Timekeeping

The Elemontian clock is based on the 18 hour day, for there are nine hours to an Elemontian day. Since the period of rotation of Seolthus around its axis corresponds relatively to that of Earth, this means that one Elemontian hour is equivalent to roughly eighty (80) of our minutes. There are no divisions of the hours into minutes, though merchants, clergy and military men will often refer to the quarter hour or the half hour.

There are three Phases to an Elemontian day: Morning, Midday and Festing, and three corresponding Phases to the Elemontian Night: Evening, Midnight, and Darkening. Each Phase is then divided into three hours. Hours are referred to by their order after daybreak. Thus the middle hour of Midday is referred to the Fifth Hour.

The period of Day is defined as beginning at the moment the first light of the sun breaks forth from the horizon in the west until it vanishes from sight in the east. This means that the length of an hour varies seasonally, being longer in the summer and shorter in winter. Until the 16th century, it was only during the Spring and Autumnal Equinox that the hours actually equaled eighty of our minutes. The first standardized clocks were developed in Tiren in 1578, though they were not 100% accurate until the 22nd century.

Generally, food is consumed in the second hour of each phase of the daylight hours, although in rural areas the Morning meal is held in the first hour and the Festing meal will be held in the third hour, and sometimes even in the first hour of Evening. The nobility of the Alor River Valley region as well as the general populace of the Dienten region often have four meals, each at the second hour of each phase (the second, fifth, eighth, and eleventh hours).