The calendar year of Exandria runs a total of 328 days, grouped into seven-day weeks over the course of eleven months. These months are outlined below in the order of their arrival within the calendar year, along with their respective number of days and holidays common throughout Tal’Dorei (many of which are detailed within the ""Pantheon of Exandria"" section in “chapter 2”).
Counting Years
In Exandria, the years are most commonly counted by a reckoning known as ""Post Divergence”,” with year 0 being the fateful year that the “Prime Deities” ended the “Calamity” by sealing all the gods behind the Divine Gate. This book describes the world as it is in the year 836 P.D. If you’re familiar with the Critical Role campaigns, this year is twenty-four years after the end of Campaign 1 (Vox Machina) and toward the end of Campaign 2 (The Mighty Nein).
Months and Seasons
The names of the months and days of the week vary between cultures, but the elven calendar described here is the standard means of reckoning dates in Tal’Dorei—as well as in most nations around the world, for ease of international trade and diplomacy.
Just as in our world, there are four seasons, and the year ends and begins just after the winter solstice.
The first blush of spring in Tal’Dorei is felt as new flowers bloom on Wild’s Grandeur, a holy day on the 20th of Dualahei. The official start of the season, however, is observed a week earlier and celebrated with games, music, and just-ripened food at the Renewal Festival. Summer brings hotter days toward the middle of Unndilar. The noonday sun of the 26th day is called the Zenith, and this solstice is considered the first true moment of the summer.
The colors change and winds cool as autumn begins in the early days of the month of Fessuran, marked by the Harvest’s Close on the 3rd day. The chill of winter arrives to bring longer nights and cleansing snow on Barren Eve, the 2nd of Duscar, a nighttime celebration and remembrance of those who fell in battle.
The seven days of the week are named Miresen, Grissen, Whelsen, Conthsen, Folsen, Yulisen, and Da’leysen. Each day is 24 hours long, and most city-dwellers in the Republic of Tal’Dorei are expected to work eight hours of that day—except for Yulisen and Da’leysen, which comprise the weekend, and on holidays.
These social rules don’t necessarily apply to cultures where sleeping patterns are different (such as in “Syngorn”, where most of its people are “elves” who trance a mere four hours of the day), or to people outside of cities—such as farmers, who rise with the sun, and traveling merchants and adventurers, who work highly unusual hours.
Using a Calendar
The Exandrian calendar is intentionally quite different from our own. The creation of calendars is a messy and often illogical process, with strange artifacts of their making that linger on only because of tradition—and because it would be too much of a hassle to get the entire world to change their way of counting time and days.
You don’t need to bother with the Exandrian calendar in your home game. It’s perfectly reasonable for you to use a nice, simple seven-day week, thirty-day month, and twelve-month year. You may even use our names for the months and the days of the week so that when an NPC tells the party to meet them at noon on “Grissen, Misuthar 7th,” they’re basically talking about “Tuesday, February 7th.”
However, if you want to immerse your players in the fantasy world of Exandria, using this unfamiliar calendar may help you on your quest.
Exandrian Calendar
| Month | Day | Holidays |
|---|---|---|
| Horisal | 29 | New Dawn (1st) Hillsgold (27th) |
| Misuthar | 30 | Day of Challenging (7th) |
| Dualahei | 30 | Renewal Festival (13th) Wild’s Grandeur (20th) |
| Thunsheer | 31 | Harvest’s Rise (11th) Merryfrond’s Day (31st) |
| Unndilar | 28 | Deep Solace (8th) Zenith (26th) |
| Brussendar | 31 | Artisan’s Faire (15th) Elvendawn or Midsummer (20th) |
| Sydenstar | 32 | Highsummer (7th) Morn of Largesse (14th) |
| Fessuran | 29 | Harvest’s Close (3rd) |
| Quen’pillar | 27 | The Hazel Festival (10th) Civilization’s Dawn (22nd) |
| Cuersaar | 29 | Night of Ascension (13th) Zan’s Cup (21st) |
| Duscar | 32 | Barren Eve (2nd) Embertide (5th) Winter’s Crest (20th) |
| ^exandrian-calendar |