Month names in hyborian age

[Taharqa]

The Road of Kings has some useful information on the year names in the hyborian calendar. I am wondering if there is any similar information on month names. I can't think of any references in REH, but perhaps in some of the pastiche?

 

[VincentDarlage]

Howard's "The Scarlet Citadel" mentions a month name, and the Aquilonia sourcebook has month names in it. Some of the upcoming sourcebooks do too.

 

[Mark Dunder]

Can't say which book it comes from, but in my lists, in an entry after a Koth and before an Aquilonia entry, is the word "Yuluk" which is a name of a month. Doesn't say what month is or what is might mean.

Not much help I guess.

 

[The King]

IIRC Gurps Conan has it all.

 

[Auggie]

I use the one from Dr. Skull's Conan Cult.

 

[Turloigh]

I use the one from Dr. Skull's Conan Cult.

Never heard of it. What's that? Where can it be found?
Thanks...

 

[Taharqa]

I guess I should have searched before posting. Here is the "Dr Skull" calendar posted by nidhog:

----
Months**
Hyborian = Julian equivalent
Qrot (31) = June
Monodrum = July
Yuluk = August
Quidro (31) = September
Glumble = October
Grigglenov = November
Ailem (31)= December
Zan = Jan
Vivvig = Feb
Ublez (31) = Mar
Hamyr = Apr
Ducet (variable 31/32) = May

**twelve months of around thirty days each. The months have non-descriptive names, such as Yuluk, Conan RPG main book pg. 248. The year starts on the Summer solstice. Months with a solstice or equinox have 31 days. We are using Ducet to adjust for leap year and any short days. Having Qrot start right on the Summer Solstice keeps the year correct. I would like to give credit for the month names to Wydero, Dr. Skull, and the rest of his group. They did a fantastic job and the names fit perfectly in the Conan world.

----

I must say I don't know about some of the names, Qrot and Glumble?

 

[thulsa]

They did a fantastic job and the names fit perfectly in the Conan world.

Glumble? Grigglenov? Sounds more like something out of Harry Potter, if you ask me... :?

- thulsa

 

[Taharqa]

They did a fantastic job and the names fit perfectly in the Conan world.

Glumble? Grigglenov? Sounds more like something out of Harry Potter, if you ask me... :?

- thulsa

Just to be clear, I didn't say they were fantastic. That was just pasted from the original poster. I agree that they sound a bit odd. Can someone with the Aquilonia book confirm whether these are the same as the month names used there?

 

[Yogah of Yag]

Glumble, Grigglenov??? :shock:
Bel's bones! that sounds stupid!
The Aquilonian Calendar is on p. 26 [AQ], but I don't see the above two names.
A couple of the month names are Latin (lizard, eagle, reaper?).

I saw a word list of Proto-Celtic words and I saw at least 1 month name: kentusamīno, May. I will keep looking for more today. A GM may use Proto-Celtic for Cimmerian names, perhaps.

 

[Hudson]

Lousy Glumble weather. I'm freezing my ass off here!

 

[Auggie]

They did a fantastic job and the names fit perfectly in the Conan world.

Glumble? Grigglenov? Sounds more like something out of Harry Potter, if you ask me... :?

- thulsa

Aye, it's not the best, but it's what I used since my campaign had been running long before the Aquilonia sourcebook came out :?

 

[Mark Dunder]

Hey, I was right, Yuluk is a month. So it's August I see. This name I came up with is from a Conan story. So maybe all the rest of those month names may be right. I must say, some of them do sound a little funky, including Yuluk. But I'm listening with mine own, English as a primary language, ear.

 

[Orkin]

I think Yuluk comes from a Turkish word or name. Can anyone confirm?

 

[Boreas]

Gurps months were:-

Month of the Griffon
Month of Fire
The Golden Month
Month of the Maiden
Month of the Scorpion
Month of the Bear
Month of the Snow Ape
Month of the Fish
Month of the Rat
Month of the Sparrow
Month of the Hawk
Month of the Ram
Month of the Dragon (*) this month only occurs in the years
of the Lion, Spider & dragon

Hope this helps.

 

[Taharqa]

Hey, I was right, Yuluk is a month. So it's August I see. This name I came up with is from a Conan story. So maybe all the rest of those month names may be right. I must say, some of them do sound a little funky, including Yuluk. But I'm listening with mine own, English as a primary language, ear.

Yuluk is the month named in The Scarlet Citadel when Pelias asks Conan for the date. I am pretty sure it is the only month named by REH.

 

[sbarrie]

Personally, I don't use months at all. I use weeks, solstices and equinoxes. E.g. "We will leave the third week after the Vernal Equinox, and return during the tenth week of winter". (13 weeks in a season, just like cards in a suit)

The advantage to this appraoch is that players don't need to learn a new system, but it doesn't distract from the setting the way using a modern calender would.

The problem with this approach is that it uses a solar calender, whereas a lunar calender would be more believable.

 

[Yogah of Yag]

Personally, I don't use months at all. I use weeks, solstices and equinoxes. E.g. "We will leave the third week after the Vernal Equinox, and return during the tenth week of winter". (13 weeks in a season, just like cards in a suit)

The advantage to this appraoch is that players don't need to learn a new system, but it doesn't distract from the setting the way using a modern calender would.

The problem with this approach is that it uses a solar calender, whereas a lunar calender would be more believable.

These sound like great ideas--a nature-based system. Our modern calendar is very artificial, somehow divorced from nature, in a way...
I focus a lot on the lunar phases..."When you all were in the snow-draped mountains the moon was waning, the celestial silver bow getting slimmer, the nights were getting darker, and soon, before you reach the brigands' hideout, the new moon will throw all the world into complete shadow." 8) It's more atmospheric and more descriptive than "Today is the second of March. Okay troops, synchronize your wristwatches before the battle!"

 

[urdinaran]

Personally, I don't use months at all. I use weeks, solstices and equinoxes. E.g. "We will leave the third week after the Vernal Equinox, and return during the tenth week of winter". (13 weeks in a season, just like cards in a suit)

I like this idea, very nice. I've just been using our calendar just for simplicity; I doubt my players are going to memorize a new calendar.

 

[Ant]

... (13 weeks in a season, just like cards in a suit) ...

"It was the Thursday of the Knave of Spring... "

(Which begs a question about day names...

OK, before the supremacy of the Christian church, all European, Middle Eastern, and Asian cultures called the days after the names of the "planets" as regarded by ancient astronomers/astrologers... Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. And the planets were named after gods, so northern cultures had Sun, Moon, Tiw/Tyr, Woden/Odin, Thunor/Thor, Frega/Freya, and (strangely) Saturn ... although in Nordic countries Saturday is "Bathday"!

[There's an excellent article on Wikipedia: Days of the week.]

As the Hyborian Age is of this Earth, the planets known to sages then would be the same as ours, just given different names. I don't recall REH mentioning any by name, however.

But you could easily divise appropriate names for the different Hyborian cultures.)

Which tangential musing suggests taking an astrological basis for the mont h names in a Hyborian campaign... after the signs of the Zodiac, perhaps, as it was for the Babylonians. (Including Ophiucus, the snake-fighter or healer, between Scorpio and Sagittarius if you want a calendar of 13 months, although the Zodiac is really a solar not a lunar concept.) See: Zodiac.

Ciao,
Ant