Time

Time in The Third World is not even nearly linear. This is one of the very small number of things that its sciences have in common with the universes we are generally familiar with. In fact, this tends to give visitors (all of whom are accidental) a point from which to begin relating to their new surroundings. At least, until they move to a different civilization than the one they arrived in.
You see, although time in The Third World flows just as it does in every other universe we are familiar with, each society within it has a very different conception of how that is. By nature, sentient beings (at least, in their early phases) attempt to linearize that which is not patterned. Eris, the most powerful goddess in The Third World, is greatly amused by this, as well as empowered by it. She is especially proud of all the different linearization that denizens of The Third World have come up with.
The Nadir are Eris’s favorite; they have an excessively constant view of time. It never cycles, either. At the time of the first battle of the Stone Rush War, it was, in a rough translation, Moment 9876543212345678987654321234567898765432123456789876543215. At least, those external to Nadir society believe it was. The Nadir intentionally ended the war at Moment 9876543212345678987654321234567898765432123456790000000000. It is not entirely clear how long a single Moment is compared to other time systems, but this is a common issue in describing the different time systems of The Third World to those who subscribe to other time systems.
The root of the fundamental differences in each time counting system is in the existence of literal Time Zones. Throughout the world, there are regions wherein the non-linear time apparently linearizes itself differently. Scientists, Magicians, and the Nadir suggest that this is related to concentrations of raw (Black) magic deep beneath the crust of the earth (or the sea floor). However, they have failed to conclusively prove any connection. This is due in part to the fact that every time they try to launch a mining campaign (led generally by the Stopen engineers, who are much more eager to dig than to survive) the tunnels and seams tend to detonate. A magical detonation. It’s like a nuclear explosion, although the fatality rate is much more variant, as is the nature of the destruction. Whether the Time Zones are due to rich reserves of magic or not, their borders are some of the only constant things in The Third World. There is no phasing between these time zones; as soon as you cross one of the borders, the flow of time changes. Well, it feels like it changes; in reality, all of the time is equally non-linear. It’s very hard to understand in our way of thinking; It’s also very hard to deal with on a daily basis. People really don’t want to be on their way to market, and suddenly be three weeks in the future. Then you turn around, and you end up in what seems like it should be six weeks ago, but it turns out that you’ve only taken a wrong turn. You go home, and you’ve aged more than you really should have. Or you may have taken a really bad turn, and end up going home the same age as your own granddaughter. Most people, obviously, don’t travel, and most societies stay within one Time Zone. Time Zones are often natural borders between Nations and Species; the Nagas of Guardia and the Nagas of North Haber are notable examples of this rule. The Bovate Nation is a notable exception, in that it is one of very few exceptions. Its borders are determined entirely by the Elmnis Mountains, which are not in contact with any temporal borders. Time for the Yellow Nagas, who live to the “west” of there, is identical to that of the Bovates. Some other nations are in the region, but do not need to be listed just yet.
There is are two exceptions to this rule. The first are a species of Naga, who are invisible to all individuals who cannot see infrared radiation. They roam the world, preferring to walk directly along the temporal borders. No one is quite sure what exactly they are doing, because it’s very difficult for people who aren’t straddling the barriers of linear time to understand a word that they say. Their most impressive ability is the ability to be in the same place on both sides of whatever border they’re straddling, no matter what rate time is apparently flowing there.
The other and more interesting exception are the Ukase, a race which we would consider to be a cross between monkeys and bunnies. For as long as any records indicate, the Ukase have lived in a fashion that seems to completely disregard all notion of time. They roam freely throughout The Third World, taking little notice of anything else. Conversations with them are considered by many scholars to be the largest threat to the sanity of an individual in any of the Five Worlds, and many of the universes besides that. If you’re not trying to talk to one of them, and you happen to overhear something it says, it will sound initially like it is speaking your language. This is true no matter what language you speak. Upon closer listening, you will notice that they are speaking something that is not quite a language, and something that does not quite cohere with your view of the flow of time. Their language does not cohere with anyone’s view of the flow of time; it is thought that it may not even cohere with their own. A hub of their society-at least apparently a hub-sometimes resides at Five Points, a place where the borders between five different time zones meet. Sometimes it’s not there. There will be more on them at a later date.
Of final note is the calendar of the Coonsks. Their calendar is the easiest to convert to the Gregorian calendar. Well, it’s not a calendar for each Coonsk. They can’t agree on what the proper calendar to use is. However, they do all agree on the flow of time. Their divisions of time are identical to those in the time system on the majority of our Earth. With some simple examination of any given Coonsk calendar, it’s very easy to translate it to the Gregorian calendar and associate it with times in Our Universe, and the First and Second Worlds. One of the rare associations that Merlin has had with the Coonsks is an occasional visit to update a long-standing prophecy. Many thousands of our years ago, Merlin visited the Coonsks, and told them that the Gods intended for the world to end on a certain day. A while back, he began visiting them every few millennia to tell them that it had been pushed back. As the day has come closer, he has been visiting them with increasing frequency, telling them that the Apocalypse had once more been delayed. In recent years, he seems to visit them every few months, but seems to be delaying the date by less and less on each visit. Some multiversal scholars find that the most interesting aspect of this is the original date that Merlin gave them. It translates to the Gregorian calendar as December 21, 2012.
Beyond this, readers would do very well to remember that no calendar system in The Third World is easily reconciled with any other calendar system, nor is any apparent flow of time. Some are extremely complex, while others are extremely simple. Some manage both at the same, well, time.