Common Year

In the World of Greyhawk, the Common Year, or CY, is the basis of the common calendar. Years occurring before the Common Year are denoted with negative numbers, or are sometimes listed as "BCY" (Before Common Year).

There is no Common Year zero (0 CY), as the reckoning began with the first year, 1 CY, which must be accounted for when converting other systems of reckoning years prior to 1 CY, such as the Baklunish Hegira (BH), Flan Tracking (FT), Oeridian Record (OR, also known as the Oerid Reckoning), the Olman Lunar (OL), the Olven Calendar (OC), Suloise Dating (SD), or the Touv Calendar (TC).

Days, weeks, and months within the Common Year are reckoned using the Greyhawk Calendar.

History

The Common Year Reckoning is an Oeridian, specifically an Aerdi, creation, and replaced the Oeridian Record. The Common Year was established as the system of reckoning by Grand Prince Nasran I of the Great Kingdom of Aerdy in 645 OR (1 CY), when he declared universal peace throughout his the land, and took the title of Overking.

Conversions

Conversion table

	To CY	To OR	To OL	To TC	To FT	To BH	To OC	To SD
From CY	—	+644	+804	+1408	+2150	+2659	+4462	+5515
From OR	-644	—	+160	+764	+1506	+2015	+3818	+4871
From OL	-804	-160	—	+604	+1346	+1855	+3658	+4711
From TC	-1408	-764	-604	—	+742	+1251	+3054	+4107
From FT	-2150	-1506	-1346	-742	—	+509	+2312	+3365
From BH	-2659	-2015	-1855	-1251	-509	—	+1803	+2856
From OC	-4462	-3818	-3658	-3054	-2312	-1803	—	+1053
From SD	-5515	-4871	-4711	-4107	-3365	-2856	-1053	—

Note: None of the calendars of Oerth use a year zero, which complicates date conversion involving negative years since standard mathematics assumes a zero. This occasionally confuses even formal historians. The solution is to add 1 when converting from a negative date to a positive, and to subtract 1 when converting a positive date to a negative. If both dates are negative, no adjustment is necessary.

Date template

The information presented above is compiled into the Template:Date for the purposes of this wiki. See that page for use of the Template to automatically calculate the conversion of any date entered on a page on this wiki.

Examples

1 CY

• Baklunish Hegira: 2660 BH (Folio.5)
• Flan Tracking: 2151 FT (Folio.5)
• Olven Calendar: 4463 OC (Folio.5)
• Olman Lunar: 805 OL (tSB.64)
• Oeridian Record: 645 OR (Folio.5)
• Suloise Dating: 5116 SD (Folio.5)
• Touv Calendar: 1409 TC (tSB.64)

576 CY

• Baklunish Hegira: 3235 BH (Folio.5)
• Flan Tracking: 2726 FT (Folio.5)
• Olven Calendar: 5038 OC (Folio.5)
• Olman Lunar: 1380 OL
• Oeridian Record: 1220 OR (Folio.5)
• Suloise Dating: 6091 SD (Folio.5)
• Touv Calendar: 1984 TC

591 CY

• Baklunish Hegira: 3250 BH (LGG.13)
• Flan Tracking: 2741 FT (LGG.13)
• Olven Calendar: 5053 OC (LGG.13)
• Olman Lunar: 1395 OL (tSB.64)
• Oeridian Record: 1235 OR (LGG.13)
• Suloise Dating: 6106 SD (LGG.13)
• Touv Calendar: 1999 TC

Timelines of other worlds

Crossovers between the different worlds and spaces within the Prime Material Plane (Realmspace, Krynnspace, etc) allow the comparison of timelines with that of Oerth. However, official conversions are not given.

Forgotten Realms

In "Magic in the Evening", Dragon #185 (Sep 1992), Elminster relates the events of The Parched Sea, which according to "Novel Ideas", Dragon #196 (Aug 1993) takes place in 1360 DR, by the Faerûnian calendar. However, it pre-dates WGA4 Vecna Lives (581 CY according to LGG p.15) and Wars (582-584 CY), though no earlier than 574 CY when Tenser joined the Circle of Eight. This suggests 1360 DR is approximately 580 CY, giving a conversion of +780 years.

In "Legacies of the Suel Imperium", Dragon #241 (Nov 1997), p.47, Khelben Arunsun writes a letter to Mordenkainen dated Ches 12, 1369 DR (Spring). Johanna of Almor writes a reply to him on Wealsun 20, 585 CY. This suggests a conversion of (at most) +784 years.

It should be noted that the calendar of Faerûn is 365 days long: one day longer than Oerth's 364.

The year 591 CY appears to be equivalent to 1371 Dale Reckoning (DR) from the continent of Faerun on the world of Toril in Realmspace. Assuming the Forgotten Realms adventure “For Duty & Deity” and the Planescape adventure “Tales From the Infinite Staircase” (which were marketed as crossover adventures) both take place in late 1370 DR, and assuming that the adventure Die Vecna Die! (which includes scenes in the Greyhawk, Ravenloft, and Planescape settings) takes place a few months after “Tales From the Infinite Staircase” and “Faction War”, which seems evident from the political situation in Sigil.

Earth

"City Beyond the Gate", Dragon #100 (Aug 1985), takes player characters to our Earth, set in June 1985. However, those who travel through the titular gate experience a time differential such that one day on Earth equals roughly one month in Oerth. If we assume this takes place in 579 CY (as does 1985's T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil, according to RttToEE), then by 591 CY (12 years later), anyone who travels through that portal finds themself in October/November 1985. This would give a tentative conversion of +1406 years.

In "Magic in the Evening", Dragon #185 (Sep 1992), Mordenkainen travels to Earth, where Elminster makes use of a "microwave". The home use of a microwave oven, the colloquialism "microwave" rather than "microwave oven", and the fourth-wall breaking reference to Forgotten Realms box sets and adventure modules, is consistent with a date of 1980s onward; presumably no earlier than 1987 when the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting was written, and perhaps as late as 1992. That article is set no later than 581 CY. This would give a conversion of between +1406 and +1411 years, approximately.

Publication history

The Common Year calendar first appeared of the original World of Greyhawk Folio (1980), p.5, which established the equivalency of 1 CY to 5516 SD, 4463 OC, 2660 BH, 2151 FT, and 645 OR. The same chart appeared in the 1983 World of Greyhawk box set. Negative dates were not used.

Negative dates CY appeared in From the Ashes (1992), which provided a set of conversion rules. While the lack of a year zero in the Common Year calendar is not explicitly stated, dates are given for major historical events which are correct assuming a lack of year zero. For example, the Invoked Devastation and Rain of Colorless Fire are dated to -422 CY, a correct conversion of the date 5094 SD given in the Folio.

The lack of a zero year in the Common Year calendar is explicitly stated in the Player's Guide (1998) p.13 and the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (2000) p.13. However, incorrect date conversions are common even in official sourcebooks.

Negative dates are almost never given in calendars other than CY. This leaves it ambiguous whether the other calendars of the Flanaess have a year zero. This wiki assumes they do not.

The Olman Lunar calendar is given in The Scarlet Brotherhood p.64 which defines that the "current " year (591 CY) = 1395 OL, which means that 1 OL = -804 CY. It also states that the starting year is -805 CY, which is a date calculation error unless the OL calendar started at year zero.

The Touv Calendar is described on The Scarlet Brotherhood p.38, starting at year 1, equivalent to 4108 SD, or -1408 CY. An date conversion of 1 TC = -763 OR is given; this is either a date error or implies that the Oeridian calendar has a year zero. The abbreviation "TC" is assumed, although it does not appear in the book. The Touv and Olman calendars are not widely used outside of this sourcebook.

External links

• Oerth entry on Forgotten Realms Fandom wiki.

See also

• World of Greyhawk Timeline

References

Bibliography

• Brown, Anne. Player's Guide. Renton, WA: TSR, 1998.
  • Gygax, Gary. The World of Greyhawk. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1980.
• -----. World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1983.
• Holian, Gary, Erik Mona, Sean K. Reynolds, and Frederick Weining. Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2000.
• Mentzer, Frank. Doc's Island. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR Hobbies, 1983.
• Moore, Roger E. Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1998. Page 39.
• Reynolds, Sean K. The Scarlet Brotherhood. Renton, WA: TSR, 1999.
• Sargent, Carl. From the Ashes. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1993.

Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index

The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.

Topic	Type	Description	Product	Page/Card/Image