Hyperdrive Calendar

The Hyperdrive Calendar, officially the Galactic Standard Calendar, and also known as the Vellae Calendar, the Caladarian Galactic Calendar, or even the Imperial Galactic Calendar, is the official civil calendar and year designation system used in the Caladarian Galaxy. The calendar era used by the system is based around the year of the invention of the modern Hyperdrive, a feat which was first accomplished by the Laurasian Stellar Republic and the Murphian Hegemony in AH 1. All years before this event occurred are designated as Before Hyperdrive (BH); all years after this event are designated as After Hyperdrive (AH). There is no year zero in the Hyperdrive Calendar, so the year AH 1 immediately follows the year 1 BH. The Hyperdrive Calendar era system was devised by the Murphian historian and archaeologist, Vo'rill, in AH 55. The system, however, did not gain widespread notice in the Core Regions until after AH 100, and it was not formally adopted until AH 164, by the Congress of Vellae. The calendar employed with the era, known as the Briannian Calendar, was devised by the Briannian scientist Noradia c. 1400 BH, based upon the circulations of Briannia. Briannia has a 24-hour day and a 365-day calendar year; Noradia figured out the exact approximation for its rotation around its star and calculated that such a system could be in accord with faster-in-light technology. His prediction turned out to be correct, and the Congress of Vellae accepted the Briannian Calendar as the universal day calendar. The Galactic Standard Calendar is the official standard of the Laurasian Empire, and all Laurasian government documents, statements, and laws are dated according to the system.

History
The Hyperdrive Era designation system was devised by the famed Murphian historian and archaeologist, Vo'rill (AH 6-84), as part of his work The History of the Evolution of the Core Peoples, which was published in AH 55. Vo'rill's purpose was to create a new and simplified calendar era. At the time that Vo'rill produced his work, the official calendar system employed in the Murphian Hegemony was the Dynastic Cycle system. This system had originally been implemented by the ancient Murphian king of Cyndnie, Ba'grill, c. 1700 BH and had remained in use ever since. According to the Dynastic Cycle system, the year was "in the Age of Ba'grill, the fifth-ninth year of the cycle of Ba'gar, the centennial of the Crypso Revolution, and the three hundredth year of the calends of Cyndie" (AH 54). Vo'rill wished to create a system that would be easily accessible to the general public and one which would also honor the invention of the hyperdrive, whom he considered to be a significant achievement, since it had galaxy-encompassing results and heralded a modern era of galactic exploration, war, and commerce. Although he had published numerous works of importance before The History of the Evolution of the Core Peoples, that particular one was the first in which he employed the Hyperdrive Calendar system. In a table appendix which he published at the end of his work, Vo'rill explained that the "fourth year of the cycle of Ba'gar" (1 BH), the year of the invention of the hyperdrive, should be re-designated 1 BH (Before Hyperdrive), while the "fifth year of the cycle" should thereafter be known as AH (After Hyperdrive) 1. Vo'rill declared that there should "not be a year zero", since there was not a year in which the Galaxy had ceased to exist. The currently-existing calendar division (the Murphian local year of 364 3/5 days), should be simply adjusted in accord with the system (the kalends of Athar, of the fourth year of the cycle of Ba'gar" should become the Atharian Kalands, 1 BH). This day, which was in accordance with February 17, 1 BH, should not be the end of that year; all days after the invention of the hyperdrive in that particular year would still fall in the "Before Hyperdrive" domain.