@TheEdVerse What time units are used in the Realms, specifically in Faerun? Because I heard the term "quarter of a candle", and I found all sorts of meanings for it.
— Xyn Raven (@XynRaven) February 28, 2019
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Depends on where and when you’re speaking of. Once water-clocks were invented, cities/temples could chime hour bells (known just as “bells”) instead of just “city gate opening/closing bell” or “time for this religious service.”#Realmslore 2)
For short time periods (e.g. a minute) you'll hear expressions like "length of a long song" (or just "a long song") which is a commonly-used rhyme lasting about a minute. Candles are a widely-used but widely variant making of time, because candles themselves…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 28, 2019
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…vary. Some places have small candles that take about an hour to burn entirely; others (most temples) have big fat candles that have time markings down the sides, and burn so much in an hour. This is what folk in the Realms are used to, so what we might see as…#Realmslore …the imprecision of precise chronology doesn't bother them. So much more of their lives are governed by available light, and that "Sets the time."#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 28, 2019
And I presume the city gate bell rings twice a day? And that the people use seconds? Also, do water clocks use hours and minutes as our clocks do?
— Xyn Raven (@XynRaven) March 1, 2019
I also recall the term “a season” being used. While that may imply either a month or four months, this still begets the question of when each of the four seasons occur. Water clocks mark whatever time they're set to mark (governed by size of water-holding chambers, and amount of liquid). Twice-a-day city bells were done purely by eyesight (dawn/dusk) or judgment (I'm opening/closing the gates now; ring the bell!) or by time…#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2019
..determined by candles. Water clocks allowed for many more bells a day, and published Realmslore (in novels by @PhilAthans and other Realmslore) tells us that hour bell ringings were established in some cities.#RealmsloreA "season" means a person is counting by summers or winters, which is often done in the Realms to refer to a particular being's age; if they were born in the summer, they're "so many summers old," and so on. This emphasis on the seasons is because life is so tied…#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2019
…to agriculture for survival, and farmers count in seasons, and refer to good and bad seasons, and this makes sense to everyone because it affects everyone (bumper crops = low food prices, abaundant food, bad grows = food scarcity, high prices).#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2019
Where was all this care in story-writing hidden from me all my life? Heh. We toil nigh-ceaselessly in the word mines, and all too many of us (like, ahem, almost ALL editors) do so unsung. It is a calling. Usually a calling akin to: "Is X ready yet? Production wants it NOW!" ;}
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2019
So the one season is pretty much a whole year? That sounds a little confusing when years are also used to measure time. Ah. Confusing to US because our real-world lives have become dominated by precise timing (appointments, work shifts, meetings at fixed times). Not so (much) in the Realms. You have to see things from the point of view of folk in the setting. [No, the season is NOT a whole year.]
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2019
Courtiers, monks in monasteries, and priests in temples may have many precise-time rituals or meetings. Farm workers go by available light and the weather; if it's harvest time, you work day and night if the weather's good to try to bring the crop in…because if you don't,…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2019
So the one season is pretty much a whole year? That sounds a little confusing when years are also used to measure time. …you'll STARVE come the coldest winter months, when your stored food runs out because you didn't get in enough.
And yes, life IS confusing. Real life AND in the Realms. So in your game, admit just as much detail and complications that you want to, to Dispel Confusion. I have…— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2019
…done entire panels at conventions on court fashion at a particular placer and time in the Realms, and on the geology of regions in the Realms, because some fans wanted that level of detail in their games. Others want to know the hit points of gods so they can kill them.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2019
Choose what you like, and downplay or omit the rest. It's all good for someone, and too much/don't care for others. But to put forth a consistent, coherent published world for all, it all has to hang together. So we work on such details. We even DEBATE them. ;}
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2019