Historic dates: pinning them down

[Rotipher of the FoS]

I've been thinking about some of the pivotal events of the Ravenloft game-setting's history, and it's occurred to me that it's probably high time at least the major ones were tied down (at least "unofficially") to actual days of the year, rather than just years on the Barovian calander. It's not as if these events wouldn't appear prominently in Ravenloft historical records, after all -- even in the "false histories" of various domains, the date of a given realm's emergance from the Mists ought to count for something! -- and it's a process which had already begun, when the netbooks began assigning dates to historically-based holidays (like some of the Ezran holy days). Granted, it's a minor matter and wouldn't hold as much weight as a "canon" date ... but heck, if that were any reason not to write something for Ravenloft, we wouldn't have a way-cool Souragne Survey already finished and the next one presently under development!

That being said, I'd like to propose one date that certainly deserves to be pinned down, more than any other: the day that started it all, way back when. For various reasons, I'm recommending that June 21st, 351 BC, be the day of Sergei and Tatyana's aborted wedding, and hence, the very day that the Land of Mists as we know it was born.

Reasons to choose that particular day include:

1) The novels narrow down the wedding's scheduled date to "the Sixth Moon", which (adopting Mordentish names of months) puts it in June. No surprises there, as it's a traditional month for weddings anyway, at least in Western cultures. Plus, it fits the "fairy-tale romance" image that the Sergei/Tatyana pairing's always been depicted as, in the game products.

2) Sergei (and presumably Tatyana, since she was an orphan raised by that church) were adherents of the Church of Andrel, a sun-deity. June 21st is the Summer Solstice, hence would be considered an auspicious time for ceremonial occasions of all kinds within such a faith.

3) Azalin's and Strahd's experiments in breaking free of Ravenloft were usually scheduled for Solstices, as these "days of transition" seemed to be times when their arcane tinkering could more easily interact with the fabric of the demiplane. This was most-dramatically demonstrated in the fact that the Requiem -- the lich's penultimate attempt to break the fabric of the plane -- fell on the Winter Solstice. If the Land's continuity has a metaphysical link to Solstices, it only makes sense that the creation of the realm would be tied to such a date, also.


Does this make sense to other folks out there? If so, which other dates, ancient or recent, would be worth tying down, now that Ravenloft -- including its history -- has been set aside by "official" publishers and left in we fans' capable hands...?

[Nathan of the FoS]

It would make sense that Forlorn entered the Realms at either a solstice or an equinox--I don't know if the appropriate I, Strahd novel gives a hint as to which(a quick glance at Castles Forlorn gives no real information as to season there).

Query: Shall we match up days of the week to days of the month according to the real world calendar, with leap days and the whole nine yards?

[Joël of the FoS]

Excellent topic!

Query: Shall we match up days of the week to days of the month according to the real world calendar, with leap days and the whole nine yards?

I suggest we stick to the real time calendar, because by experience, players and DMs will be plain confused by it, and will set real life month names on them "Ah, OK, this (whatever) is January".

When I did the annual calendar with official canon dates in it (see download), that is what I used. Just to have fun, all months had 30 days except October had a 31st

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We could make a calendar with these "chosen" dates.

It could be of great use in a game, ex. Strahd would be as irritable as he can be, or extremely moody on all June 21st.

Let's see what other dates we can set!

Joël

[cure]

The ending of the Grand Conjunction is celebrated in Nova Vaasa on the first full moon in August. Hence it ended on the first full moon in August 740.

Now we just need to nail down the lunary cycle. There is never an afflicted werewolf around when one needs one . . .

[Pamela]

@ cure: If- IF- the lunar cycle is assumed to be the same as our moon's...

Present Ravenloft year: 760= 2006 BCE
740= 1986 BCE

There was only one full moon in August that year, on August 19. Ta da!

Now I want a date for the disappearance of the Zherisian countryside! Help me!

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Now I want a date for the disappearance of the Zherisian countryside! Help me!

Wasn't that simultaneous with the rest of the Great Upheaval?

One date that might be rather easy to pinpoint -- provided we're willing to assume the seasons in Barovia and Material-Plane Mordentshire are in synch with one another -- is the date of Mordent's appearance within the Land of Mists. Several of the player-handouts from I10 included calendar-dates, IIRC. Darkon's appearance would follow by a matter of weeks; a close reading of "I,S:tWaA" and KotD might narrow this timeframe down, even further.

A more recent date I would love to pin down would be the last verified sighting (presumably in Martira Bay) of Dr. Van Richten. As the ten-year anniversary of his disappearance is imminent, it's a suitable time for PCs with connections to the old sage's legacy to take another shot at solving that mystery, if more in tribute than in expectation of finding him after all this time. The fact that Gennifer saw his home in an oubliette not so long ago would reinforce this ... especially since no dark foreboding's warned Laurie she can't ever find Richten Haus!

[Pamela]

Now I want a date for the disappearance of the Zherisian countryside! Help me!

Wasn't that simultaneous with the rest of the Great Upheaval?

The Great Upheaval apparently unfolded over several weeks, from late spring to mid-summer, according to an answer I got on a thread I posted once with this question. All the changes didn't occur overnight, more's the pity- it'd be easier to keep track.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

It could be of great use in a game, ex. Strahd would be as irritable as he can be, or extremely moody on all June 21st.

And until PCs learn more of his dark history, that moodiness might be mistaken for the discomfort every vampire is bound to feel, on the day of the year when sunlight prevails the longest. Only as they learn more will they realize there's far, far more to it than that....

Hey, that also means that when Dr. Van Richten snuck into Castle Ravenloft in "I, Strahd", and read Strahd's autobiography, he actually did so on the anniversary of the same terrible events he was reading about! Go figure...

[cure]

The disappearance of Azalin Rex, the death of Il-Aluk, and the birth of Necropolis, that is to say the culmination of the Grim Harvest or the realisation of Requiem, are the winter solstice of 750, hence the 21st (or is it the 22nd) of December 750.

[cure]

The Vistani appear in the lands of the Mists at the very stroke of midnight seperating 469 and 470. The Barovian New Year, however, falls on the winter solstice, greatly complicating matters. See the Timeline by Mangrum for the research on all this.

[cure]

In 542, a week and a bit before the summer solstice, Azalin arrives in Barovia.

The 543 summer solstice marks the first serious attempt by Azalin and Stradh to escape. The experiment is repeated on subsequent solstices and equinoxes.

This should suggest a date in 579 for the appearance of Mordent, but strangely a new moon in October, not a solstice, is the occasion. But again see the Timeline by Mangrum as there is the confusion over the (old?) Barovian calender spawned of the New Year falling on the winter solstice.

[cure]

More moon dating for you.

737 under a full moon in midsummer Zhone Clieous cheats Casimir of the prize of becoming the Meistersigner of Skald. Zhone will be exposed as a werewolf and Casimir will become Meistersinger shortly thereafter.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

543 summer solstice marks the first serious attempt by Azalin and Stradh to escape. The experiment is repeated on subsequent solstices and equinoxes.

This would should suggest a date for the appearance of Mordent, but strange a new moon in October not a solistice is the occasion. But again seem the Timeline by Mangrum as there is the confusion over the old? Barovian calender spawned of the New Year falling on the winter solstice.

Perhaps the experiment that launched them into Mordentshire was carried out on the Autumnal Equinox, but Mordent didn't fully manifest as a part of the Core until the new moon of the following month? We know the two darklords were there long enough to stir up a lot of trouble. Or perhaps their experiment was on a Barovian Solstice or Equinox, but the calendar in MP-Mordent -- which doesn't have to be in synch with Barovia's, prior to I10; new lands' natural cycles probably shift to match those of the Core only after they attach to it -- place the same event in October. Records of Mordent's arrival are so sketchy (almost certainly by the DPs' deliberate intention, since they wiped Strahd's and Azalin's memories of their visit), we could resolve that discrepancy in a number of ways.

As for the problem of when the "New Year" officially starts, perhaps the ancient Barovian calendar was very much a solar-based one (hence, Winter Solstice = death of old year, start of new), but wasn't particularly consistent in keeping track of months (e.g. Strahd's journals just number the "Moons" off). If Andrel, patron sun-god of old Borjia/Barovia, ever had a rival or enemy who was a moon-deity, then downplaying the importance of months in the calendar could have been a "respectable" practice, within Strahd's native culture.

Only after Mordent appeared, bringing along a more-sophisticated calendar and handy, unique names for the months, would the "New Year" have shifted to January 1, in the reckoning of most peoples. Mordent's calendar would've been more useful than Barovia's -- among other benefits, it's what navigation-charts and tide-predictions would be based on; Barovia is landlocked and hence never needed to keep track of such things, but both the 579 BC domains sure do! -- and it was already in place (albeit adjusted to the Core's celestial phenomena and seasons, not Mordentshire's plane-of-origin) when subsequant realms emerged, so it would've rapidly spread to those regions that joined the Core later on, even those that don't otherwise speak Mordentish.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

More moon dating for you.

737 under a full moon in midsummer Zhone Clieous cheats Casimir of the prize of becoming the Meistersigner of Skald. Zhone will be exposed as a werewolf and Casimir will become Meistersinger shortly thereafter.

Cool! Good catch, Cure.

Hmmmm... IIRC, the fact that it was a full moon that day was more critical to the novel's storyline than the fact it was midsummer. If 737 BC didn't have a full moon on June 21st, we may want to adjust the IRL-year-to-IC-year correspondance, so that 737 BC's lunar calendar does have a full moon on the summer solstice!

That means that Llana's suggestion of August 19 for the Great Upheaval's end would need to be changed, as basing the 740 BC lunar calendar on the IRL one for 1986 is about three years off. For the purposes of phases of the moon, 737 BC should correspond to 1986 (or 2005 for that matter ), so the dates line up for "Heart of Midnight". (Sorry about that, Llana! )

[Le Noir Faineant]

Very good job, "Roti"! I am amazed!

Do we launch a party on June 21st?