Calendar         Lur-Asko is located on a world known by the Draconic name Tsuunahgo. The planet orbits its star approximately once every 372 days. In addition to rings formed by the First Aeon asteroid incident, Tsuunahgo is orbited by two moons: Adamas, a small volcanic moon close to the planet, and a more distant one named Tel-Kryon, which is more analogous to Earth's moon. Because of the different distances, these two moons have vastly different orbital periods, making them chaotic indicators of time. It is likely that the planet's rings literally outshone the moons in the minds of evolving sentients; the rings reflect slightly more light in spring and summer (when the sun is on the same side of the rings as northern-hemisphere Lur-Asko), and less in fall and winter. The shadow of the rings also passes over all realms of Lur-Asko at some point during the year, creating a regular time of gentler golden daylight. For all these reasons, the measurement of weeks and months never arose in Lur-Asko, and time has always been kept in terms of seasons.

    Lur-Asko still uses the simple calendar created by the Golden Age Alacris, which divides the 372-day year into four 93-day seasons marked off by their respective equinoxes and solstices. Dates are expressed as days since the season's equinox or solstice. For example, the day of the winter solstice is the 1st of Winter, and the last day before the spring equinox is the 93rd of Winter. Midnight marks the beginning of a new day.

    In the Adventuring Age, as in previous times, Lur-Asko's cultures are diverse and complicated. All of the traditions and customs regarding holidays and times of year are far too numerous to be listed here. Still, there are a few holidays so widespread and culturally important that they bear mention; many are those handed down by the Alacris to the Subject Species. The following are the days observed near-universally across the continent:

New Year - 1st of Winter     Years begin with the winter season, and their arrival is marked by celebration. Nearly everyone stays up till midnight on the 93rd of Fall to see the beginning of the new year. Young and fun-loving types may pull an all-nighter, enjoying the drinking, music, dancing, and storytelling that accompanies all social celebrations in most of Lur-Asko. Many take some time to reflect on the year's events and consider how its lessons should be applied to the next.

Hup's Day - 25th of Winter     During the height of its prosperity in the Golden Age, Alacrian civilization had what some considered to be a looming problem: a shrinking population. Hup VII was an enterprising social engineer who sought to remove the obstacles of social convention and timidity from the quest for a mate. In the original Alacrian formulation of Hup's Day, any favorable or thoughtful action towards the opposite sex, no matter how small, is considered a clear expression of romantic interest. Today, this aspect of the celebration is still observed in most taverns and street parties. But as modern tradition has evolved, Hup's Day has come to represent a more complete celebration of love rather than simply reproduction; the majority of Lur-Asko now takes the day as an opportunity to show appreciation for family, friends, and lovers of any gender.

Dona's Day - 1st of Spring     Dona I was an early Rationalist known amongst Alacrian philosophers as one of the first to espouse the doctrine of the Creator in response to the Three Unanswerables. Amongst the common people, she was known more for her own ethical doctrine: that those who followed the path of reason and Creator should themselves become the answer to societal ills such as poverty and injustice. In her city, Dona began the tradition of giving gifts on the spring equinox. Today, this tradition is observed by everyone from peasant children to city leaders to adventurers. Gifts should be personally meaningful rather than financially extravagant, and it is considered bad form to try to outdo another's gift or draw attention to one's giving. For those looking to actually throw their wealth around, the second tradition of Dona's Day also continues to be observed: prodigious contributions to charity. All charitable organizations in Lur-Asko tend to base their budgets on Dona's Day, which often sustains them for most of the year.

Day of Advancement - 38th of Spring     When the Alacris "adopted" the Subject Species to teach them their ways, they created the Day of Advancement. On this day, select industrious individuals from every species were allowed into Alacrian city centers to exhibit and learn from each others' works of engineering and gadgetry. A time of both development and marketing, this tradition continues to be observed by technologists and merchants throughout Lur-Asko. Instead of Alacrian fortress-cities, it is now the surface cities of the former "Subjects" which are now packed with amazing technology - often itself an effort to reverse-engineer the advances of the Ancient Ones.

Day of Creation - 63th of Spring     Not to be outdone by their more "practical" fellows, the artists of the Alacris soon copied the Day of Advancement. Though the general principle is the same, on this day it is the works of art, music, poetry, and fiction that are exhibited in the cities. The fine arts are considered by many to be the purest reflection of the Creator's work in sentient beings - and by others as a great shot at some coin-heavy publishing deals.

Signing Day - 55th of Summer     On this day in 823 AFA, elven leaders signed the Declaration of Methods. This political document heralded the end of the Imperial Age and the rise of the independent cities of the Adventuring Age. Different cities and groups tend to observe Signing Day in different ways depending on their political beliefs. In addition to commemorating the Declaration, there is another Signing Day tradition that probably affects Lur-Asko more tangibly: there is almost always a conflict in some location between the Knights of Order and the Ministry of Chaos. These two factions both found their origin in the end of the empires, and their radically different philosophies often come to blows on the highly symbolic Signing Day. In recent years, the battles have often been joined by the Opened Hand.

Day of Providence - 1st of Fall     Most celebrated in rural areas, the Day of Providence occurs in the midst of the harvest season. Farmers take time out from their labors to meet in various locations - often village squares - and throw a feast. This meal can be truly grand if the harvest was bountiful, and the day almost always takes on a religious significance as the Creator is praised for their supposed invisible provision. Since the existence of providence itself is both a controversial and fairly recent idea, many people - especially city dwellers - tend to laugh off the holiday as borderline-superstitious. Still, the day has a positive effect on many communities, and the social gatherings are often used as a chance to settle old feuds and end petty rivalries. In many realms, the looming threat of the yearly difficulties of winter is enough motivation to do so.

Day of the Worthy - 63rd of Fall     At the end of the Draconic Wars, a group of Alacrian war commanders created a holiday to remember the many fallen soldiers. Mindful that the white dragons would never stop trying to undermine mortal civilization, the commanders urged their citizenry to not only mourn the dead, but to live worthy of their sacrifice. Ultimately, their warnings were unsuccessful, and the Alacris dissolved into warring factions before their ultimate demise in the Fall. Just as ugly was the holiday's fate in the Imperial Age, when it was resurrected as a day to praise the military misadventures of imperial leaders; public executions of citizens who tried to evade conscription were commonplace, often to the cheers of propagandized crowds. In the Adventuring Age, the Day of the Worthy has been restored a bit closer to its original formulation: a day to remember those fallen in conflict and prevent their deaths from being in vain. But this time, the ruins of both the Alacris and the empires stand as a solemn reminder of what happens when the lessons of war are forgotten - or, perhaps, remembered a bit too fondly.