Time & the City

There are few clocks in the city; the few that exist are owned by rich nobles, the magi, and certain faiths. Most people rely on the ringing of bells from the City Hall of GREEN HILL. The Hall's bell-tower has twelve bells, each a different size and tone. They are rung in the same sequence every day, each tone and bell signalling a different hour. During the day, each bell is rang twice upon the hour; at night, the bells are rang but once.

Each hour is accurately timed thanks to an elaborate orrey, a gift from the priests of YELANA. This massive, intricately designed clockwork masterpiece stands within the council's bell-tower, and tracks the movement of the sun, moon and stars, measuring time at all levels. It not only displays the hour, but also the date (Southern reckoning)– day, week, month and year– as well as the seasons. A calendar is marked along the radius of the orrey, but follows the Southern months; thankfully, scholars have translated and transcribed them to their Northern counterparts, on a large, illuminated wall-chart that is framed behind the orrey.

It is the responsibility of the CUSTODIANS or TIME-KEEPERS to ring the bells and keep the orrey in perfect working order. One of them considers himself something of an oracle, and uses the orrey to make predictions, with varying results.

The majority of the population use the ringing of the bells to tell the time, but most can approximate it from the position of the sun and moon. Traders also use hour-glasses, while sentries use knotted string to tell the time, counting knots with a running mantra that also helps to pass the time on quiet shifts.