In the pursuit of realism, time poses a challenge when writing about societies removed from Earth whereby Earth is no longer a standard. It fails to be practical to keep old standards of time, with the exception of the second. It is necessary to develop clock and calendar system as a new time standard for these stories, which can get hectic when dealing with ages. In most cases I try to avoid assigning year ages to the characters, but in most cases, when a character is referencing years, it is a Pavonan year, which is longer than ours.

The following chart is part of my spreadsheet for calculating time.

And because Pavona is an Earth-like planet, I mean it to be very much like Earth, including similar axial tilt to generate similar seasons. Thus I have determined that a season is 124.25 Pavonan days, a month has either 41 or 42 Pav. days, and a Pav. year has 71 weeks. Weeks are still seven days, although with the evolution of language the names of the days would change. I haven't given names for them, so in the interim the real names are adeqate placeholders. I don't have names for months either. When I need a name, I'll invent one.

I made this reference image as a quick-look guide to determin hours and time of day.

I made this using Rhino 3D modeling software, which when substituting time for distance, did all my calculating for me. Colored it in Photoshop. I was surprised that Mercator's hour is so close to Earth standard, so that when I write about hours on that planet, I pratically mean an hour. Make note that on Pavona, analog clock faces are numbered to 13. On Mercator, to 10. Bear in mind the duration of the second has not changed, but minutes and hence hours on both these worlds have increased, which is why 3 and a half extra hours only equates to one added number on the clock face.

And yes, I have devised a calendar. It was excriuciating. I'll tack it on to the end. I do have a work-in-progress timeline for the stories on the Mercator Arc:

Because I can't help but to think of durations by our clocks and calendars, I have to calculate from Earth to Pavona time. And since 1 year on Mercator is 33.03 our years, I haven't begun to tackle how they track time. I would image they keep to Pavonan when determining age.

The Calendar.

I wanted to make a perfect calendar where the last month dovetailed the first month, but new years will pick up where old one left off, just like ours.

Posted by Paul Cargile at 2:12 AM EST

Updated: Saturday, 22 January 2011 9:15 PM EST

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 A hegemony of 58 civil worlds (32 solar systems)  governed from the planet Pavona, spanning at its widest 1,165 light-years across, residing in the Scutum-Centaurus Arm.

 TELLURIC CLASS WORLD  1 Habitational  A type of planet most suitable for human inhabitation, notable for a large percentage of water, breathable atmosphere, moderate temperature scales, consistent climates, and a compatible biosphere or conditions to introduce a biosphere.  Telluric planets are rare, with only two existing in the Expanse: Pavona and Cenestra.  Others are scattered throughout the galaxy.  2 Planetological  A planet comprised mostly of silicon, oxygen, and iron, and not necessarily habitable.

 SUBTELLURIC CLASS WORLD  Habitational  A type of planet tolerable for human inhabitation, notable for breathable atmosphere and moderate temperature scales.

 NONTELLERIC CLASS WORLD  Habitational  A world inhospitable to most forms of multicellular life requiring enclosed habitats for survival.

 The list below consist of only the Civil Worlds, those worlds administrated by one or more government systems sanctioned by the Federal Architecture, and that share similar levels of social and technological advancement. Not included are many Uncivil Worlds, those worlds populated by settlers with little or no basic government systems and usually degraded social and technological levels.  These worlds usually have very harsh environments but are sought for the freedoms and rights afforded by a lack of a government. While most uncivil worlds exist outside the Expanse, there are those that reside within the volume of the Expanse but are not a formal part of the hegemony.

 Notes: the planet Pavona has nothing to do with the known star Delta Pavonis as it is in the neighborhood of 24,000 lightyears away, and subjectively (relative to the founding of the Pavona colony) 3500 years ahead in time from our standpoint. I have not decided how far into our future the Apaxan delivered the colony after the Exodus. However, I do not believe that knowing exactly how far into the future these events occur is important.The scattered inhabitancies lose and gain technology over the centuries so a future date is no metric for technical advancement.

 Some of these planets occupy the same solar system, but I haven't decided which ones yet. And if stories don't take place on them, I may never.

Posted by Paul Cargile at 12:36 AM EST

Updated: Wednesday, 12 January 2011 1:24 AM EST

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