Telling time: view article

This article explains how to tell time the traditional Nolwynn way.

Their culture has no need for strict time-based rituals. Their language reflects a looser understanding of time based instead on natural cycles, such as the movements of the moon and migrations of fish. With only 23.5 Earth hours per day, Kireles has shorter days than Earth by virtue of their moon being much closer.

The Nolwynn have a variety of ways of dividing time into days, months, seasons, and years. The week is a foreign concept for them and not a way that they divide time. Additionally, concepts like clockwise are not used, since they don’t have clocks.

[edit] [top]Measuring time

Many of the words used in Nolwynn to describe time are nouns:

kuwélerola; erola; erol: infinity, eternity

kuwéla: time as a concept; the passage of time, aging, entropy

kuwélwona: the past as a general concept, things that have already happened

twubxazara [nonimoreltxa]: a day-night cycle “the moon disappears and then reappears,” based on the word for “movement.” This word can also mean any 24-hour period. it can mean “tomorrow” or even “yesterday” depending on what aspect the verb has. in nolwynn culture it is considered a blessing to wake up just before the moon fully disappears from the sky and to fall asleep with it being the last thing you see.

zwanoona: the future, things that are hoped to come to pass

zwaneša: the future, the things that are hoped to never come to pass

unizšé: a month. can also mean “cycle” or “wheel.” In some contexts, it can also mean “repetition,” “menstrual cycle” or even “menstrual blood.”

otabanea: dawn

taba: time. Used as an infix can mean “season.”

kuwélwu: timeline, a series of events together as a whole

txazbatabaa: daytime “sun time”

nonimoretabaa: nighttime “moon time,” time of the full moon

tabarikoa: sleep time

nonimorelinetabaa; elineta: time of the crescent moon, “time of the small moon”

gazšataba oša orwee iir iig; šorwee: time of the new moon, “time of the arrival of the Shadowless Ones.”

unizšataba: year

kuba: now, current, present

núliwoa: twilight

Others are verbs:

kuwéliig: never

kuwélineey: sometime, sometimes

[edit] [top]Duration

When talking about how long something lasted, you have several options.

You can use the word kuwélwona "the past." This is sometimes shortened to won, where it means something like “ago.” Here are other phrases that describe duration. These words convey the meaning of “for X amount of time.”

duration	past	present	future	unspecified
short	inwon; won	inwé; wé	sonina	in
moderate	wonomo	omo		son; som
long	wonomo	tsworomo

[edit] [top]Past and Future

When talking about the future or past, you can use the prepositions zea “inside” or šwe “through; crossing” to quickly and easily convey when something happened or will happen:

Galyxa kweyúalanyii, unizšé zea.
In a month hence, Galyxa will give birth.

Galyxa kweyúalanyii, unizšé šwe.
Galyxa gave birth a month ago.

Notice that neither of these use aspect or any other time-related words. Compare to this example:

Galyxa kweyúalanyii, unizšé kwa.

This would likely be interpreted as: Galyxa will give birth in a month. But since there is no clarification, it could easily be interpreted in other ways depending on context. When discussing when something happened, kwa is always correct, though it is ambiguous if not used with aspect or other methods of clarification. When applied to time, kwa has a broad meaning encompassing: in; during; for X amount of time; etcetera.

[edit] [top]Telling time: the kxalinéla

Their traditional method of measuring time involved a special coral called a kxalinéla. As more Nolwynn move onto land, the traditional timekeeping methods are becoming rarer and rarer.

kxalinéla
[This part is a work in progress as I work out the biology and characteristics of the kxalinéla.]

An aquarium that is home to a cultivated wild coral which has a natural cycle perfect for keeping time, the kxalinéla "time coral" is the traditional way for Nolwynn to measure short time intervals - days, hours, and minutes.

biology and appearance
Its colors and activity levels change throughout the day and night. The kxalinéla has many different symbiotic parts and is known for its exceptional coloration. The kxalinéla is composed of several symbiotic parts called elements.

Its life cycle is incredibly time-sensitive. Some elements are dormant at night, while others are dormant during the day. The whole thing dies and regenerates across a single day-night cycle. The process of each piece dying before it regenerates is called elorikoa “dormancy.” After a year, the entire coral’s color patterns will be completely different.

There are four elements that are active either during the day or night:

active during the day:
fronds
spheres

active at night:
tubes
branches

Rock-like parts are active throughout both phases.

While the kxalinéla does use sunlight, its preferred food is magical radiation, the waste product of wizardry which has contaminated the entire planet and food chain. In particular, the coral seems to enjoy caesium-133, an isotope that is rarely found in the wild and invariably the product of magical waste products. Because of this, the Nolwynn can take the kxalinéla anywhere on the planet and still keep reliable time without needing the sun.

cultural significance
This beautiful coral is important in Nolwynn mythology and culture. Its colors are also associated with the Corporeal Values. You can read about Nolwynn color associations here.

It’s cultivation and reading is the province of a specialist called a kxaliner, who trains first with the golinka, then is allowed to take on an apprentice. When the time comes for the apprentice to become a kxaliner, the golinka verifies that the apprentice’s training is complete. Unlike the golinka who is nearly always female, the kxaliner can be male or female. Every clan has a kxaliner and every clan has a kxalinéla; the corals are said to be genetically related. Each coral always tells the same time.

dividing time
Nolwynn divide days in accordance with the kxalinéla’s natural cycles, but they have imposed some of their cultural beliefs on this cycle. The coral’s cycle can be seen as having a variety of natural variations; the Nolwynn call these natural variations “segments” or tšinkulee. There is sometimes a bit of overlap between each tšinkula. The final two overlap with the next day.

tšinkula	txazbatabaa	ilwotaba	nalenataba	feyrataba	zolatxazbarataba
approximate translation	day	afternoon	night	late night	early morning
approximate part of the day	sunrise - 1pm	1pm - 6pm	6pm - 11pm	11pm - 4am	4am - breakfast time
notes	after you have eaten breakfast			overlaps	overlaps
kxalinéla’s characteristics	green fronds are beginning to unfurl. The rock-like parts are the same hue as the fronds. Spheres are violet as they die off. tubes have died off; what remains is orange.	green fronds have completely unfurled. The rock-like parts turn yellow. At the very end of this time, new pale purple spheres appear and sprout pink leaf-like appendages.	fronds die off, turning blue as they go. tubes begin to awaken. The rock-like parts turn reddish orange	tubular parts awaken. They take on a purple hue. rock-like portions change to a brown-orange as they are shed. the fronds shed and new buds are growing. The pink coloration of the spheres’ leaves deepens.	The tubes die off, replaced with orange nubs. Green fronds begin to sprout.

overlapping and shrinking segments
explaining feyrataba and zolatxazbarataba

overlapping
Nolwynn perceive night and darkness as belonging to the previous day. For them, the day starts after you have sat down to eat a communal breakfast. They don’t actually consider it overlapping, even though it does from a cosmic point of view.

shrinking
The overlapping segments feyrataba and zolatxazbarataba are used most often when an activity stretches into the wee hours of the morning.

Zolatxazbarataba sometimes shrinks when there is more light, depending on the time of year.

For example, when the sunrise is very early such as in summer near the equator, parts of zolatxazbarataba don’t happen. This is called inataba or in zolatxazbarataba, or a short zolatxazbarataba. Other than the shrinking of this segment, Nolwynn days do not account for the movement of the sun, focusing entirely on the time coral.

Example and further explanation:

To point out a specific time, a kxaliner would observe the coral’s characteristics. If the fronds were completely unfurled with pink and violet spheres growing around it, the kxaliner would know that they were in the last part of the segment ilwotaba.

When one element dies off, the coral is said to have gone through one phase ["kwezea"]. One segment lasts as long as four phases.

So, being in the last part of ilwotaba is the same as being in phase four of ilwotaba. In Nolwynn, one would say,

ilwotaba kweze nolu kwa
“It is phase four of ilwotaba” or approximately 5pm.

[edit] [top]other ways of telling time

seasons

imerataba: season of algae blooms, a time when food is scarce

twuzintxetaba: season of migration, a time when food is plentiful

ikwataba: breeding season, “baby season.” This is the time when many ocean mammals begin breeding. ikwataba is seen as the beginning of the yearly cycle; it is heralded by rituals and celebrations. for a Nolwynn child to be born during ikwataba is seen as a good omen.

star charts

When it comes to determining months or years, the Nolwynn look to the movement of the stars. This is a very accurate way of determining the passage of time across long spans.

Years are usually named after the dominant star. If something dramatic that impacted all Nolwynn happened that year, the name of the event would be appended as well.

Months are named after the season they are in; if clarity is needed, the name of the dominant star is added too. For example: imerataba kwes refers to the third month of the season imerataba.

menstruation

Nolwynn women in the same clans live in close proximity, which causes their periods to synchronize. This natural cycle is how the Nolwynn tell months, particularly for planning events that take place within their own clan. It is not always accurate, especially when comparing months between clans or between Nolwynn and land-dwellers.

Nolwynn therefore are more likely to use other natural cycles - such as seasons, fish migrations and other animal events, the moon cycle, or star alignments - to determine passage of time for planning events between clans.
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