Common Era calendar: Difference between revisions
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One of the primary sticking points among the negotiators devising the calendar was choosing where and why to place "year one." The epoch had to be unconnected to the history of any one particular country, religion, or historical figure. Eventually, the delegates settled on using the date that a meteor impacted the Urth in mid-winter 1,701 years prior to the date of the conference, because it was an event that was recorded by various cultures across the world and, therefore, could be calculated with precision.
The meteor's approach was seen as a bright streak across the sky by people across the world, and was noted as an omen (of either good fortune or ill) in several different cultures. The meteor struck in what is now [[Tavaris]] and had an aequatorial approach that made the streak visible in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. However, more notable and even more widely recorded was that the meteor's impact created a massive dust cloud that darkened the skies across the planet, negatively impacting temperatures, agriculture, and navigation worldwide. Academics believe that a smaller part of that meteor broke off and struck the area of [[Akas Akil]], [[Ashura]], [[Packilvania]], an event which is marked on the [[Paxism|Paxist]] liturgical calendar and adds to the religious significance of the [[Memorial of the Jovian Gate]].
Impelanzan historical records show a shift from sea-based to land-based travel and commerce after the impact because the dust and ash obscured the stars in the night sky by which they navigated at sea. The records of the Tavari people who lived in the area where the meteor hit noted a massive famine in the year of the impact, which they believed to be a fragment of the moon falling to Urth. The island on which the meteor hit is named the Greater Tear of the Moon (there is also the Lesser Tear of the Moon, a smaller, neighboring island), named after the event, and the island was held to be cursed and therefore remained intentionally uninhabited for centuries. In the current day, the islands are home only to a few scattered Akronist monastic communities.
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Delegations from several nations engaged in international commerce met at Rilanon, [[Christie Island]] on June 30th, 1701. Over the course of three weeks, the attendees worked to devise a standard calendar that would be acceptable for every nation. The delegates elected [[Great Morstaybishlia|Staynish]] astronomer Gregory Brilliant to be the presiding officer of the conference, which is why the Common Era calendar is also sometimes known as the ''Gregorian calendar''.
Approximately half of the delegates were astronomers, historians, and other academics who did the primary work of calculating the epoch and devising the rules. The other half of the delegates were ministers, ambassadors, and political officials from various governments, who did the primarily political work of convincing their counterparts to accept and use the calendar internationally. Delegates from [[Federation of Bana|Bana]], [[Cryria]], [[Duominzu]], [[Great Morstaybishlia]], [[Rosalica]], [[South Peragen]], [[Packilvania]], and [[Tavaris]] attended the conference.
Christie Island's hosting of the international conference would lead to the country having an international reputation as a neutral meeting ground. Christie Island would later be selected as the location of the Prime Meridian, by which other lines of longitude were numbered and how time zones were delineated under the Universal Time at Christie (UTC) standard.
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