Welcome to Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum! Log in and join the community.

Imperial Dating System

From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
Revision as of 02:33, 17 January 2015 by Ender (talk | contribs) (How to determine the Year Fraction on Terra)
Jump to: navigation, search

The Imperium has developed its own method of recording dates, which needs a bit of explanation. Most importantly, the years are "Anno Domini", so the dates themselves are the ones that we are familiar with now. A typical date as Imperial scholars write it would look something like 0123456.M41. Let's divide this code up to explain each part:

0 123 456 M41
Check Year Fraction Year Millennium

Check Number

The check number refers to the accuracy in the date, with 0 being the most accurate and 9 being the least. Class 0 or 1 refers to events that occurred in the Sol system, with each increasing number being a further degree of separation from Terra.

A 0 means that the event occurred on Terra.

A 1 means that the event occurred within the Sol system.

A 2 means that the event occurred while someone present for the event was in direct psychic contact with Terra or the Sol system.

A 3 means that an individual or organization present was in psychic contact with a 2 source while the event occurred.

A 4 means that the individual or organization was in contact with a 3 OR 2 source.

A 5 means that the individual or organization was in contact with a 4 source.

A 6 means that the individual or organization was in contact with a 5 source.


7, 8, and 9 class sources are somewhat subjective.

A 7 means that the event in question occurred within 10 years of the date listed in the rest of the Imperial date.

An 8 means that the event occurred within 20 years of the date.

A 9 class source is special. A 9-class source is an approximated date, and is usually used when recording a date within Warp travel or while on a planet that does not use the Imperial system.

Year Fraction

For record-keeping, each year is divided into 1000 equal parts, numbered 000-999. Note that this is not generally used by Imperial citizens, but is simply for administrative use. Each increment of the year fraction corresponds to approximately eight hours and forty-five minutes Terran standard.

How to determine the Year Fraction on Terra

Rather than dividing the year into approximately 365 days like we do, the Imperium divides the year into 1000 fractions. So, "549" indicates the 549th part of 1000 parts of the year.

To calculate this first you need to find which day of the year your event occurred on. Using July 18th of 2005 as an example, you then determine the Julian date which is the 200th day of 2005. Next we need to split it into hours. We do that by multiplying 200 by 24 then add the hour of the day the event occurred. If the event took place at 4pm (the 16th hour) the formula to find the Determined Hour would be: 200 x 24 + 16 = 4816 Determined Hour

To convert that to Imperial Fractions, multiply your Determined Hour above by the Makr Constant: 0.11407955263862231501532129004257. 4816 * 0.11407955263862231501532129004257 = 549.41. Always round this number down to determine the closest Year Fraction that occurred before the event.

Year

This is the year within the millennium, running from 000-999. For general dates, often only the year and millennium (below) are included.

Millennium

This is the millennium in which the event occurred. Most "recent" events in the Warhammer 40K universe occur in M41, or the 41st millennium. An event in the present (as of 2013) would have occurred in M3.

Sources