Time System

# Novus Æterno Time systems

## Humans

Originally met with great conservative resistance the changing of the time system away from earth time was an action taken by psychologists and economic scientists hired by a large company that invested its assets into space ships and stations. Many of their employees were working inefficiently because they were discontent with their working hours. Seeing as they could not use the sun as reference for time they used the hours of the day as reference. Eight hour shifts were commonly expected because many workers took their standard earth schedule perceptions with them.
The challenge was to reset these worker’s perceptions of time and to standardize work shifts while extending their working hours. The Decimal Time System was implemented originally as a way to make employees perceive their working day to be 10 hours, it was actually over 12. Because the system used an increment of 10 people were oddly able to breakdown their schedules better as shifts were designed around one working decimal and one off decimal. Employees felt more content with having to work one decimal and get the second off, though half was spent sleeping the other half was easier to manage any other activities within.
Many humans using the Decimal system do not actually use a universal time. Many record their age by the number of cycles and decimals they have lived through. Colonists on planets often do not use the decimal system to tell their planet’s time since it is largely a time system for space; however, the number of cycles in the Galaxy is an estimated number in the billions of cycles. The time system is convenient and when comparing records with a decimal system using a different cycle start it is still easy to count back and find a common point. If they count 123 cycles, 8 ranks, and 33 decimals while your time counts 320 cycles, 2 ranks, and 81 decimals then the calculation to keep in mind are:
There are 100 decimals per rank added to the number of cycles gives 833 decimals and 281 decimals to the cycle. There are also 1,000 decimals per cycle, thus, 123,000 decimals and 320,000 decimals with total recorded decimals of 123,833 total decimals and 320,281 total decimals. The difference between their times would be 196,448 decimals difference. Breaking them down into decimals only helps to avoid getting negative ranks and decimals. The only thing that is difficult to sync with is the seconds as 100 minutes were used to form an hour, not 60. Minutes were also not an earth minute but something called digits which were shorter than seconds and took 100 of to reach a minute.
The whole purpose of this time adjustment was to make everything in 10s and 100s because more people were familiar with decimal systems.

### Digit

Replacing seconds are digits, essentially a third of a second; digits were adopted as the smallest measurement on watches and clocks. Many considered it too quick at first but the greater pace improved the accuracy of assembly lines a marginal amount. One hundred digits equals what people refer to as a minute.

### Decimals

Decimals were a period of time commonly accepted as the optimal time a Human can function with alertness. The Decimal time system was designed for spaceships and space stations which needed to have shift work that could easily be perceived. Thus a Decimal is perceived as half of a day, it is actually slightly longer than 12 hours but it allowed a shift worker to work one decimal, sleep half a decimal and spend time during their free half decimal doing something before their shift decimal. They are referred to as decimals because they take up ten increments of time commonly called hours. The Decimal hours are much longer than an earth hour but the official name was never commonly used do to the cultural conception of this increment resembling an hour. Days are thus measured as two decimals or twenty hours.

### Ranks

Ranks are essentially sections of a “year” that contain one hundred Decimals and there are ten ranks, they are referred to as First rank, second rank, third rank, continuing to tenth rank. This implies there are a thousand Decimals in all ten ranks which is five hundred “days”. Ranks form a cycle when complete.

### Cycles

Cycles are a full cycle of ranks, once the tenth rank is complete the first rank is returned to and a new cycle begins. Cycles are over two earth years. The purpose of this was to include the progressive advancements in extending human life as people were becoming more likely to live to and over two hundred years.

### Bars

Bars are often not recorded in dates but they are referred to in order to shorten the number of cycles when telling a person’s age. Bars are essentially ten cycles and are used to measure a person’s age progression; someone at their first bar of life is considered a young adult/teenager. After their second bar they are a fully grown adult with full responsibility. A person twenty three cycles old could say they are “two and three bars” to imply two bars and three cycles. A half-bar/two-quart, quart, and three-quarts are terms for breaking down a bar into 5 cycles, 2.5 cycles, and 7.5 cycles.

### Repeat

A repeat is a measurement of 100 cycles and is used for longer dating and is the general mid-age range for a human.

### Reading

Dates for events and birthdays are often read as “twenty-third cycle, third rank, fifty second decimal.” Or “twenty third, three, fifty two. (23-3-52)” for short.
Note\*\* A decimal in-game could be 10 seconds in our time, easy stuff!

### Population Growth Notes

In terms of population growth, a human child becomes an adult at two bars (twenty cycles). If a decimal is 10 seconds of our time then a child becomes an adult in 20,000 decimals, 200,000 seconds. If two human populations “yield” a child every 200,000 seconds then the rate is one population per 100,000 seconds. Is that a good rate?

## References

1. ↑ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hWFQeVxhjrJRylmL19eLo0a08v41giM9rasJHc8YEwg/edit?pli=1