Calendars

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Two different calendars were kept in Leveria; **Marchreckoning,** which was the calendar used in western Leveria, and the **Cordic Calendar,** used in eastern Leveria. While the Empire of Strysand introduced an official calendar called the **Imperial Calendar** in 1644 AD it found little appeal and was not adopted even by Imperial officials, and by 1706 AD it had mostly been phased out and replaced by Marchreckoning.

Each month in Marchreckoning and the Imperial Calendar comprised thirty days, following the rotation of the two suns about themselves, while the months of the Cordic calendar followed the cycles of Lyren and comprised twenty-eight and thirty-two days alternately. A full calendar year in Leveria therefore measured 360 days in all three calendars. By pure happenstance the three calendars were of equal length. What a lucky coincidence.

## Marchreckoning

The months in Marchreckoning were:

1. Earth: **Declarant's Day** was celebrated across Krinkell on the first day of the new year. The first **High Hunt** of the year, the High Hunt of Greengrasses was held in Jassal.
2. Seeds: Farmers across the continent would plant their crops in the month of Seeds in anticipation of the rains to come. The festival of **Jakhanalia** was celebrated during this month after the planting was complete.
3. Suns: On the summer equinox, the people of Jaerrar held the **Midsummer** **Ball**, while the rest of Leveria celebrated the **Sunwrought** **Festival**. The High Hunt of the Harshsuns was held in Jassal.
4. Rains: **The Festival of the** **Sashes** was held in Argemennon in celebration of Kalden's Coup.
5. Growth: The High Hunt of Redfalls was held in Jassal.
6. Harvest: The crops planted during the month of Seeds were harvested, and **Harvestide** was celebrated.
9. Ice: The people of Strysand and Istryia celebrated the **Midwinter Rout**, while the followers of Luna celebrated **the Long Night**, on the winter equinox. The last High Hunt of the year, the High Hunt of Coldwaters was held in Jassal.
10. Songs: During the first week of Songs, followers of Mikrul celebrated **Songslaught**, and on the last weekend of the month, children across Leveria dressed up as monsters and heroes for **Liar's Night**.
11. Moon:
12. Renewal: Followers of the Forgemistress celebrated the **Marveled Night** during this month.

## Other Calendars

### Imperial Calendar

The months of the Imperial calendar started and ended with the months of Marchreckoning with the year itself beginning with Einzull, which coincided with the Marchreckoning month of Rains. Thus the two calendars, while of equal length, were staggered as the Imperial Calendar set the New Year's celebrations on the anniversary of Kalden's Coup.

The remaining months, in order, were Zweitull, Zittull, Vierzull, Orizull, Echszull, Seibull, Achtzull, Neunull, Zennull, Ellul, and Zwolfzull.

### Jassali Reckoning

By the reckoning of the beastfolk of Jassal the year was split into four parts, each corresponding with a season and a High Hunt. These were the seasons of Coldwaters, Greengrasses, Harshsuns, and Redfalls.

### Cordic Calendar

The Cordic calendar was the reckoning kept in Qaraz.

## Holidays

### Festival of the Sashes

**The Festival of the Sashes** was a festive foot race held on seventeenth day of Einzull that commemorated Kalden’s Coup and the purge of the despotic royal lineage. On this day in 1557 AD, the ruling family was cast out of their palace by Vigilant Argath Kalden and chased out of city by commoners, and their clothes were torn off of their bodies as they ran through the streets.

The people of the city would purchase or make fancy clothes adorned with colorful sashes in preparation for the Festival, with each trying to make theirs the most elaborate and festive. The men and women wearing these clothes would then race from the Royal Palace to the city gates while other people would line the streets to try to grab and tear handfuls of the sashes and clothes off of the people as they pass. The atmosphere would usually be very festive, with displays of public drunkenness not uncommon and gaggles of young people chasing after the participants.

### The Sunwrought Festival

The Sunwrought Festival was held on the second Sunday of the Month of Suns, in honor of Solas, the Lightbringer. It was celebrated primarily in Fairhaven and its environs.

Several races and challenges of skill and strength were held in the lower parts of the city, which all culminated in the Warrior’s Revel- in which heroes, adventurers, and devotees of the Dawn Bringer were pitted in fights against all sorts of monstrous beasts. While originally these fights were held to the death, by 1706 AD clerics and healers were kept at hand to ensure all participants survived.

In contrast, the Peerage celebrated the day very differently- the aristocrats and nobles of the city would gather together for a debutante ball inspired by the Midsummer Ball of Krinkell, where the many coming-of-age sons and daughters of the cultured folk were formally presented to the nobility.

#### Midsummer Ball

The Midsummer Ball was the festival celebrated on the summer equinox in Krinkell. In Jaerrar this event was thrown in the Memoriam Terrace, which featured an elevated dance floor, dozens of elaborate pavilions with plenty of delicacies and ever-flowing drinks and music aplenty; while in other, more modest cities and towns the event took place in taverns, city streets and town squares.

While originally intended to be an event where the sons and daughters of the nobility could meet one another under less supervised circumstances, by the turn of the eighteenth century the Midsummer Ball had taken on a slightly more lascivious nature, where even those of lower social standing and those who weren't looking for a consort could take a fancy to someone they met at the ball and spend some intimate time with them.

### Harvestide

Harvestide took place in the last week of the month of Harvest. It was traditionally a feast to celebrate the harvest and the abundance of food; it was also the time when those wishing to travel would set out on their journeys, before the hard cold of winter set in.

Traditions varied from community to community, but common festival activities included various food-related contests, handing out and receiving treats and dishes to neighbors, families, and friends, and the ritualistic blessing of larders, wine cellars, grain bins, and food preserves.

### Declarant's Day

Declarant’s Day was also called *New Year’s Day*, and was celebrated annually in the capital city of Jaerrar. It consisted of parades and demonstrations conducted by the city's main military organizations, as well as competitions and games of skill. Candidates interested in enlisting in one of the three branches of Krinkell's military were encouraged to attend and participate.

The pièce de résistance, however, was the staged battle conducted between the Soulmantle and Ironcloak mages.

### The Midwinter Rout

Held in the second week of Zwolfzull, the Midwinter Rout celebrated the vanquishing of the great frost giant **Kassas the Hoarfrost Fury**, and his tribe, who had been ransacking and ravaging the Strysandic countryside, by Vigilant Darvon.

In smaller cities the participants wore elaborate monster costumes reminiscent of the frost giants, while in Argemennon wizards and sorcerers were employed to turn the actors into uncanny facsimiles of Kassas and his tribe. These actors would spend the entire week running around “rampaging”, scaring children and "abducting" the city folk, until dusk on the seventh day when the Vigilants, dressed in elaborate outfits and wielding prop weapons, would vanquish the barbaric monsters.

### Songslaught

Songslaught, sometimes referred to as the Feast of Songs, was a week-long festival held during the first week of Songs. The last great festival of the Marchreckoning year, the week marked the onset of hard winter. It was the time to celebrate and honor one’s ancestors and the respected dead.

On this day, folk blessed their ancestors' graves and gathered to tell stories of the deeds of their ancestors and of the gods until deep into the nights.

During the week of Songslaught, devotees of the Born-Dead, particularly the clerics and priests of Mikrul, were permitted to remove their masks and spend the day as their past selves.

### The High Hunts

High Hunts were held four times per year, once for each season; organized and run by the Huntmistress or Huntmaster of Jassal, they were celebrated on the first day of Coldwaters, Greengrasses, Deepsuns, and Redfalls.

The High Hunts consisted of a predetermined “mark”, equipped with non-magical weapons, armor, and poultices, being set loose in a spot of their choosing on the Prominence. After an hour, the participants of the hunt, armed with ceremonial daggers and their natural weapons, would begin their hunt. If the mark escaped or otherwise survived until sunrise, they would be granted immunity from any subsequent hunts and could also ask for any boon, within reason, of the Huntmaster or Huntmistress.