Ijzerian Calendar

The Ijzerian calendar is the standardised time measurement system used throughout Ijzeria. There are no other calendars or time units in wide use.

The Ijzerian calendar is luni-solar, and is based on the planet's orbit around the star at the centre of the solar system, known simply as the sun. The calendar is very old, having been in common use for nearly all recorded history. It's not considered the "official" calendar of anything or anywhere, since it is quite simply the only calendar there is.

## Days

Days are measured in hours. There are 24 hours in a day, 64 minutes in an hour, and 64 seconds in a minute.

Each day of the week has its own name, both to keep the calendar orderly and functional, as well as to honour cultural sensibilities.

Starday, Sunday, Moonday, Shimmerday, Cometday, Warday, Lawday, Vrijday.

**Starday** is the first day of the week. It is named for the stars in the night sky.

**Sunday** is the second day of the week. It is named for the Ijzerian sun.

**Moonday** is the third day of the week. It is named for the Ijzerian moon.

**Shimmerday** is the fourth day of the week. It is named for the Ijzerian shimmer.

**Cometday** is the fifth day of the week. It is believed to be named for a legendary comet which no longer appears in the Ijzerian sky, if ever it existed in the first place. It's more likely that the day was named simply in honour of all comets, just as Starday is named for all stars.

**Warday** is the sixth day of the week. It is named in honour of children, or "wards". It's commonly confused as being named for the concept of "war" which is the process of removing as many children as possible from an area on a permanent basis.

**Lawday** is the seventh day of the week. It is named in honour of the concept of justice and the rule of law.

**Vrijday** is the eighth day of the week. It is named after the concept of freedom, since it is the last day of the working week before beginning the "weekend".

### Weekend and the Workweek

The concept of a weekend on Ijzeria is a little fluid, since certain days mean different things to different cultures. Regardless, the weekend on Ijzeria is usually defined as Starday, Sunday, Moonday, and Shimmerday. This leaves only four days for recreation and study, which makes these four days the more celebrated half of the week.

Some industries (such as security or entertainment) may work longer hours and/or more days, but the average Ijzerian workweek is 24 hours a week spread over four consecutive days in six hour shifts. The shifts themselves are usually longer than six hours since they will include breaks and transportation time, but the actual time spent labouring is usually around six hours.

## Months

Months are measured in weeks. There are four weeks in a month. Every month, excluding Octember, has 32 days.

The months are (in order); Unember, Duember, Triember, Quartember, Pentember, Hexember, September, Octember, Nonember, Ixember, Vanember, Jaalember.

#### Octember and the Leap Week

Rather than have a leap day which occurs only once every four years, the Ijzerian calendar has a "leap week" which takes place every year during the last week of Octember.

The last week in Octember is known as "Hollowend", and accordingly celebrates the festival of Hollowend. Hollowend is as short as three days, and as long as thirteen. The length of Hollowend depends on how much calendar drift must be accounted for that year in order to maintain the accuracy of the rest of the calendar.

## Years

Years are measured in months. There are 12 months in a year.

Years are numbered in sequence according to the order in which they happened AFTER the year 0AU. The year 0AU is the year that The System first established complete supremacy as the world's global supranational governing body. Priot to 0AU, the world was made of many different nations, from 0AU and onwards, the world was joined into one planetary union. AU stands for "After Unity".

## Trivia

* The reason that the calendar is not base 10 is that the first people to codify time did so using base 8. Over many years, their system was trimmed down or streamlined, but there are still oddities here and there (such as an hour being 64 minutes).
* A movement to make time fully "metric" exists, though due to scheduling errors they consistently miss important government deadlines as well as their own protests.
* The year that Hello, World! takes place in is 8407AU.
* During development, the Ministry of Distraction discovered the concept of a "leap week" is actually not original to Key of Ijzeria. It has been proposed multiple times in real life by various people. Sometimes it's hard to be original.