Time on Golarion

Friday, August 10, 2007

As our messageboards have recently been packed with folks wanting to know more about the day-to-day business of Golarion, the following is a brief introduction to the dating and timing conventions of our world. Rest assured that you'll be able to find out much more—such as timelines, country overviews, histories, and the rest—in the forthcoming Pathfinder Chronicles Gazetteer.

Time travels on Golarion much as it does here on our own Earth. Sixty seconds form a minute, sixty minutes create an hour, and twenty-four hours make a day. The people of Golarion measure time much like we do as well, with seven days to a week and twelve 30-day months to a year. Years are marked since the founding of the last great empire, that of Aroden, the Last Man. Although the empire has collapsed, its calendar remains in use to this day. At the start of the campaign, the date is 4707 AR (Absalom Reckoning).

Days of the Week

The days of the week are as follows. Each day has a general purpose that most people in the Inner Sea region follow.

Day	General Purpose
Moonday	Work, religion [night]
Toilday	Work
Wealday	Work
Oathday	Work, pacts signed, oaths sworn
Fireday	Work
Starday	Work
Sunday	Rest, religion

Months

The months in Golarion correspond to our own, with each new year starting shortly after the solstice. You'll notice that the name of each month is etymologically tied to a specific god—residents of Golarion see the gods reflected in the changing of the seasons, and their names for the months reflect this. (Gozreh's month, for instance, is a time of budding and new life, while Zon-Kuthon's is seen as the death of the old year.) Holidays in a given month are generally tied to their patron deity. In order, the months are:

Abadius (January)
Calistril (February)
Pharast (March)
Gozran (April)
Desnus (May)
Sarenith (June)
Erastus (July)
Arodus (August)
Rova (September)
Lamashan (October)
Neth (November)
Kuthona (December)

Mike McArtor
Associate Editor, GameMastery