Hello all! I haven't forgotten you, and I hope you haven't forgotten me. The time is soon approaching for the start of Volume 2, the first chapter of which is currently available on patreon and which I plan to release publically in the coming weeks. But, before that and as promised, I will be releasing some primers, the contents of which will vary from important changes that will affect the story/characters to pieces of background worldbuilding I've done.

To start with, I'm going to discuss time. During Volume 1 I made use of numbered weeks to display the passage of time, something that I will not be carrying over to Volume 2. The primary reason for this is because the actual time that elapsed during Volume 1 is retroactively changing for Volume 2. Volume 1 now canonically takes place over the span of an entire year, as opposed to ending during week 15. The reasons for this are two fold: firstly, 15 weeks is too short a span for the events that take place and makes the story feel more rushed than intended, and secondly, this change is meant to coincide with the increased focus on religion in the story.

While the second part may not make sense initially, it does bring me to the next item for this post: the introduction of the Imperial Calendar.

The Drygallis Empire makes use of the Imperial Calendar, a calendar system instated during the reign of the second Emperor. The Imperial Calendar is innately religious: it is a creation of the Church of the Council, the official religion of the Empire, and is separated into 8 months of 45 days, with each month devoted to one of the Gods of the Council. The Calendar also ends, and begins, on Maker's Day, the holiest day of the year and the only day to have 48 hours (as opposed to the normal 24 hours). Maker's Day coincides with the Maker's Solstice, a solar event that occurs every year and which, in ancient times, was thought to be the Maker creating more time for the true believers.

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The order of the months, and their respective Gods, are as follows:

* Month of Healing, in reverence to Aspaneous, the God of Health.

* Month of Effort, in reverence to Dymir, the God Of Work.

* Month of Prosperity, in reverence to Benera, the God of Prosperity

* Month of Advancement, in reverence to Quenha, the God of Growth.

* Month of Battle, in reverence to Larkona, the God of Conquest.

* Month of Victory, in reverence to Azphine, the God of Triumph.

* Month of Jubilation, in reverence to Tesyn, the God of Pleasure.

* Month of Conclusion, in reverence to Hadam, the God of the End.

The following is a standard prayer for Church of the Council:

Good health allows good work

Good work allows prosperity

Prosperity leads to growth

Growth grants the tools for conquest

Conquest results in triumph

Triumph is cause for celebration

Celebration must come to an end

After the end the world is reborn.