Noobish Calendar Question

[Captain Untouchable]

Probably sounds painfully trivial, but oh well.

In the "real world" calendar, we use the birth of Christ as a point from which to measure years. The year before he was born is 1 BC; the year after is 1 AD.

In Star Wars, we use the Battle of Endor as that reference point. However, I'm getting a touch confused over how the years line up. On the wiki, if something happened three months After Endor, its listed as "0 Years, 3 Months AE". That's fantastic for working out where it fits in the timeline, but what is the name of that year? Is it 0 AE, or is it the year 1 AE, which lasts up until "0 Years, 12 Months AE"?

Alternatively, in terms that sound less like crazy talk: the first day After Endor... was it "1st January 0 AE", or "1st January 1 AE"? A year and a day later, was it 1 AE, or 2 AE? And so forth.

Told you it was painfully trivial. ;)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Well, technically I'd assume that there is no 0 year on the calendar, and it would be 1 AE.

That is, if the galaxy decided to rename their various calendars at the same time we did. Every planet has their own calendar, for instance, and I'm not sure what the Empire does for telling the day of the year/Galactic Standard days or what have you?

[Captain Untouchable]

So, though the current events are happening "two and a bit years" after Endor, we're currently in the year 3 AE?

[Aurelias Kazaar]

It really depends on the thread. Toxicity is about three years AE. Others aren't.

[Hugo Montegue]

...yeah; not really asking about what the game year is now. I know people are all over the place. What I want to know is how I would correctly calculate the year for an "In the year 4 BE, Aurelias Kazaar was stung by a bee" type sentence.

To put it in the proper context, the thread I'm about to start happens a matter of weeks after Endor. If I wanted to put that event in the timeline on the wiki, that would be easy... I'd just find "0 Years and Three Weeks" after Endor, and slot it in there. But if I want to describe the year in which it is taking place, would that be the year 1 AE?

Lil is saying yes to that; which is kinda what I was after. The timeline on the wiki had me a bit confused is all, given the above 0 Years example.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Year Zero?

That seems to be the name used on the Wiki. Works for me, anyway.

3 weeks after Endor isn't "1 AE" ..it's just 3 weeks. Soooo that's what I'd use anyway!

[Captain Untouchable]

Year Zero?

That seems to be the name used on the Wiki. Works for me, anyway.

3 weeks after Endor isn't "1 AE" ..it's just 3 weeks. Soooo that's what I'd use anyway!

Yeah... but if you view it from the perspective of how we work calendars in the West / real world, that's like saying that the 3rd January 2001 is only three days into the year, so it doesn't really count as 2001 yet. Hence my confusion. >_<

Suppose it depends on whether you think "1 AE" means "1 Year After Endor", or "1st Year After Endor". The former would be how the wiki does it; the latter would be the BC / AD version. :\

[Dasquian Belargic]

To me, 1 AE is 1 Year After Endor. The first year after the battle is just that, the first year, year zero, etc. I know the Gregorian calendar doesn't work this way but it just makes more sense in my mind to have a year zero ^_^;

Three months after Endor is just three months after Endor. I don't know if there are names for the months in Star Wars? o_O

[Aurelias Kazaar]

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Galactic_Standard_Calendar

[Lilaena De'Ville]

To me, 1 AE is 1 Year After Endor. The first year after the battle is just that, the first year, year zero, etc. I know the Gregorian calendar doesn't work this way but it just makes more sense in my mind to have a year zero ^_^;

Three months after Endor is just three months after Endor. I don't know if there are names for the months in Star Wars? o_O
There are names for EVERYTHING in Star Wars. :p

[Captain Untouchable]

To me, 1 AE is 1 Year After Endor. The first year after the battle is just that, the first year, year zero, etc. I know the Gregorian calendar doesn't work this way but it just makes more sense in my mind to have a year zero ^_^;

Wookieepedia seems to agree with you, Jen - they have articles for both 0 BBY, and 0 ABY. So, as a general rule of thumb: work out how long before or after Endor it is, ignore the weeks/months, and that's your year. Groovy.

I don't think it really matters what the months are called, though: unless the Battle of Endor happened exactly at the start of a year, chances are that it wouldn't align with the usual calendar months... so we can safely ignore that problem for now.

... well, unless we want to pick an arbetrary date for the day of the Battle of Endor, so we can work it out. The Star Wars equivalent of May the Fourth? ;)