Measurements of Time

There are many different measurements of time in the comic.

## In conventional spacetime

### Epos Impendian

Impendian time for the vast majority of its colonists is kept with this system of measurement, centered around the Impendian cycle in which explorers first arrived at the moon Umud. The abbreviation, E.I., is appended to the end of the cycle number and is commonly left out for non-scientific uses.

#### Cycle

One revolution of Impendia around Xollum. Approximately 420 days.

#### Bloom

A period, there are usually six, in each cycle during which certain species of haze-dwelling microbes produce color and influence climate. Initially, these changes were observed from Umud and bore only visual significance for the planning of events, given the Impendian moons' highly irregular orbits. On Impendia, blooms have been inspiration for, among other things, artistic movements and religions.

P = peak week

w = wil (bloom)

l = liw (wilt)

(P) = secondary peak

#### Week

Every bloom is divided into 10 weeks which mark the rise and decline of the bloom. Each bloom in a cycle is different, with different lengths of time for the transition between blooms and peak production ('peak week') of color and other byproducts of microbes.

#### Shadowtides

Shadowtides are the weekly pattern of Xollumar eclipses by Impendia's moons. Although colonists are generally not superstitious about planetary and lunar cycles, the coincidence of blooms and shadowtides are a subject of many native superstitious practices and beliefs. They do have significant gravitational influence on Impendia and so in some cases, lunar alignment causes extreme elevation changes in the planet's hydrocarbon layer which must be avoided by colonies. They may also affect production during blooms.

### Chronis Soruicus

This is one of two systems extant on the planet Soruica and its moons, used mostly by Soruicids and Soruica Birds, and also officially recognized by Impendia and its technology for travel. Its central point coincides with the arrival of explorers from the moon Kash-ak. The squirrel colonists who inhabit the planet, who arrived several hundred cycles before Umud's colonization, do not adhere to this system of timekeeping due to ongoing conflict with the other Soruician species. The name 'Chronis Soruicus' is a name given by Impendians, as the natives of Soruica do not have any official name for it.

#### Ringshade

Having rings which are mysteriously independent of the planet's own axis, Soruica's seasons are based on the altitude of these rings in relation to the surface of the planet. The rings affect the level of radiation a particular latitude of the planet receives daily, and have far-reaching implications for weather throughout a given time of cycle. There are four seasons caused by ringshade:

* Totality/Cover (Ba'ok/Nis-wik): Period where rings mostly or completely cover Xollum throughout the day.
* First Emerge (Seen-wik): Period just after totality.
* Vanish/Lowring (Kal'ok/De-wik): Rings disappear beneath the horizon or are closest, parallel to the horizon.
* Second Emerge (Ween-wik): Period just after vanish.

##### Ringrise/Ringset

These are not seasons, but are celebrated times, especially for places which experience totality/vanish, during which the rings appear above, or disappear below, the horizon.

#### Row (Sik)

Roughly equivalent to Impendia's weeks, rows are named after the bands of rings which pass through Xollum during totality or cover, or which disappear in turn beneath the horizon, but extend also to periods without significant ring events.

### Military Time

The militant squirrels on Soruica keep a strict time independent of seasons or festivals or of the ring systems of the planet, the celebration of which they view as heresy within their monotheistic culture. The system is based around their arrival on Soruica, which marked the first alien contact with natives in the Xollum-Xolrut System. This system is also used by rogue warriors/bounty hunters, and some nomads.

#### Strode

Period of time taken to walk a standardized step.

#### Minute

Period of time the back of a regiment takes to walk to where the front of a regiment was.

#### Parad

Often the length of time of a military parade, also 100 minutes.

#### Routine

One rotation of any planet or moon about its axis.

#### Wear

The time it takes the standard soldier, on normal rations, to collapse while marching without sleep. The accepted duration is 8 Soruica routines.

#### Mate

This is both a duration of time and a period of 3 routines at the end of that duration (typically 5 wears), when soldiers are allowed to spend time with family.

#### Age

The number of mates after which a squirrel is ready to train for military service.

#### Age-end

The number of mates from birth to retirement of service and in most cases honorable execution. Formally three ages.