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The BRPA Britannian / Earth Time Conversion Method.

WarderDragon

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This is part of a discussion I had on Orcs and Savages in Ultima Online.

Here I elaborate on my own theory of character aging and time conversion. It isn't canon but would explain alot of the ... inconsistencies in Ultima Lore.

Thoughts?

WarderDragon; The Savage in You said:
I understand Mondain as having been defeated three centuries before Ultima Online.

Considering that it has been about one hundred and twenty years since the Fall of Trinsic (10 Earth Years) - and no serious roleplayer I am aware of is representing their Youthful Hero of Trinsic as a Geriatric - I tend to interpret character lifespan and time perception as conforming to Earth. Even if Planet Sosaria circles the Ultima Sun 120 Times the aforementioned character ages a Single Year.

That means to most characters - Lord British amongst them - Mondain was defeated about 'three decades' before the launch of Ultima Online.

I understand Ultima Online as having begun at Ultima 2. What has changed is that the circumstances that prompt Cantabrigian to consolidate the Realm and become its Crowned Monarch - rather than a placeholder for the Wolfgang Dynasty - and Religious Prophet occurs much earlier than Ultima Prime.

Lord Robere rather than Exodus.
Years occur in Months. Planet Sosaria circles the Britannian Sun once per Earth Month. The axis of Sosaria prompts Winter to come once every Twelve Years.

Britannian Peasants would not perceive things as being different from Medieval Earth. We age the same as Earthlings. Astronomers and Mages might be aware of the spin but would not notice it being abnormal unless there is some knowledge of Earth.

The Trammel (Silver) Moon follows the same cycles as the Earth Moon (for the ease of RPing New / Full Moon Cycles). The Feluccan (Red) and Dark (Black) Moons are independent of the Silver Moon and can be New / Full at the need of the character.

Months can follow the tables used in Dungeons and Dragons. Names are interchangable based on culture. (e.g. New Britannians could be accustomed to the Earth Calendar Names.)

January - Hammer - "Deepwinter."
February - Alturiak - "The Claw of Winter."
March - Ches - "The Claw of the Sunsets."
April - Tarsakh - "The Claw of Storms."
May - Mirtul - "The Melting."
June - Kythorn - "The Time of Flowers."
July - Flamerule - "Summertide."
August - Elesias - "Highsun."
September - Eleint - "The Fading."
October - Marpenoth - "The Leaffall."
November - Uktar - "The Rotting."
December - Nightal - "The Drawing Down."
 

Brytt

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I always wondered the formula for converting Britannia time to Earth time...

Stratics runs a Britannian date across the top of the page.... I often wondered how to figure out how to convert something that happened three years ago in October, for example, into a Britannian date that makes sense without trying to piece it together by relative events.

So I'd just figure out how many months ago the event happened and subtract that many years from the current date?
 

WarderDragon

Babbling Loonie
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Yes.

We celebrated Halloween "One Year Ago." Twelve Years have passed since the last Snowfall. Queen Dawn has reigned for "Fourteen Years." You can find the time converter here.

Somewhere I read that the developer responsible for coming up with this piece of Lore - the 300th Anniversary of Mondains Defeat - based this on a miscalculation on the date of the Ultima 1 Launch (17 Years Ago at that point; the 'Defeat of Mondain') and the concept in Ultima Canon Lore that time passed at a faster rate in the Britannian 'Dimension' than Earths. (The Avatar might return home for a couple months between summonings and discover centuries have passed; explaining the changing landscape of each title.)

The question here is do we RP that it has been that much time - i.e. that it has been seven years since the Golden Brew reopened rather than seven months - or do we come up with a separate conversion scheme.

(e.g. 30 Years have passed since the launch of Ultima I and the Defeat of Mondain; so we could call tonight Nightal the 2nd, 30 Anno Britannia rather than Jan. 13th 380. Sosaria does circle the Sun once each month but the slow axial tilt adheres to a twelve month cycle of Seasons; explaining the presence of Harvestide and Yule once every Twelve 'Years.')

I do not think it was meant to be Canon that characters are born and die in the span of Five to Eight Years. Thoughts?
 

WarderDragon

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We also have to consider whether Ultima 2 and Ultima Online begin after the Shattering - which is the semi-established interpretation of Ultima Online - or whether we adhere to the interpretation of Ultima 1 where the Avatar defeats Mondain and then returns 1000 Years into the Future where he is welcomed as a Hero. (Which doesn't make much sense since if he defeated Mondain at Year 0 - the Creation of the Gem - that thousand years of torment would never have happened; thus I believe the former explanation makes more sense even if the latter is used in the Ultima Series.)

In essence the Avatar would have created separate time lines. We have to decide - both on Baja and in UO - whether it has been 30-40 Years since the Death of Wolfgang and the Fall of Akalabeth or 1200-1400 Years.
 
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