Time in WIZARDscape is measured in signs as they turn around the Wheel.
The base unit of time is the gargarmath. It is named for the philospher-mathemetician, E. G. Gargarmath, who derived what has become known as the base unit through a corollary of Turning Theory.
According to Turning Theory, the Wheel rotates on its Axis at a constant angular speed of 24 signs per turn. Gargarmath showed, rather pointed out, that the time in which the Wheel rotates through one sign is equal to the same amount of time in which the reflection of the light of the Obelisphere off the clouds above the Meridian changes from one color to the next. It was already commonly accepted that this color is steady only during the time required for the reflection of obelight off the surface of Innersea to cycle through the 24 colors of the Wheel, and that obelight itself cycles through the 24 colors during the time that the Innersea reflection remains a particular color. Gargarmath codified this cycle and standarized the names for the temporal denominations.
Inspired by the weight of base matter on the Wheel, Gargarmath attempted to apply this model to other measures, like weight, distance, and energy, as well. But Gargarmath's Unified System – as he called it – did not gain general acceptance. However, the results of his research led him to predict the existence of a metaversal base unit of measure equal to one smallest unit of any measure multiplied by the inverse of the number of signs of the Wheel.
E. G. Gargarmath was lost during a research expedition to the Edge, and his prediction has not yet been realized. Since the re-invention of the ordinator, though, there is an increasing necessity to measure time to the fraction of a second. The practice was quickly adapted to use 24ths of a second, and this least division of time is called the gargarmath.
- 24 gargarmaths = 1 second
- 24 seconds = 1 minute
- 24 minutes = 1 hour
- 24 hours = 1 day
- 24 days = 1 month
- 24 months = 1 year
- 24 years = 1 turn
- 24 turns = 1 lesser turn
- 24 lesser turns = 1 greater turn
- 24 greater turns = 1 greatest turn
The entire domain of oneirology is divided between those who believe that the Wheel and the period of its existence is limited to a single greatest turn and those who believe in the existence of a turn to follow the greatest turn. Much debate surrounds the opposing theories of the End of Turns and of the Subsequent Turn. There is no evidence to support either proposition.
Other temporal correlations include:
- 13,824 years = 1 greater turn. To give an idea of the length of time.
- 63,403,380,965,376 or 24^10 gargarmaths = 1 greater turn. In other words, the base 24 logarithm of the number of gargarmaths in a greater turn is equal to 10. This is commonly referred to as the Weird Correlation, and it leads some oneirologists to speculate that there is something greater outside of the metaverse and that it may employ a base 10 system of enumeration.
Definitions of Time
A time in historical or futuristic context refers to a distinct era of the existence of the Wheel as recounted in Wheel Legend.
There are many other definitions of the word time, of course, and they are not uninteresting to consider in the light of the Obelisphere.
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