Samantha Edwhan

Dragon Timekeeping

The dragons of Laili Island have developed a few ways of tracking the passage of time. While inhabitants of Tribe-Ali prefer a looser form of timekeeping by noting the sun's position in the sky, all dragons still keep track of the days in the year.

In Hiza Calndom, there are three ways to track time. First is the sundial; an easy, though sometimes unreliable way to track time. Because sundials rely on a shadow being cast across them, they only work when the sun is out. At night or on cloudy days, the sundial becomes nothing more than a decoration.

Next is the clepsydra, sometimes referred to as a water clock. These are a bit more reliable, due to only needing a constant flow of water. They can be found throughout Hiza Calndom. Each one is attended by a trained Water Dragon, who ensures no water goes to waste by circulating water gathered at the bottom back to the top. All the piping that the water flows through is kept inside the outer casing of the clock.

The last form of timekeeping is relatively new to the dragons. The pendulum clock works by using a spring and a weight to keep the clock ticking. It is the only clock that keeps track of seconds alongside the minutes and hours. They can also be maintained by any dragon with the knowledge, making it a great, albiet expensive, addition to a home.

Tracking years has always been imporant to dragons, especially when it comes to important dates that bring celebrations, such as the Summer or Winter Solstices. At Tribe-Ali, there is a single obelisk on a large, flat plane to fulfull this purpose. The plane is marked with lines to track the obelisk's shadow throughout the year. When the shadow reaches the highest or lowest point, it is time for a Solstice celebration. When the shadow follows the straight line, it is time for an Equinox celebration.

Over in Hiza Calndom, obelisks are a thing of the past, with only two remaining for historical and decorative purposes. With the invention of the clepsydra, dragons could keep track of the year and time together. They also invented calendars made of paper or stone to track the days in their own home.

It should be noted that dragons read right to left, except for clocks, which follow sun. Seconds, minutes, and hours are standard for dragons as in the human world. There are exactly twenty-four hours in a day and eight days in a week. Dragons typically work for five days and rest for three, though variations of this work week exist. The days are named after the dragons and their seven evolutionary cousins: drakes, wyverns, raptors, dragon flies, sea serpents, basilisks, and krysopels.

In a month, there are five weeks, which perfectly follow the lunar cycle. The new moon occurs on the first day of the month and the full moon on the 20th. They have twelve months, named after ancient dragon gods, making one year 480 days long. How their world has such a perfect adherence to the passage of time is unknown, but many dragons will say it's thanks to the gods their months are named after.

'Gau' is the dragon word for 'day'

'Ma' is a shortened form of the dragon word for 'month'

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