As this week was the release of a big o’ PDF, with the POD version in the last stages of prep, the topic of the week was a little bit up for grabs. So after a few mins of brain wracking I decided on this week being about “Time” – A fairly open-ended subject for sure, but one that is essential to be aware of in world-building. Time travel/temporal manipulation will be covered in another post.
- Is there a single world-spanning calendar or time system or do different cultures use their own?
- What is the “year 1” for the system and how long ago was it?
- Compared to Earth, how long are the various periods? (year, day etc.)
- What is the preferred method of keeping track of time?
- How is the day divided up?
- What are the names of the various units of time?
- How in synch is the calendar with astronomical reality?
- Does the calendar change, such as leap years, or is it fixed?
- Are there times of the day/week/year/etc that have cultural significance?
- Is there a group that keeps track of what the time is so others can have accurate clocks/calendars/etc?
Bonus Question – How do various groups or cultures value being punctual/on-time?
The ongoing & growing list of world-building prompts & questions can be found HERE.
World Anvil gives you a series of tools, templates and prompts to help manage and build your world – See more HERE (Affiliate Link)
What world-building topic would you like to see next time? Let me know in the comments below or on social media like Twitter.
