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This is a direct copy of Ch 42, which was appended after Ch 41 originally, and that is why the word usage key begins at 29 . I have added it as an appendix because I thought it would be more obvious here, and hence easier to find, for anyone interested.
Castle’s equatorial circumference is a quarter greater than Earth’s and hence it has a greater oblate character. It has a greater inclination of its axis than Earth and a more perturbed motion due to having two moons and belonging to a more complex solar system. This causes a more extreme and erratic variation in its day length and seasonal temperatures. Its tropics are proportionately closer to its equator than Earth’s since the area where the sun may be directly overhead is small. Correspondingly its polar circles are proportionately farther away from its poles since the area that experiences no sunset in summer and no sunrise in winter is large. It takes four hundred and thirteen days for the planet to orbit its primary and a year to pass.
The planet’s two moons, Dimidd(29) and Lune are very different from each other. Dimidd, the farther one, appears small, faint and even when full barely casts a shadow, Lune, the closer one, appears larger, bright and when full provides enough light to render artificial illumination unnecessary. Lune has a higher albedo than Earth's moon and a much higher albedo than Dimidd. The Castle calendar is based on the movements of Lune, which waxes and wanes fourteen times in a year. There are thus fourteen lunes in a year, each of twenty-nine and a half days. Women of the Folk refer to their menstruation as their lunetime. Ten days are called a tenner, and there are nominally three tenners in a lune, though in every other lune the third tenner has only nine days.
The days in a tenner have names, which are derived from ages old counting words whose origins are lost in the mists of times over. The counting words are no longer in common usage having been replaced by more Anglicised, modern English, versions long since, and the day names themselves are rarely used any longer other than as personal names and occasionally as day markers for events that occur once a tenner, for example the Seamstresses hold a meeting on each third day of the tenner which is callt(30) the Treday meeting. They are: Yanday,(31) Tvåday,(32) Treday,(33) Fyrday,(34) Femday,(35) Sexday,(36) Sjkwuday,(37) Otday,(38) Ninday(39) and Tioday.(40) In a nine day tenner Ninday is missed, and the ninth day becomes Tiodet.(41)
Each lune is named, and in order they are: Faarl,(42) Luval,(43) Vilar,(44) Minyet,(45) Svertan,(46) Haldol,(47) Towin,(48) Chent,(49) Darrow,(50) Uernith,(51) Stert,(52) Larov,(53) Von(54) and Topal.(55) The lune names, like the day names, are used as personal names. The current year is year five hundred and sixty-eight after the Fell Year, which was also yclept the year of the Great Fevers. The Great Fevers was preceded and followed by exceptionally long and harsh winters. The combination nearly wiped out the Folk, and much was lost including virtually all of the little that had remained of their known history.
First Quarterday marks the spring equinox and falls on the fifteenth of Minyet. Due to the cold weather, it is usually celebrated in the Greathall and the courtyard rather than on the Gatherfield, which is the name given to the sheep grazed plain beyond the settlement of Outgangside. Second Quarterday, also yclept All Fallows Eve which is the high point of the year, marks the summer solstice with twenty-one hours and twenty-four minutes of daylight(56) at the Keep, and falls on the first of Chent. According to the archives it has always been celebrated on the Gatherfield. Third Quarterday marks the autumn equinox and falls on the fifteenth of Stert. It is usually celebrated on the Gatherfield, but if the weather is unseasonably cold the courtyard and the Greathall are used in its stead. Fourth Quarterday, also yclept The Sun Return, marks the winter solstice with two hours and thirty-six minutes of daylight at the Keep, and falls on New Year’s Day, the first of Faarl. Due to the extreme cold it is always celebrated in the Greathall and elsewhere in the Keep. The courtyard has only been used in historical times. The records shew that though the twenty-second of Luval is well past The Sun Return it is the expected date of the coldest day of the year.
Due to Castle’s perturbed motion day length on any given day of the years can vary by as much as half an hour from year to year which also means its tropics and polar circles move with subsequent movements of the areas which experience equal day and night length and those that experience no sunset in summer and no sunrise in winter.
Each day is divided into twenty-four hours with sixty minutes in each, but an hour is sixty-seven minutes and forty-seven seconds of Earth time. Time is not accurately kept and is, in the main, provided by sundials and special candles which are maekt by pouring molten wax into moulds berount(57) the wick rather than by wick dipping. Incomers with time pieces have in the past provided information for comparison purposes. A Castle year is approximately a quarter longer than an Earth year, more exactly 1.2774 times longer than an Earth year. The Castle mode of telling the time is like on Earth, but the twenty-four hour clock is not used, and in common with many places on Earth half means half an hour to or before not half an hour past or after, thus half to ten, usually said as half ten, is equivalent to 9:30 on Earth. The expression past is not used but rather over, thus twenty past two is twenty over two. Minutes before the hour are the same thus twenty to two is the same on Castle as on Earth, though twenty fore two is also used.
An interesting observation is the Folk seem to have adapted to the year length in strange ways: most pregnancies are still of two hundred and fifty-nine to two hundred and ninety-four days(58) whilth,(59) women’s lunecycles(60) are still of one lune’s whilth or so, and children’s growth rates are the same as on Earth. An Earth child of five Earth years is roughly equivalent to a Folk child of four Castle years in terms of physical and mental development, this parity continues through puberty and lasts till maturity. Unexpectedly may hap, once adulthood is reached the Folk have adapted to the longer year, and Folk life expectancy is longer than that of Earth. This is assumed to be due to a healthier environment and lifestyle since the younger an incomer is at incursion the more nearly their life expectancy becomes that of the folkbirtht,(61) though incomers live significantly longer than they could have expected on Earth.
Average age of menopause onset is usually ten years later for the folkbirtht than incomers though as with life expectancy the younger an incomer is at incursion the more closely their biology becomes like that of the folkbirtht. Folkbirtht women’s fertility does not significantly diminish till the end of menopause which frequently does not occur till women’s middle sixties, and seventy year old pregnant women are not unknown. A forty year old member of the Folk is physiologically equivalent to a bit less than a forty year old from Earth, in spite of having lived eight to ten Earth years longer.
Distances are usually measured in strides, an imprecise unit, and a farth(62) of a thousand strides was archaically referred to as a mil.(63) Longer distances are usually quoted in terms of the time it takes, known as whilth,(64) rather than distance, known as farth. The word distance is used but in the sense of spacing or separation. Small lengths are measured in wiedths,(65) spans and feet. A wiedth is nominally as wide as a finger, a span a nominal hand’s span and a foot likewise the length of an average foot. There are eight wiedths to a span, three spans to a foot and three feet to stride, and standards are kept to ensure the units uest(66) remain the same and don’t drift over time. Smiths and such crafts have no need of absolute measures, since what matters to them is not exactly how big a component part is, but that it fits it’s mating parts.
Area is not oft referred to, but when it is it is done in square strides, approximately a square yard. This is a loose measure with approximately five thousand square strides equivalent to an acre or approximately twelve and a half thousand square strides equivalent to a hectare, though neither acre nor hectare are uest on Castle.
Units of capacity, or measures of fullth,(67) a similar word with a slightly different meaning is fillth,(68) have evolved from the larger measures used by brewers, the sizes of their barrels, which are standardised by the coopers in their manufacture. Gallons, pints and gills are common sizes of domestic and craft equipment, with four gills69 to a pint and eight pints to a gallon. A pail is used as a loose measure, the average pail being of two gallons. The healers and herbals use blown glass vials as measures, which are standardised as accurately as is possible in their manufacture, and then calibrated gainst(70) standards kept for the purpose. These are specialist measures not in general usage.
Mass is standardised on the weight, and the various multiples and fractions of it. A weight or one of its multiples or subunits is an over sized piece of lead cast by the plumbers, which is then filed by the smiths, such that its mass matches that of a test standard using a balance scale. Spring balances are not uest so in strict Earth terms the Folk use mass not weight. Again the healers and herbals use smaller versions, not in general usage. The Folk for convenience generally measure, for example, food receipts, by volume rather than by mass though balance scales are available. A weight(71) is just a little more than two Earth pounds and a thousand weights are approximately equivalent to a ton, though both the units ton and tonne are unknown to the Folk.
Temperature is measured using thermometers containing dye in ultra distilled alcohol thermometers. The zero point is the freezing point of water, and the boiling point of water is set to one hundred heats.(72) The scale is thus a nominal Celsius scale, but the inherent inaccuracy in the bore of the thermometers is such as to make different instruments vary by as many as three heats, and the better ones are calibrated gainst standards kept for the purpose. Pure, dry ethyl alcohol freezes at -114°C, so in theory the thermometers work down to that. In practice they are reliable down to -80°C, and below that just exactly how cold it is is not really important. The thermometers are known to freeze, but it is possible that is due to a trace of water in the ethanol which would elevate the freezing point considerably.
Due to Castle’s perturbed motion day length on any given day of the years can vary by as much as half an hour from year to year which also means its tropics and polar circles move with subsequent movements of the areas which experience equal day and night length and those that experience no sunset in summer and no sunrise in winter.
The following time are averages of sunrise and sunset times as kept by the candlers since the Fell year. Sunrise and Sunset are referred to as Firstlight and Fulldark in Folk.
Lune----Date---Firstlight---------------Fulldark---------------Daylight
Faarl----1st-----48 mins over 10------24 mins over 1-----2 hrs 36 mins--------Winter Solstice
Faarl---15th----41 mins over 10-------31 mins over 1----2 hrs 50 mins
Luval----1st----20 mins over 10------52 mins over 1----3 hrs 32 mins
Luval---15th----46 mins over 9-------26 mins over 2----4 hrs 40 mins
Vilar-----1st-----2 mins over 9---------10 mins over 3----6 hrs---8 mins
Vilar---15th-----8 mins over 8-----------4 mins over 4----7 hrs 56 mins
Minyet--1st-----9 mins over 7-----------3 mins over 5----9 hrs 54 mins
Minyet-15th----6 mins over 6-----------6 mins over 6----12 hrs 0 mins--------Vernal Equinox
Svertan--1st----3 mins over 5----------9 mins over 7-----14 hrs 6 mins
Svertan-15th---4 mins over 4-----------8 mins over 8-----16 hrs 4 mins
Haldol---1st--10 mins over 3-----------2 mins over 9-----17hrs 52 mins
Haldol--15th--26 mins over 2---------46 mins over 9-----19 hrs 20 mins
Towin---1st---52 mins over 1----------20 mins over 10---20 hrs 28 mins
Towin--15th--31 mins over 1----------41 mins over 10---21 hrs 10 mins
Chent---1st---24 mins over 1----------48 mins over 10----21 hrs 24 mins-------Summer Soltice
Chent--15th--31 mins over 1----------41 mins over 10---21 hrs 10 mins
Darrow--1st--52 mins over 1----------20 mins over 10---20 hrs 28 mins
Darrow-15th-26 mins over 2----------46 mins over 9-----19 hrs 20 mins
Uernith--1st--10 mins over 3-----------2 mins over 9-----17hrs 52 mins
Uernith-15th---4 mins over 4-----------8 mins over 8------16 hrs 4 mins
Stert-----1st-----3 mins over 5-----------9 mins over 7------14 hrs 6 mins
Stert----15th----6 mins over 6-----------6 mins over 6------12 hrs 0 mins---------Autumn Equinox
Larov----1st----9 mins over 7------------3 mins over 5-------9 hrs 54 mins
Larov--15th----8 mins over 8------------4 mins over 4-------7 hrs 56 mins
Von------1st----2 mins over 9-----------10 mins over 3-------6 hrs---8 mins
Von----15th---46 mins over 9----------26 mins over 2-------4 hrs 40 mins
Topal---1st----20 mins over 10---------52 mins over 1-------3 hrs 32 mins
Topal--15th---41 mins over 10---------31 mins over 1-------2 hrs 50 mins
Faarl----1st---48 mins over 10---------24 mins over 1--------2 hrs 36 mins--------Winter Solstice
Word Usage Key
29 Dimidd, the terminal dd is pronounced as th in then, thus Dimith, (dimið).
30 Callt, called or named.
31 Yanday, day in the day names is pronounced dee, thus Yandee, (jandi:).
32 Tvåday, pronounced Tu + vor + dee, thus Tuvordee, (tvɔ:di:).
33 Treyday, pronounced Tray + dee, thus Traydee, (treidi:).
34 Fyreday, pronounced Fear + dee, thus Feardee, (fi:rdi:).
35 Femday, pronounced Fem + dee, thus Femdee, (fɛmdi:).
36 Sexday, pronounced Sex + dee, thus Sexdee, (sɛxdi:).
37 Sjkwuday, pronounced sjkw as ch (as in Scottish loch) + oo + dee, thus choodee, (χu:di:).
38 Otday, pronounced Ot + dee, thus Otdee, (ɐtdi:).
39 Ninday, pronounced Nin + dee, thus Nindee, (nindi:).
40 Tioday. pronounced cho (tuh + you) + dee, thus chodee, (tʃu:di:).
41 Tiodet, pronounced cho (as above) + debt, thus chodebt, (tʃoʊ:dɛt). The meaning is derived from little Tioday.
42 Faarl, pronounced f + ah + l, thus Fahl, (farl).
43 Luval, pronounced Loo + val, thus Looval, (lu:val).
44 Vilar, pronounced v + eye + lar, thus Veyelar, (vailar).
45 Minyet, pronounced min + yet, (mɪnjɛt).
46 Svertan pronounced sver + tan, (svərtan).
47 Haldol pronounced Hal + doll, (haldɐl).
48 Towin, pronounced T + ow (as in expression of pain) + inn, thus, Towinn, (taʊin).
49 Chent, pronounced shent, (ʃɛnt ).
50 Darrow pronounced Da + roe, (daroʊ).
51 Uernith pronounced oo + air + nith, thus Ooairnith, (u:ɛərniθ).
52 Stert pronounced stir + t, (stərt).
53 Larov pronounced La + rov, (larɐv).
54 Von pronounced Von, (vɐn).
55 Topal pronounced Toe + pal, (toʊpal).
56 For mean sunrise and sunset times at the Keep see Table 1 at the end of this section.
57 Berount, around.
58 Two hundred and fifty-nine to two hundred and ninety-four days i.e. of thirty-seven to forty-two weeks
59 Whilth, duration.
60 Lunecycle, menstrual cycle.
61 Folkbirtht, Folk born.
62 Farth, literally farness, distance, pronounced far + th, (fa:θ).
63 Mil, a Castle mil was thus somewhat more than a kilometre, though the term has passed out of use.
64 Whilth, distance expressed as the duration to cover it, pronounced wh + isle + th, (hwailθ).
65 Wiedth, pronounced wide + th, (waidθ).
66 Uest, used.
67 Fullth, volume usually a specific quantity, as in a fullth of three pints.
68 Fillth, volume usually uest as a relative term, as in it has a greater fillth than the barrel it replaced.
69 Units of capacity are more or less equivalent to imperial units with a little more than five Earth fluid ounces to the Castle gill.
70 Gainst, against.
71 Weight, a weight is a little less than a kilogram, but a little more than two pounds.
72 Heat, a heat is thus nominally a degree Celsius or Centigrade.
