On the Divide Primordial

As discussed, our unique cosmology was a result of a great division of energy early in our world’s creation… I call this the Divide Primordial, and it relates to Haylene’s formation. The following, of course, is unverifiable, and based primarily on investigations of various Titans… creatures that existed prior to the First Conjunction.¹

In the beginning, there was a singular point where the Astral Plane, rife with portals to the Great Wheel and the realms of gods and belief, came in contact with the Ethereal Plane, the conduit to the elemental planes. Normally, when this happens, the influence of one plane or the other proves dominant, producing a sort of planar gradient, and essentially causing a material world form, like drop of hot wax forming an orb in water.² In our case, however, the two planes were essentially balanced, meaning no great flow could occur from one to the other. Rather than a massive orb coalescing, a bubble formed on one side (and presumably the other) that grew to a small size, and essentially crusted over. This small bubble is Haylene… formed on a completely flat plane, and with a bubble of space over that flat expanse in which it can grow.³

This bubble, of course, is inherently unstable, which is why the primordial forces of our world formed Io and the Dark Moon, and ultimately Titania during the First Conjunction.⁴ These moons function as screens… creatures of spirit or the elements can leave, but not enter, preventing our bubble from popping, for lack of a better word. Without them, our limited space would become crowded with planar interlopers, and ultimately overrun us with otherworldly energies.⁵ Whether or not these moons are sufficient remains to be seen… they are either slowly draining our world of the plots of fiends and celestials alike, or those same creatures will eventually overwhelm the lunar wards and bring about an end to Haylene as we know.

Whether or not that will happen likely lies in the possible existence of our mirror dimension. There is absolutely no reason that the planar bubble ought form on only one side of the Divide Primoridal… indeed, there are many reasons why it shouldn’t. Every piece of mathematical or arcane evidence points to the existence of a twin world to Haylene somewhere in the multiverse. If it still exists, the study of its divergence from this world would offer tremendous insight into our ultimate fate.

Unfortunately, I must admit that after a century of investigation, I am no closer to finding Haylene’s twin sister. As I continue to eliminate possibilities, I am faced with one grim but enduring theory: the mirror dimension was destroyed, as, one day, ours will likely be.

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1 There are seven Titans, each a unique creature described in either the Monster Manual or Tome of Beasts. They are Hraesvelger (a giant, and the only one that actually ages, albeit at a very slow rate), the Elder Brain, the Empyrean, the Kraken, the Tarrasque, the Zaratan, and Acererak (the demilich, the first and only undead created before the First Conjunction).^↩

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2 A crystal sphere. ^↩

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3 Essentially, Haylene is not only coterminous with the Astral and Ethereal planes, but the two are coterminous with each other in this land.^↩

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4 Prior to the construction of Io and the Dark Moon, there was no concept of time in Haylene, and it didn’t full exist as a material world. After those two moons were created, it was still thousands of years before the creation of Titania.^↩

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5 The Red Witch is describing the Ban of Benlyndor, which prevents celestials, elementals, fiends and even fey from entering Haylene under most circumstances.^↩

What Does a Month Look Like?

The calendar of Haylene (specifically the Rhysonian Calendar) is a bit tricky to describe... it does not directly relate to our Julian Calendar where every years has the same number of days.  A Rhysonian Calendar consists of two years with 351 days, and every third year having 390 days.  This is done so that the months of the calendar always align with the lunar cycles of Io and Titania, which is more important to the Rhysonian Mysteries than the growing season (farmers don't check calendars, but priests do).

However, the months are fairly typical, being locked into the cycles of Titania.  All of them start and end with three Market Days, and have three Festival Days precisely in the middle.  In addition to these 9 special days, there are three 10 days.  

Fekre, which celebrates the Winter Solstice, is different... the Festival of the New Year always begins the day before the solstice.  As such, the tendays (which are used primarily by the guilds) are interrupted in a different place every month.  Market days are displaced in the same manner as days of the week.


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The Calendar of Haylene

The Roll of Years

There are three common ways of keeping track of the changing of years and the marking of history in Haylene, although usually this is the province of sages and scribes, and not the common man.  Most peasants have no idea what year it is; for them “three years ago” is a perfectly valid method of keeping track of the passage of time.  As such, the most common method of tracking the years and centuries is very inconvenient for anyone who isn’t a historian… the tradition is to note a monarch and the year of their reign, such as “The Third Year of Esinaan III.”  This, of course, requires detailed knowledge of when the third year of Esinaan III was… it’s much easier to say “about four hundred years ago.”  However, if one reads a historical tome, it is extremely likely it uses this convention of dates.  

Two other calendars exist, however, one extremely old, and one relatively new, which both keep time in a much simpler fashion.  The first is the Guild Count, which is a count of years from the Great Conflagration and the death of Emperor Aasiman I, the last Emperor of Rhysone.  By the Guild Count, the current year is 324 (commonly annotated 324 GC).  The second such calendar is the Elven Count, kept by the high elves of Prydain.  The Elven Count is far more complicated, based on the phases of the various moons, and goes back over 12 millennia.

The Months and Weeks

The only commonly agreed upon convention in Haylene is that the year is 363 days long… this happens to coincide with with five & half cycles of Io, the Dragon Moon.  The weather of Haylene depends very strongly upon how Io aligns with the Winter Solstice (which is almost universally viewed as the start of the year).  In years where Io is Full, the weather is generally very wet, while in years when it is New, the weather tends to be very dry.

The matter of months is less of an agreed upon matter.  The dwarves, who give little care for the phases of the moon, divide the year up into 11 months, each with three tendays and three feast days (the first, last, and middle of the months).  While this convention is uncommon outside of Haylene, the strength of Dwarven trade and the popularity of the festivals meant that the Rhysonian calendar (which is far more popular), also uses three tendays and three festivals, although their festivals are three days long (and much less festive than the dwarves).  The Rhysonian month follows Titania, the Fey Moon, which has a 39 day cycle. 

In order to keep the months (based of Titania) and the years (based off of Io) loosely in synch, the Rhysonian calendar borrowed the elven month of Enandin, which occurs every three years during summer.  As such, the Rhysonian year typically has 9 months of 39 days each, and every three years has 10 months.  

The third moon, only called the Dark Moon (or the Dark), has a much longer cycle, taking 595 days to complete an orbit.  There are no commonly used periods of time based off of it, although it factors prominently in the Elven Calendar.

Conjuctions

Titania, the Fey Moon, Io, the Dragon Moon, and the Dark Moon do sometimes come into conjunction (periods where they are in the same phase).  With periods of 39, 66, and 595 days respectively, these conjunctions occur in four ways.

• An Arcane Conjunction, or conjunction Titania and Io, occurs every 7 years (7 years and 33 days, to be exact).  This is supposedly a time of great magic.
• A Strange Conjunction, or a conjunction between Titania and the Dark Moon, occurs every 63 years (63 years and 336 days, to be exact).  This is a period associated with death, and in particular the undead.
• A Terrible Conjunction, or a Conjunction of Flame, is a conjunction of Io and the Dark Moon.  This will occur every 108 years (108 years and 66 days) and be a time of great upheaval
• The Grand Conjunction, which has not happened in recorded human history, would be a conjunction of all three.