Unified Timekeeping Standard (UT)
Historically, the legal and cultural expectations and methods for representing dates and times have varied between nations, and has been a source of confusion internationally. In an effort to simplify the keeping of time around the world, the Unified Timekeeping Standard was proposed in 1523 by an independent group of merchants, and has been in use worldwide since 1549.
The standard was not made retroactive, so any dates and times found in documents and media written prior to when a given country adopted the standard should be assumed to have been written using the system that was in use in that place at that time. However, the standard does account for retroactive use in current times, so all dates and times found in documents and media written since 1549, even if the date written is before that year, can be assumed to be written in the Unified Timekeeping Standard.
| Country | Year adopted | Country | Year Adopted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alastor | 1530 | Osun Tanum | Since formation |
| Corstaea | 1537 | Sangyon | 1524 |
| Destrea | Since formation | Shaohou | 1549 |
| Grenneria | 1532 | Shinzen | 1540 |
| Ilmaria | Since formation | Ustonia | Since formation |
Dates¶
The Unified Timekeeping Standard defines the average calendar year as 365.2425 days long. It is a solar calendar with 12 months of 28-31 days each, totaling 365 days when it is not a leap year. During a leap year, an additional day is added to the second month. The months are aligned with the four seasons, with spring beginning with the third month, summer with the sixth month, autumn with the ninth month, and winter with the 12th month.
Leap years
Every year that is exactly divisible by four is a leap year, except for years that are exactly divisible by 100, but these centurial years are leap years if they are exactly divisible by 400. For example, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 are not leap years, but the years 1600 and 2000 are.
Dates are written numerically in year-month-day format (YYYY/MM/DD), month/day format (MM/DD), or week/day format (W##/D). The use of hyphens as separators is acceptable, but the slash is the standard choice.
The months of the year and days of the week are not named under this standard, as it is exclusively numerical. Some cultures have their own names for the months and days, or even retain traditional names from another method of timekeeping alongside the standard, but most of the world simply refers to the months and days numerically, typically moving the year to the end of the date when spoken. For instance, the date 2033/10/30 would be spoken as “Tenth month, thirtieth day, twenty thirty three.” A common shorthand used in speech around the world is to drop the year entirely, along with the words “month” and “day”, and state the day before the month. For instance, 10/30 would be spoken in shorthand as “Thirtieth of the tenth.”
The week-day (W##/D) or year-week-day (YYYY/W##/D) format is also defined in the standard, but is typically used only in the context of work or school due to how cumbersome most people feel it is to use and keep track of. The year-month-day date of 2033/10/30 equates to 2033/W43/7 in weekly format.
Most of the world offers students two days off at the end of each week, and employees typically receive one to three days off at the end of each week, so even though the week-day format is rarely used otherwise, the concept of the weekend is easily understood by most people around the world, and it is not uncommon for people to specify a day of a week when speaking. For instance, 10/30 in weekly format could be spoken as “Seventh of next week,” “Seventh of this week,” “Seventh of last week,” “Seventh of two weeks ago,” etc.
Time¶
The Unified Timekeeping Standard defines a day as being 24 hours long, an hour as being 60 minutes long, and a minute as being 60 seconds long.
Time is written in hour:minute format (HH:MM) beginning from 00:00 and ending at 23:59. This 24 hour format has been in use worldwide since 1962, rather than as two 12 hour divisions beginning at 01:00 and ending at 12:59, as some countries preferred.
The first hour of the day (00:00) is defined as when the moon is at its highest point, called midnight, and the 13th hour of the day (12:00) is defined as when the sun is at its highest point, called midday. To facilitate this standard, the planet is divided into 24 time zones, each offset by one hour. The dividing lines of these time zones follow planetary longitude as closely as possible, but often deviate to conform with political or legal boundaries, as it is more convenient for the people in such areas.
The UT time zone, denoted as UT±00, is between 0° and 15° longitude, with every additional 15° adding a positive one hour offset, up to a maximum of UT+11. Every -15° longitude starting from 0° adds a negative one hour offset, up to a maximum of UT-12. The time zones of UT-12, UT+10, and UT+11 cover almost exclusively international waters and are virtually never observed as a result.
Pilots and ship captains typically use UT±00, regardless of their location, to ensure that they are always in sync and on time to prevent confusion when travelling between time zones, though some military forces may prefer to synchronize to their home time zone regardless of location.
Daylight saving¶
Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks, typically by one hour, during warmer months so that darkness falls at a later clock time, primarily for the theoretical energy savings and economical benefits. The Unified Timekeeping Standard does not change with a change of seasons, but local time may change if a time zone jurisdiction observes daylight saving time.
This practice was first proposed in 1815 by a Ustonian man as a joke, but was adopted by most of the world by 1904. It was abolished less than one year after adoption in Sangyon, being reverted before the scheduled date due to overwhelmingly negative public response, and later abolished by most other countries by 1950. Today, it is considered archaic and obsolete by the vast majority of people, foolish by many, and even irresponsible by some.
Only Ustonia has continued to use daylight saving time, but as industrialization and urbanization continued to transform the country, public opinion of daylight saving time continued to decline sharply, citing public health risk, increased traffic fatalities (particularly among commuting schoolchildren), lost productivity, increased rate of workplace injuries, stock market disruption, and even more grievances caused by the changing of the clocks.
In 2022, after four failed attempts, Ustonia revised the federal law regarding daylight saving time, allowing individual states to choose whether they will observe daylight saving time seasonally, or permanently observe either daylight saving time or standard time. Within the year, 17 of the 19 states of Ustonia voted with overwhelming support to permanently observe standard time, while the state of Stonesea voted for permanent daylight saving time, and the state of Arkbay voted to continue seasonally changing clocks. Stonesea reverted to permanent standard time only two years later after severe backlash from its citizens, the majority of whom were previously in favor of daylight saving time.
To this day, the state of Arkbay is the only place in the world that observes daylight saving time, and it continues to attract mockery and cause international confusion and frustration.