What happened in Year Zero?

[jasonfahy]

I don't remember seeing this in the world guide, and a quick forum search hasn't done it for me either:

1. The current year in Golarion is 4712, right? 2700+year IRL?
2. And technically it's 4712AR, meaning the year by "Absalom Reckoning"?
3. What happened in 0AR to kick off the calendar?

[HolmesandWatson]

Aroden raised up the Starstone and Absalom founded.

Can't recall the source, but it's in my notes for some research I did for a module conversion project.

[Tamago]

I believe that was the year that Aroden ascended and raised the Starstone from the depths of the Inner Sea, founding the city of Absalom.

[jasonfahy]

Thank you both!

[Veiled Nail]

HolmesandWatson wrote:

Aroden raised up the Starstone and Absalom founded.

Can't recall the source, but it's in my notes for some research I did for a module conversion project.

I believe it is in Guide to Absalom in the back.

[James Jacobs]

Actually... there is no "year zero" in Golarion's timeline. What happened to kick off the AR calendar with Year 1 was indeed Aroden raising the Starstone and founding Absalom on the Isle of Kortos. Note that the creation of that isle was more or less a side effect of the raising of the Starstone...

In any event, the easiest place to find the source of this is in the timeline in Inner Sea World Gude, page 35.

[Mark Moreland]

Yep, the year preceding 1 AR was –1 AR. Zero got skipped, same as in our world.

[Drejk]

Zero is not skipped on timeline. Zero is on a timeline not as a year but a point where year -1 turns to year 1. Year 1 on timeline is the first year from that turning point to the next new year, year 2 is from there to another new year, etc. This is why each century is 1-100 instead of 0-99 and why new year 1999/2000 wasn't the begining of the third millenium - it only marked the begining of the last year of the second millenium.

[Ashenfall]

But you know what?

Tonight I'm gonna party like it's 4999.