What planet are we on?

[Corylea]

Here on Earth, we have 24 hours in a day.  But on the Pillars of Eternity planet, they have at least twenty-FIVE:

 

 

Wow.  I hadn't realized that this was supposed to be taking place on another planet.  Is there a backstory for this that I've missed?

 

 

[Leferd]

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Eora

 

And because merchandising. http://www.amazon.com/Pillars-Eternity-Guidebook-Obsidian-Entertainment/dp/1616558091/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1429071320&sr=8-1&keywords=pillars+of+eternity+guidebook

 

 

[Marceror]

Here on Earth, we have 24 hours in a day.  But on the Pillars of Eternity planet, they have at least twenty-FIVE:

 

 

Wow.  I hadn't realized that this was supposed to be taking place on another planet.  Is there a backstory for this that I've missed?

You thought this game took place on Earth? Hmm.

[PrimeJunta]

27 hours.

 

I find that rather odd actually. An hour is an arbitrary division. What prompted the Eorans to divide the day-night cycle into 27 rather than 24?

 

Of course 24 is entirely arbitrary as well, but at least it divides neatly into 12 (day/night) and 6 (day until noon/day after noon, night before midnight/night after midnight). 27 OTOH is 3^3, but the day doesn't "naturally" divide into 3. If whoever created the division was mathematically inclined, I'd have expected her to settle on a power of 2 as that divides up even more neatly than, say, 24. I'd have gone with 32.

 

The Earth of Numenera has a 28-hour day, but that's because the Earth's rotation has supposedly slowed while the length of the hour has been retained all through the billions of years and rise and fall of vast civilizations. (Which strikes me as a bit puzzling also frankly.)

 

Mysteries...

Edited April 15, 2015 by PrimeJunta

[Corylea]

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Eora

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

You thought this game took place on Earth?

 

 

A fantasy Earth, in the same way that Tolkein's Shire is intended to be England, even though there are no hobbits in the real England.  Science fiction frequently features other planets, but fantasy usually takes place on a slightly different Earth -- one that has elves and/or dwarves and/or dragons and other creatures not found on the real Earth, one where magic works or where praying to a god or gods gives a priest magic spells. 

[Prime-Mover]

27 hours.

 

I find that rather odd actually. An hour is an arbitrary division. What prompted the Eorans to divide the day-night cycle into 27 rather than 24?

 

Of course 24 is entirely arbitrary as well, but at least it divides neatly into 12 (day/night) and 6 (day until noon/day after noon, night before midnight/night after midnight). 27 OTOH is 3^3, but the day doesn't "naturally" divide into 3. If whoever created the division was mathematically inclined, I'd have expected her to settle on a power of 2 as that divides up even more neatly than, say, 24. I'd have gone with 32.

 

The Earth of Numenera has a 28-hour day, but that's because the Earth's rotation has supposedly slowed while the length of the hour has been retained all through the billions of years and rise and fall of vast civilizations. (Which strikes me as a bit puzzling also frankly.)

 

Mysteries...

I always just assumed the Eora day night cycle was a couple of hours longer in earth hours, and that the Eorans themselves didn't necessarily use the same division. But does the lore reflect that the Eorans themsevles refer to it as a 27 hour day?

 

Beyond that, the particular division used could simply be a consession to the reader, like english is.

[Bryy]

A fantasy Earth, in the same way that Tolkein's Shire is intended to be England, even though there are no hobbits in the real England.  Science fiction frequently features other planets, but fantasy usually takes place on a slightly different Earth -- one that has elves and/or dwarves and/or dragons and other creatures not found on the real Earth, one where magic works or where praying to a god or gods gives a priest magic spells. 

Fantasy only takes place on Earth when it implies as much. How many fantasy novels take place on other planets? We don't like to think about that because it "breaks immersion", but this is what I love so much about the Elder Scrolls Chronicles (especially Skyrim where this is extremely apparent) and Dragonriders of Pern (which is a fantastic take on this very concept). Seriously, Elder Scrolls has never been shy about how Nirn is another planet, but bring that up to any player, and they will go nuts.

[PrimeJunta]

I always just assumed the Eora day night cycle was a couple of hours longer in earth hours, and that the Eorans themselves didn't necessarily use the same division. But does the lore reflect that the Eorans themsevles refer to it as a 27 hour day?

That doesn't make much sense either as game time does not flow at the same rate as real time over here. Not sure how long a day-night cycle takes, but it's a LOT less than 27 real-time hours. More like an hour maybe?

[Prime-Mover]

 

I always just assumed the Eora day night cycle was a couple of hours longer in earth hours, and that the Eorans themselves didn't necessarily use the same division. But does the lore reflect that the Eorans themsevles refer to it as a 27 hour day?

That doesn't make much sense either as game time does not flow at the same rate as real time over here. Not sure how long a day-night cycle takes, but it's a LOT less than 27 real-time hours. More like an hour maybe?

 

Not talking about real-time vs. game time. I just meant that Eora has the earth equivalent of a 27 hour day, i.e. three more real earth hours.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Prime-Mover

[RedSocialKnight]

And because merchandising. http://www.amazon.com/Pillars-Eternity-Guidebook-Obsidian-Entertainment/dp/1616558091/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1429071320&sr=8-1&keywords=pillars+of+eternity+guidebook

 

Worth getting, or cheap tat?

[PrimeJunta]

Not talking about real-time vs. game time. I just meant that Eora has the earth equivalent of a 27 hour day, i.e. three more real earth hours.

 

Yeah but what difference does it make since game time proceeds at a different rate anyway? Why display it as 27 hours per day? :mystery:

[brionkj]

 

Not talking about real-time vs. game time. I just meant that Eora has the earth equivalent of a 27 hour day, i.e. three more real earth hours.

 

Yeah but what difference does it make since game time proceeds at a different rate anyway? Why display it as 27 hours per day? :mystery:

 

Maybe it's just the devs way of showing '...we're not in Kansas anymore'

[PrimeJunta]

They could've done that just as well with a 32-hour day though. Mah immershun!

[Mungri]

Even if the game took place on a fantasy Earth, that doesn't mean that such a place needs to have the exact same time and orbital attributes as the real Earth.

[cirdanx]

 

Here on Earth, we have 24 hours in a day.  But on the Pillars of Eternity planet, they have at least twenty-FIVE:

 

 

Wow.  I hadn't realized that this was supposed to be taking place on another planet.  Is there a backstory for this that I've missed?

You thought this game took place on Earth? Hmm.

 

 

Maybe in a far far far far far away future http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-rotation-summer-solstice/

 

Though i don´t think anything will live on this planet anymore

[Luckmann]

Dividing it into 27 hours makes perfect sense. It gives you those 2 extra hours of sleep you always wanted, as well as adding 30 minutes to the workday to compensate for 30-minute breakfast and afternoon coffee breaks.

[brionkj]

Here's an explanation of Iroccian Calendar from the in-game books:

 

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Calendar

 

27 hours is still weird though, as we are used to being able to break the hours down equally between night and day. 

[Elerond]

I would say that people of Eora did go with 9 hours of morning, 9 hours of day, and 9 hours of night system.

[scrotiemcb]

27 hours.

 

I find that rather odd actually. An hour is an arbitrary division. What prompted the Eorans to divide the day-night cycle into 27 rather than 24?

 

Of course 24 is entirely arbitrary as well, but at least it divides neatly into 12 (day/night) and 6 (day until noon/day after noon, night before midnight/night after midnight). 27 OTOH is 3^3, but the day doesn't "naturally" divide into 3. If whoever created the division was mathematically inclined, I'd have expected her to settle on a power of 2 as that divides up even more neatly than, say, 24. I'd have gone with 32.

 

The Earth of Numenera has a 28-hour day, but that's because the Earth's rotation has supposedly slowed while the length of the hour has been retained all through the billions of years and rise and fall of vast civilizations. (Which strikes me as a bit puzzling also frankly.)

 

Mysteries...

Dividing a day into halves of "morning" and "night" is also an arbitrary division. Admittedly, less so, but it would seem that Eorans divide their days into thirds on a cultural level.

 

Which, you know, we do too. 24 hours is also divisible by 3, and we use the 8-hour concept plenty. It's a remarkably efficient way to set up 24-hour operations, which have seen military use for millenia of our history.

 

What I find strange isn't that the number of hours isn't divisible by 2; what I find strange is that it's not divisible by 6. The Numenera you speak of also seems odd to me.

Edited April 15, 2015 by scrotiemcb

[jools1980]

27 hours.

 

I find that rather odd actually. An hour is an arbitrary division. What prompted the Eorans to divide the day-night cycle into 27 rather than 24?

 

Of course 24 is entirely arbitrary as well, but at least it divides neatly into 12 (day/night) and 6 (day until noon/day after noon, night before midnight/night after midnight). 27 OTOH is 3^3, but the day doesn't "naturally" divide into 3. If whoever created the division was mathematically inclined, I'd have expected her to settle on a power of 2 as that divides up even more neatly than, say, 24. I'd have gone with 32.

 

The Earth of Numenera has a 28-hour day, but that's because the Earth's rotation has supposedly slowed while the length of the hour has been retained all through the billions of years and rise and fall of vast civilizations. (Which strikes me as a bit puzzling also frankly.)

 

Mysteries...

 

 

Maybe Eora orbits around a twin-star, and the perceived trajectory of their sun(s) doesn't automatically set a "halfway" point the way our "noon" (the Sun's highest point in its arc) does. Or maybe their sun is just one (which is what appears to be the case from the wiki), but its arc isn't as defined as our Sun's, which makes dividing the daylight time into an even number of fractions, problematic.

 

Hence Eorans preferred to divide the day in 27 hours (which, mind you, might not even be similar to Earth hours: they could be 40 minutes long, or 90 minutes long each).

 

Even here on Earth, the day hasn't always been split into 24 hours. For example, many people in Europe divided the day in 7 "segments", during the middle ages (each segment corresponded to some religious moment/prayer/function).

 

Let us not let our own habits and biases take over our perception of what's "different": of course a non-24-hours day sounds "weird" to us, but there might be lots of practical (well, fictionally so) reasons behind such choices.

 

Ultimately, it makes sense to me to consider this choice just a "device" to give the world of Eora an "exotic/alien but relatable to/familiar" flair.

Edited April 15, 2015 by jools1980

[brionkj]

 

 

Maybe Eora orbits around a twin-star, and the perceived trajectory of their sun(s) doesn't automatically set a "halfway" point the way our "noon" (the Sun's highest point in its arc) does. Or maybe their sun is just one (which is what appears to be the case from the wiki), but its arc isn't as defined as our Sun's, which makes dividing the daylight time into an even number of fractions, problematic.

 

It's a single sun in the sky as far as I can tell based on the lore provided in-game. However Eora does have two moons - with one that has a more irregular orbit.

 

I wonder if two moons might have any significant impact on the calendar. 

Edited April 15, 2015 by brionkj

[HoonDing]

I thought the planet was called Thepoes.

[Atheosis]

 

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Eora

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

You thought this game took place on Earth?

 

 

A fantasy Earth, in the same way that Tolkein's Shire is intended to be England, even though there are no hobbits in the real England.  Science fiction frequently features other planets, but fantasy usually takes place on a slightly different Earth -- one that has elves and/or dwarves and/or dragons and other creatures not found on the real Earth, one where magic works or where praying to a god or gods gives a priest magic spells. 

 

 

High fantasy fiction generally takes place in what are called secondary worlds.  I'm kind of amazed that this concept is new to you. 

[jools1980]

 

 

 

Maybe Eora orbits around a twin-star, and the perceived trajectory of their sun(s) doesn't automatically set a "halfway" point the way our "noon" (the Sun's highest point in its arc) does. Or maybe their sun is just one (which is what appears to be the case from the wiki), but its arc isn't as defined as our Sun's, which makes dividing the daylight time into an even number of fractions, problematic.

 

It's a single sun in the sky as far as I can tell based on the lore provided in-game. However Eora does have two moons - with one that has a more irregular orbit.

 

I wonder if two moons might have any significant impact on the calendar. 

 

 

I know, as I mentioned (in bold). It was just for the sake of speculation, really.

 

Not sure about the moons, in our world the Moon really only influence tides and can double as an approximative counter for months. Maybe if Eora's moons were visible during the day as well as during the night, they might have a cultural impact upon the subdivisions of the day itself.

[Elerond]

 

27 hours.

 

I find that rather odd actually. An hour is an arbitrary division. What prompted the Eorans to divide the day-night cycle into 27 rather than 24?

 

Of course 24 is entirely arbitrary as well, but at least it divides neatly into 12 (day/night) and 6 (day until noon/day after noon, night before midnight/night after midnight). 27 OTOH is 3^3, but the day doesn't "naturally" divide into 3. If whoever created the division was mathematically inclined, I'd have expected her to settle on a power of 2 as that divides up even more neatly than, say, 24. I'd have gone with 32.

 

The Earth of Numenera has a 28-hour day, but that's because the Earth's rotation has supposedly slowed while the length of the hour has been retained all through the billions of years and rise and fall of vast civilizations. (Which strikes me as a bit puzzling also frankly.)

 

Mysteries...

 

 

Maybe Eora orbits around a twin-star, and the perceived trajectory of their sun(s) doesn't automatically set a "halfway" point the way our "noon" (the Sun's highest point in its arc) does. Or maybe their sun is just one (which is what appears to be the case from the wiki), but its arc isn't as defined as our Sun's, which makes dividing the daylight time into an even number of fractions, problematic.

 

Hence Eorans preferred to divide the day in 27 hours (which, mind you, might not even be similar to Earth hours: they could be 40 minutes long, or 90 minutes long each).

 

Even here on Earth, the day hasn't always been split into 24 hours. For example, many people in Europe divided the day in 7 "segments", during the middle ages (each segment corresponded to some religious moment/prayer/function).

 

Let us not let our own habits and biases take over our perception of what's "different": of course a non-24-hours day sounds "weird" to us, but there might be lots of practical (well, fictionally so) reasons behind such choices.

 

Ultimately, it makes sense to me to consider this choice just a "device" to give the world of Eora an "exotic/alien but relatable to/familiar" flair.

 

Our current clock is combination of Egyptian 10 day light hours + 2 two twilight hours and 12 night hours (where length of hour changed depending on time of year as daylight was measured by sun dials and night time measured by observing 36 star groups called "decans" and this measurements changed somewhat depending on Earth's position with Sun) and from Babylonian's who used number system based on 60, which is why we have hours that are 60 minutes and minutes that are 60 seconds, although we didn't adopt their clock system that was divided on 360 units called "ush", but we have adopted their 360 degrees for circle system.

 

Chinese had clock system where they had divided day in 100 units called "ké", which was later on changed to system of 96 ké, because they also used another time measuring system/unit called "shi"/"double hours"/"Chinese hour" (that is based on their astronomical system Earthly Branches, which is based on observing orbit of Jupiter, which has about 12 year (11.86) orbit time, which works with 12 months of year, 12 zodiacs, 12 directions and this things of twelves was perfected with 12 hour clock system) and clock divided on 100 units and clock divided on 12 units don't mesh well with each other which lead eventually change of 100 ke clock to 96 ke clock in 1628 (there may have been western influence as change happened during time of arrival of Jesuit missionaries and 1/96 divination means that one ké is fifteen western minutes/quarter of hour). There has been also time when day has been divided in 108 ké and 120 ké.

 

Today we have changed our standard time definition to system that is no longer based on the rotation of the Earth around the Sun, but on atomic time. As a second is defined as: "9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom." and length other standard time units are based on that definition.