called a "salgan" which is derived from the word "salga" meaning "moon." In the Zekresh religion, the name of the goddess of the moon and the sea is Salganit which is also derived from the word "salga" for "moon".

The reason there are 42 days in a salgan (month) is because this is how long the moon, Salga, takes to orbit the planet on which the Zekresh Empire is located (there is no name for this planet yet because the Zekresh still think the world is flat and have no idea what a planet is).

Similarly, the planet rotates about 422 times per orbit around its star. Thus, there are 422 days (orono) in a Zekresh year (adonsik).

The Zekresh calendar divides the year into ten months plus two feastival days, one at the winter solstice and one at the Summer Solstice which are not considered part of any month. As on Earth, there are seasons of the year during which the days grow shorter or longer and the climate changes accordingly. The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year and is called "Oronbelan" which means "Summer Day" in Zekresh. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year and it is called Oronoran which means "Winter Day" in Zekresh.

The Winter Solstice is the last day of the year. The Summer Solstice comes right after the last day of the 5th month and before the first day of the 6th month. The months are not named, but merely numbered. Years are usually numbered according to the reign of the current emperor. A date would be denoted thus: the 10th day of the 3rd month of the 34th year of Cledman VI. This date would be written 10/3/34 Cledman VI. In Zekresh it would be Oron 10, Salgan 3, Adonsik 34, Vylor Cledman VI.

The Calendar Decree of Emperor Zekryva VI in the 16th year of his reign specified that a year should be counted as being part of the reign of the Emperor who was on the throne on the first day of that year even if another Emperor came to the throne during the year. Prior to that, reigns of Emperors were sometimes counted according to calendar years and sometimes according to the anniversary of the Emperor's accession to the throne. For Example, the reign of the Emperor Yatyva VII began on the 4th day of the 3rd month. Historical documents from that era count the first year of the reign of Yatyva VII as beginning on the 4th day of the 3rd month and continuing until the 3rd day of the 3rd month of the following year. When Emperor Yatyva VII died on the 5th day of the 3rd month, that became the starting date for the first year of the reign of Emperor Yatyva VIII. This produced the absurd result that the final "year" of the reign of Yatyva VII lasted for only two months and one day. The Calendar Decree not only prescribed that the numbering of years must coincide with the calendar year from then on, it also required that dates in the past be adjusted to this system. As a consequence, documents describing events that occurred prior to the Calendar Decree may use either system and can easily be off by a year. Modern documents that rely on earlier sources may also use one system or the other or refer to dates by both system within the same document because the author used different sources that used different systems. There are some cases where the old system was used even after the Calendar Decree.

Using the reigns of Emperors to mark the years becomes confusing unless you know exactly when each emperor reigned and for how long. Nonetheless, this is the system of counting years that was used in the Roman Empire and by many other ancient peoples on Earth. The Zekresh Empire does the same. However, Rubanya Cledman, the Lord Chancellor of the Empire and founder of the Reform Faction, has suggested a new system of counting years from either the founding of the empire or from the founding of the city of Zekran two centuries earlier. Thus far this reform has not been adopted.

The game began on the 1st day of the 1st month in the 40th year of the reign of Emperor Cledman VI. (1/1/40 Cledman VI)

A list of the Emperors and how long each one reigned can be found in the Library of Scrolls at:

http://nationsandempires6.blogspot.com/2007/02/list-of-emperors.html

It is entitled "List of Emperors".

The Zekresh also have a unit of time roughly equivalent to a week. It is called a velasik and it lasts for 9 days. This is not an arbitrary measure. On Earth, a week is almost exactly equal to one quarter of a lunar month or one phase of the moon. This may be where the idea is derived from. A velasik is almost as long as a phase of Salga, but this is not what it derives from. A velasik is based on a different astronomical phenomenon called a "velaska" or "traveling star". The traveling stars appear, one at a time, every nine days. They grow brighter for four and a half days and then fade away over the next four and a half days until they disappear. A new traveling star then appears and follows the same course across the sky. The wise men of Zekresh do not know why some stars travel like this across the sky and others do not. There is a legend that this has something to do with Noryweava, the god of the stars, of time and of wisdom. There is also a legend that it has more to do with Ravelon, the god of magic. Some say both had something to do with creating the traveling stars.

Whatever the reason for the traveling stars, their cycle determines the length of a "velasik", the nine day week of Zekresh.


Determining Time and Place in the Game

The game masters will put a time and place heading at the top of some e-mails sent to you and forum postings where you are interacting with other characters.

The purpose of these headings is to indicate the time and place of the action your character is participating in.

Do not just post your own time and date headings. If you want to let more time go by, post or e-mail a message in parentheses beginning with the abbreviation "OOC" for Out Of Character. Such as this one: (OOC: I wish to let five days go by.)

A game master will then give you an e-mail or forum posting with a new time and date heading. If a gamemaster just says (OOC: Okay) or something like that, then you can post a time and date heading five days further ahead than the previous one if you know the Zekresh calendar well enough. Remember, it has 42 days per month, 10 months per year and there are also two days that are not part of any month. These are the Winter Solstice which is the last day of year and the Summer Solstice which is the day between the end of the 5th month and the beginning of the 6th month. Also, the months have no names, only numbers. There is no "July" in the Zekresh calendar or anything like it.

It might interest you to know that here on Earth, the names of the months of the calendar we use originated with numbers. September is derived from the Latin word for seven. October is from eight. November is from nine. December is from ten. Once upon a time there were only ten months in calendars used in the ancient world. July and August were added to make twelve and are named after the Roman Emperors Julius Ceasar and Augustus Ceasar. Since these two months were added near the middle of the year instead of at the end, we have the absurdity that September, named for being the seventh month, is now the ninth month, October, whose name indicates that it is the eighth month, is now the tenth month, and so on.

Travel and Communication

Date headings of events indicate the date the event occurred, not when your character will hear about it. If it occurred in a distant location, you will need to wait until news of it reaches you. When someone posts a message that it intended to be a letter from their character to your character, the date they post it should be considered the date they sent it, not the date you receive it.

However, you don't need to wait for a game master to tell you when you hear of various events or receive letters sent to you. You can calculate it yourself using the information below. If you have not heard from a gamemaster that the news or message has been delayed for some reason, you may assume that you have received the information or letter.

The same is true for routine travel. If you travel on a regular route that is not difficult or dangerous, you may assume that you arrive at your destination after the appropriate amount of time without game master intervention unless, of course, a gamemaster tells you otherwise.

Here is how to calculate the rate at which information or people travel. Note that unless someone develops some new technology, information travels at the same rate as people travel because the only methods known for information to travel across long distances are for people to travel that distance carrying the information either in written form or in their heads.

There are no news media in the Zekresh Empire or, indeed, anywhere in the known world. News generally travels by word of mouth from person to person. The place where news is most often exchanged is in marketplaces. People talk and gossip while shopping or negotiating prices. Travelers including traveling merchants are almost always present in larger marketplaces and of course know and talk about events they heard about in the places they have recently come from. The merchants themselves often talk to pass the time so any news that reaches a market place quickly spreads to almost everyone there. Anyone who has heard such news who happens to be traveling, then may pass the news on to others at their destination. Townspeople generally buy fresh food from the market place every day or so. This means that news that reaches anyone in a town will usually be common knowledge in the marketplace within days if not hours.

It is important to realize that news generally arrives by the fastest means of travel available. Most people do not travel by the fastest method, but some do and news of important events arrives in your town when the first person who knows about it arrives in your town. By the time slower travelers arrive, it's not news anymore.

Rivers are commonly used for transport, but are almost never the fastest means of travel. Information travels by three main methods in the Zekresh Empire and nearby areas.

(1) Ships at sea. Ships at sea travel at different speeds depending on the ship, and, for sailing ships, the wind. In general, you may assume that fast ships traveling day and night can travel about 400 talong per day. Note that while many ships hug the coast and don't venture across the open sea, Imperial Courier ships do go directly across the seas.

(2) Horses on roads. Horses should be assumed to travel about 300 talong per day. This assumes that the rider stops for the night. Of course, a horse that goes all day cannot do so at a full gallop.

(3) Imperial Courier Relay. This is by far the fastest means of communication. It is only available in some areas and only for certain messages. The Imperial Courier Service are servants of the Emperor who carry important messages for the Emperor and high ranking officials. Any Ulor may send a message by Imperial Courier. However, Imperial Couriers in most of the Empire travel by ship or by horse at the speeds indicated above. The Imperial Courier Relay is a special service only available in some areas. The coast roads along the North Peninsula and the South Peninsula and some interior roads in the same area have Imperial Courier stations every 200 talong or so. Each station has stables for horses and places for couriers to sleep. At least one horse and a "standby courier" are ready to go at any hour of the day or night. When a message arrives, the message is handed to the standby courier who gets on his horse and rides as fast as he can to the next station. By that time the horse, if not the rider, is too tired to continue at the same pace, but the message is handed to the standby courier at the next station who immediately sets off on a fresh horse at a full gallop to the next station. The first courier recovers, gives his horse a chance to rest and pretty soon is ready to be a standby courier again. Messages sent by this method normally travel 2,100 talong per day (actually a day and a night because the courier relay continues through the night.)

These are the only Imperial Courier Relay routes:

Northwest Route: From Zekran along the coast through Nass Umrug, Yishil, Nass Mykstia, Verronia, Angenmar Paven, Bakoya Kajak, Kast Vergriman, Kast Natosamuk, Serat Vum and Draviga to Trayavix in the Northwest.

Northeast Route: From Zekran along the coast to Kast Yormuk, Bakoyost, Bakoy Salganit, and Serat Shasa (in Shasan), then inland to Kast Hirgiv, then back to the coast to Kast Vinrat and up to Kast Tros.

Northern Interior Route: From Zekran into the interior to Kast Yvar, Lorekan, Serat Hanginyva and Otleska.

Southeast Route: From Serat Trayakir (right across the waters from Zekran) to Tarnat ee Kikal, Tarmat ee Taval, Yenthitarn, and finally, Niratorn.

Southwest Route: From Serat Trayakir (right across the waters from Zekran) to Serat Falan, Shalthan, Nysarinda and Vizartan. At one time this route continued on to Warnatram, but that part was cancelled in the 1st year of the reign of Emperor Cledman II.

Southern Interior Route: From Shalthan to Groglinth to Corinweld


Messages and news will travel by the fastest route. Travelers cannot move themselves via the Imperial Courier Relay system. Their horses are for couriers only, not for travelers, even important ones.

It is important to note, however, that important news DOES travel by means of the Imperial Courier Relay. It's not part of their official mission, but it is done on purpose. Since people normally ask travelers if they bring any news, this is a constant question that Imperial Couriers get everywhere they go. They generally pride themselves on knowing the latest news before anyone else, even the Emperor. For this reason, it is a tradition among the Imperial Couriers that when a courier arrives at a station, he tells the latest news immediately, even before the standby courier departs with the messages. Because of this, important news travels up and down the Imperial Courier Relay system as fast as messages.

From the Imperial Courier stations, the news moves only slightly more slowly to the market places whenever someone from the courier station has to go into the market to replenish the stocks of food at the station. Imperial Couriers like to chat about the news more than anyone because they always know the latest news and people always ask them. So if an Imperial Courier or any other employee of a courier station goes to a market, whatever news they've heard is conveyed to the merchants in the marketplace, then to the other shoppers.

Note that there are Imperial Courier stations in all or almost all provincial capitals, but only the ones on the Imperial Courier Relay Routes have standby couriers and use a relay method. The others are places for couriers to sleep and eat and stables for their horses. The same courier then continues the next day with the messages.

It will often be necessary to calculate part of a route by one method of travel and part by another.

Most of our maps don't indicate the scale, but an easy way to determine distance on any map of the Empire that shows provincial capitals is to measure the map distance between Zekran, the capital of the Empire, and Lorekan, the capital of Uvinshakh Voint province. On many of our maps, that distance is almost exactly one centimeter on the map. It is also almost exactly 1,000 talong.

If you are looking at a map with no cities marked, find Clam Island. It is by far the largest island in the Western Sea, located just west of the South Peninsula, near the tip. Lisal Koppa province is basically Clam Island plus a few smaller islands. The distance from the northern tip of Clam Island to the Northern border of Slythia is also almost exactly 1,000 talong. That's the Northern border of Slythia, NOT the coast of Slythia.



Here are some travel times that have already been calculated:

1 day Courier Relay, Zekran to Verronia (2,125 talong)
1 1/5 days Courier Relay, Zekran to Angenmar Paven (2,500 talong)
1 1/2 days Courier Relay, Zekran to Bakoya Kajak (3,000 talong)
3 days Courier Relay, Zekran to Trayavix (6,250 talong)
1 1/5 days Courier Relay, Zekran to Nysarinda (2,500 talong)
1 1/4 days Courier Relay, Zekran to Niratorn (2,625 talong)
1/4 day Ship, Zekran to Serat Trayakir (100 talong)
9 3/8 days Ship, Niratorn to Serat Kromuk (3,750 talong)
1 1/2 days Ship, Trayavix to Nassavix (500 talong)
10 days Ship, Nysarinda to Osim (4,000 talong)
3 days Horse, Osim to Arinixervolt (900 talong)
9 1/8 days Horse, Trayavix to Renifar (2,750 talong)
8 days Horse, Trayavix to Kast Foramyva (2,375 talong)
6 1/4 days Horse, Trayavix to Kast Gorumyva (1,875 talong)
4 1/2 days Horse, Trayavix to Serat Shasa, (in Shasa Falan) (1,375 t)
2 days Horse, Trayavix to Kast Kast Ulmuk (625 talong)


Travel by multiple methods:
14 1/2 days Zekran to Arinixervolt
10 5/8 days Zekran to Serat Kromuk
4 1/2 days Zekran to Nassavix
11 days Zekran to Kast Foramyva
12 1/8 days Zekran to Renifar

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