Gorean Chronology

There are various ways to tell time, on Gor, depending on the area of the planet you find yourself within. The Wagon Peoples and Torvaldslanders, as well as the Tribesmen of the Tahari, the Black Tribes of the jungled south, and the Red Peoples, depend almost entirely upon their interpretation of the various positions of celestial bodies to keep track of such matters. Gorean chronometers, excepting those which are of the finest quality, seem to often lack a minute hand or a second hand, and tend to concern themselves only with the passage of ahn. Gorean chronometer run backwards, their spinning hands rotating in a counter-clockwise direction.

**Quotes will be added to this section as an add-on page at a later date.**

Gorean Day

The Gorean day is split into Ihn, Ehn and Ahn. A day being twenty Ahn (hours) long with the tenth Ahn being considered noon. In most cities the "bar" is rung ever ahn, a bell of some sort, to announce the passing of the hour.

Ihn: Gorean Second
Ehn: Gorean Minute (80 Ihn)
Ahn: Gorean Hour (40 Ehn)
Day: 20 Ahn



Gorean Month

The Gorean calendar is divided into twelve twenty-five day months. Each month consists of five weeks (Hands), each of which is five days long. Each month is separated from the month which follows it by a five day "Passage Hand" which marks the passage from one month to the next. Following the normal Passage Hand which marks the end of the twelfth Gorean month is a five day period known as "The Waiting Hand" during which most Goreans mourn the passing of the old year. The Waiting Hand concludes on the eve of the Vernal equinox, and the following day is the Gorean New Year. See our Calendar for a visual representation of the Gorean calendar.

Some groups, most notably the Red Savages, Red Hunters and Wagon Peoples, do not follow the standard Gorean month but instead use celestial bodies, usually the moons, each named.

Gorean Year

The most widely used chronological system on Gor seems to be the Arian method. It is mentioned that many Cities on Gor will add the Arian date to their own so as to be understood worldwide. This method refers to dates as "Contasta Ar" or "From the Founding of Ar." While it is doubtful that Ar is as ancient as this dating system claims it to be, Ar is recognized as one of the oldest, if not the oldest, City on Gor. Book one, Tarnsman of Gor, takes place in the year 10,110 C.A. The abbreviation "CA" stands for the phrase "Contasta Ar."

Ko-ro-ba, Tharna and various other cities arrange their years by the current administrator of the City. Therefor the end of book two, Outlaw of Gor, bears the date as follows:

Inscribed in the City of Tharna, the
Twenty-Third Day of En'Kara in the
Fourth Year of the Reign of Lara, Tatrix
of Tharna, the Year 10,117 from the
Founding of Ar.

Notice that the Arian year follows the year accepted within the City of Tharna for easy reference and understanding.

In Torvaldsland the years are numbered by Rune-Priests, the starting date of their chronology being from the legendary event "Thor's Gift to Torvald," when the God Thor supposedly traded the spring of Torvaldsland to the hero Torvald in exchange for a ring of gold.

Port Kar's method of dating changed within book five to become "Of the Sovereignty of the Council of Captains." It is also an administrative date system but as it refers to a political body instead of one individual will probably last for quite some time if not indefinitely.

The Wagon Peoples are an exception to the rules of year numbering as they do not number their years at all. Instead each year is given a specific name after it has passed to commemorate an event that they wish remembered for all time. These names are entrusted to "Year Keepers" who commit them to permanent memory to be passed down to their descendants.