The Celestial Calendar (CC) is a lunisolar calendar of Jiao origin and the dominant system of timekeeping across eastern Rolara. It is the primary dating system in historical and cultural records from Jiao, Jeonbye, and Kimokotan, where near-identical analogs have developed (or been adopted) that are functionally indistinguishable from the Jiao original. The calendar was likely invented by a monk or administrator who studied the stars, and its origins are not directly tied to either the old or the new Jiao Empire, though political claims linking the calendar to imperial authority are used to strengthen the Mandate of Heaven.

Epoch and Conversion

The Celestial Calendar’s epoch predates the Extinguishment of the Stars of Power by 602 years as measured in the Ordo Stellae Potentiae. The canonical conversion is:

PE - 602 = CC

This offset has been verified across four independent sources: the World Martial Arts Tournament (1415 PE = 813 CC), Xiganmen (1322 PE = 720 CC), the Dragon Emperor article (1523 PE = 921 CC), and Ru Ling (922 CC in a context datable to 1524 PE). The event that defines Year 1 CC (603 PE) is not documented in the current knowledge base.

The current year is 930 CC (1532 PE / 409 TC), in the Era of Xun Wu.

Eras and Year Numbering

The Celestial Calendar uses two year designations simultaneously. The total year count runs continuously from the calendar’s origin (currently 930 CC). The era year counts from the beginning of the current ruler’s reign in Jiaohai. A date may be expressed as “930 CC” or as “the [Nth] Year of the Era of Xun Wu,” and both refer to the same moment. The era year resets with each new ruler; the total count does not.

The current era is the Era of Xun Wu, who claimed the imperial throne after the final World Martial Arts Tournament in 921 CC (1523 PE / 400 TC). The current year, 930 CC, is the 10th Year of the Era of Xun Wu.

Structure

Year

A standard Celestial Calendar year contains twelve lunar months tied to Luna's 29-day cycle, plus an intercalary thirteenth month inserted in certain years. The new year begins at a different point in the solar year each year, as the lunar months drift relative to the seasons.

A regular twelve-month year spans 348 days (12 x 29), twelve days shorter than the 360-day solar year used by the Tatharian Calendar. This drift accumulates until it equals a full lunar cycle, at which point The Longest Month is inserted. The mathematics produce a 29-year Great Lunar Cycle containing exactly 12 intercalary months: 29 years x 360 solar days = 10,440 days, which equals (29 x 12 + 12) x 29 = 360 x 29 = 10,440 lunar days. The alignment is exact. Jiao astronomers regarded the correspondence between Luna’s 29-day orbit and the 29-year intercalary cycle as evidence of cosmic order, and it became one of the foundational observations cited in support of the Mandate of Heaven.

Months

Months are named by ordinal number, with one exception:

Position Name
1 First Month
2 Second Month
3 Third Month
4 Fourth Month
5 Fifth Month
6 Sixth Month
7 Ghost Month
8 Eighth Month
9 Ninth Month
10 Tenth Month
11 Eleventh Month
12 Twelfth Month
13 The Longest Month (intercalary)

The seventh month is called Ghost Month rather than “Seventh Month.” The Longest Month is an intercalary month inserted periodically to realign the lunar calendar with the solar year, similar in function to the Tatharian Calendar’s intercalary Bellatorius. It does not appear in every year.

Days

Days within a month are numbered ordinally (1st day, 2nd day, etc.). There is no named weekly cycle analogous to the Tatharian ten-day week.

Date Format

Dates are conventionally written as: [Ordinal Month], [Ordinal Day], Era of [Ruler], [Year] CC

Example: 4th Month, 6th Day, Era of Xun Wu, 930 CC.

Geographic and Cultural Usage

The Celestial Calendar originated in Jiao and remains the standard dating system in Jiao cultural and historical records. Near-identical analogs are used in Jeonbye and Kimokotan. Whether these represent independent developments, direct adoptions, or branches of a shared ancestral system is not documented.

The calendar does not appear in western Rolaran sources. Articles about Tatharian, Al-Zaluman, or Videhan cultures use the Tatharian Calendar or PE dates exclusively.

Origins

The Celestial Calendar does not commemorate a single founding event. Jiaohai is one of the few locations that claims a direct connection to the time before the Extinguishment of the Stars of Power, but the calendar itself does not reach back that far. The conventional story, preserved in Jiaohai’s written court histories, holds that a ruler of the city around 603 PE standardized the calendar based on ancient astronomical records discovered in the region. The more likely truth is that some administrator or temple monk compiled the system, and the court adopted it as a matter of official proceedings. The record of that adoption survives in Jiaohai’s civic histories, even if the actual inventor does not.

Known Eras

The full succession of eras across the Celestial Calendar’s 930-year history has not been compiled. The following eras are attested in the current knowledge base:

Era Ruler CC Start CC End PE Equivalent Notes
Era of Qin Qin pre-calendar unknown pre-603 PE Founding ruler of Jiaohai; the city predates the calendar by centuries (founded -820 AW). Qin’s era, if retroactively applied, would be the earliest.
(intervening eras) various Kings of Jiaohai unknown unknown The King of Jiaohai title passed through an undocumented succession across roughly 900 years.
Era of Lang Wen Lang Wen unknown 921 unknown Last King of Jiaohai under the old Kingdom of Jiaohai structure; head of the Lang Dynasty.
Era of Xun Wu Xun Wu 921 present (930) 1523 PE Current era. Xun Wu claimed the imperial throne after the final World Martial Arts Tournament, reconstituting the New Jiao Empire. 930 CC = 10th Year of the Era of Xun Wu.

The transition from Lang Wen’s era to Xun Wu’s era represents not just a change of ruler but a change of political structure: the Kingdom of Jiaohai, a city-state monarchy, was subsumed into the New Jiao Empire, a reconstituted imperial government. Lang Wen retains the title of King of Jiaohai under the new imperial framework.