>Each date is broken down into three terms. The first is a number. The second
>is a noun. The third is a noun which is sometimes modified by an adjective.
>
>Here's how I think it works:
>
>Instead of being broken down into months, the calendar of the Cath Bruig goes
>by fortnights (the numbers range from one to fourteen). The phases of the moon
>would be divided into waxing and waning portions, each of which gets a
>fortnight.
>
>The first term is the actual date, the second term is the name of the
>fortnight in question. The third term is variable and describes the year (much
>like the Chinese calendar: year of the dragon becomes year of the skull, and
>so on). Those years with adjectives would be special event years, such as the
>year the Myrkridia were captured, the year an emperor was crowned, etc.
>"Stalking", "Burning", "Bloody" would suggest warlike years; "Jewelled" and so
>on would suggest peacetime events.
>
>What's missing is an actual number for the year--but I think I can be forgiven
>for this since the narrator of the levels doesn't name years, either (except
>to specify which year the war is in, back in TFL).
>
>Any thoughts, suggestions, complaints, evidence that blows this out of the
>water?
According to GURPS, the number is the Heron's number of initiation from that septannual group; so, One Crocodile Skull would be the first person initiated on the date of Crocodile Skull. Two Crocodile Skull would be the guy initiated right after that. Three Crocodile Skull.... etc. Normally there are up to six initiates per tournament, though in wartime there are up to fifteen, and even higher numbers are expected now in the time after Alric's coronation.
As for the rest of the date, as I said in another message, someone pointed out a while back (look in the archives) that the Heron calendar symbols correspond exactly to the Mayan calendar symbols. So find a Mayan calendar somewhere, and that's the Heron calendar.
I found the Mayan calendar online at:
http://www.resonate.org/places/writings/mayan/jenkins1.htm
Since the symbols are pictures loosely translated into words, I've made a nice little list to show how the symbols on that page correspond to actual Heron-name nouns.
Alligator - Crocodile
Wind - Wind, Fan
House - ???
Lizard - Lizard
Serpent - Serpent
Death - Skull
Deer - Deer
Rabbit - Rabbit
Water - ???
Dog - Coyote, Dog
Monkey - Monkey
Grass - ???
Reed - Reed
Jaguar - Jaguar, Puma
Eagle - Eagle, Heron
Owl - Vulture
Quake -Motion
Knife - Flint, Obsidian
Rain - Rain
Flower - Flower
However, there are a few anomolies that don't quite fit. I'm sure I could make them fit if I looked at that old post in the archives, but I'm too lazy. The anomolies are: Sun, Cactus, Pride, Drum, Stone, Shadow, Tongue, Flower, Moon, Talon, Devil, Star, Fire, Claw, Collar
And as for the actual year, even the Herons use the Acit El calendar nowadays, which is dated from the start of the Cath Bruig Empire.
