Lit Star Wars' in-universe calendar: what route should they take?

So far, the only explicit in-universe calendar that has popped up is the one used exclusively on Lothal. Now that's a bit odd, if you ask me. Why go through the (admittedly minor) trouble of determining an epoch for a ridiculously local calendar instead of coming up with a more widespread way of measuring time?

At first, I thought the Powers That Be were waiting for the release of Episode VII before establishing a new IU universal calendar, which would give them time to smooth things out nicely. However, it's been over two years since the Legends announcement, TFA is released, and no such thing has surfaced yet. Now, it has become my conviction that TPTB have in fact no intention to establish a new IU calendar, probably because it gives them more flexibility when playing with the timeline. (Some might also add that the lack of clear timeline enhances the fairy tale feel of the franchise, but I don't think that argument is pretty compelling.) Even though I can understand it, I can't say I'm pleased with that (apparent) decision.


Now... if you guys could choose a new IU calendar for the Star Wars franchise, what would it be like? What would be its epoch (reference date)? How many months would a year last? What would it be called?

 

BP - Before Palpatine

AP- After Palpatine

 

But what would the epoch be? The day of Palpatine's election as Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, or the day of the Declaration of a New Order?

 

I would go with Declaration of the New Order since that's the day the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order died and the Clone Wars ended. Hell of a way to end an era and begin a new one.

 

Now, that would be the logical route to take if we want an Imperial calendar. If I were to choose, dates after the Proclamation would not include trailing characters, while dates occurring before the Proclamation would be followed by "PE," for "pre-Empire." (This is a nod to Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy, since the biography of Jorus C'baoth used that system.) Episode I would then take place around 13 PE, and Episode VI in or around 23.

But I don't suppose the New Republic would have kept that calendar, now, would they? If I were Mon Mothma, would I choose the Battle of Endor as the epoch of my new calendar, as many fans think should be the case? I'd rather choose the signing of the Galactic Concordance, right after the Battle of Jakku.

 

Or they could revert back to the Pre-Imperial calendar. Only 21-23 years had past so most people would remember it.

 

I like the idea of returning to the old calender. It would be a good PR move by the NR (not so helpful for us OOU though).

 

I think two calendars would exist.

The Empire and FO would use the Pre-Empire/Post Empire style while the New Republic would probably use a pre/post Galactic Concordance.

 

Since so many people seem to have forgotten that the Force existed, I wouldn't count on them remembering anything.

Then I assume the epoch would be the founding of the Galactic Republic, some 1000 years before the Clone Wars. (Not to be confused, of course, with the Old Republic, the one that came before.)

 

The Disney canon should have the New Republic introduce:

BDA - Before Destruction of Alderaan
ADA - After Destruction of Alderaan

This will symbolize the New Republic's emphasis that the destruction of Alderaan never be repeated (it will also allow fans to keep the long-standing BBY/ABY calendar while giving an in-universe justification for it). The importance of the destruction of Alderaan will be even more relevant now after the First Order's actions in TFA.

 

I use Episode I as the 0 year in my timeline project, since, y'know, it's the first movie and it ends with the beginning of Palpatine Year 1. For simplicity's sake, add 1000 to the dates to get what I have always assumed is the Galactic Republic's calendar, given the number of references to "a millennium" in the first two films.

 

Whatever they go with can we avoid a Year 0 this time?

 

The calender should go like this now.

BBE, ABE.

The math adds up nicely since TFA is 30 years even after the Battle of Endor.

The death of Palpatine trumps the destruction of the 1st DS in my book.

 

It's actually easier with a year zero, especially when you have a 'before' and 'after' - without it, people always mess up on timeframes that cross from one side to the other by being off a year.

 

At first, I wanted a Before/After Empire calendar, but now I'd most prefer a calendar based around the establishment of the Old Republic. It would make sense for a galactic calendar to be established along with the first galactic government. I think after that everybody would stick to the same calendar, the logistics of them transitioning an entire galaxy the first time was probably enough for them.

I would dread this, considering a database project I'm working on relies on using numerical values for the years. Not having a year zero is just an unnecessary complication.

 

But, in our real-life, civil, Gregorian calendar, there isn't a year zero--contrary to an alarmingly popular belief. 1 BC is followed by AD 1. That being said, there is a year zero in astronomical year numbering (where it coincides with the 1 BC). What would be the problem with having no year zero?

 

I'm not sure I really feel that strongly about this, but I think it's pretty self-evident that the lack of a year zero confuses people in real life, and therefore creating a fictional calendar that has one might be a good idea.

 

Then avoid using "after".

You have the first year of a new era and the first year before it.

You know what would confuse me?

"IN THE THIRD YEAR OF THE DISNEY ERA (2 DE) . . ."

Well. "Confuse". I mean to say "bother".

That being said, it wouldn't be a huge deal or something I'd lose sleep over.

EDIT: What would be the problem with replicating "lack of year zero confusion", anyway? I'd definitely get a small kick out of seeing it IU.

 

There is no good logic in having a zero year, even in real life. If anything, there is a zero point, a fulcrum between year -1 and year 1.

 

Let's leave Ahsoka out of this.

 

Oh, yes, I forgot: obviously, the only valid calendar would use the birth of Ahsoka as its starting point.

 

Not having a year zero complicates calculations, which is why astronomical years have one. Even something like like subtraction will require an extra step, where if a result is less than one you'll have to subtract an extra digit. Or no, wait- that's only if the original digit was positive. if the original digit was also negative, then you wouldn't need to add an extra. And if you're adding, it's the same thing but the other way around. I think. I'm probably forgetting another factor. Anyways, unnecessary complication.

On the flip side, I'm curious as to what the problem is with having a year zero?

 

I have zero issues.

...

Having a 0th / zeroth something is silly.

"Hey guys, I'd like to introduce you to my first wife, Sally!"

"Matt, dude, you got divorced from Harriet last year."

"Yeah, she was my zeroth wife."

Though I guess it was good enough for Asimov.

 

It just depends on how you look at things. You could either say today is the second day this thread existed, or say it's been one day since the thread was started. I can see why some would prefer not to have a year zero, and others would. I normally wouldn't care either way.

But in this case, it means I have to do more math, so I'm picking sides.