Most Irregular Time

It may be a surprise to the modern reader that time in Faerun is not calculated according to mechanical clocks that propose a mathematical understanding of temporal reality. Rather, in this premodern context, there are many competing notions of time that, as a rule, are derived from the cosmology of the groups that employ them. Generally speaking, the units of time and their origins are fairly straightforward, referring to general periods of time that coincide with the observably different parts of the day. Morning, noon, afternoon, etc, however measurement of more discrete units of time can be considerably more idiosyncratic, varying from group to group or individual to individual.

The adventurers have learned, for example, that bugbear use a unit of time known as "ratos" and that the regeneration time of a Flameskull in Wave Echo Cave was described as taking "dos ratos".

Amongst agriculturalists in the area of the Northern Sword Coast, apple ciders are a common unit of time for measuring agricultural work, referring to the amount of time it takes to drink a number of hard juice beverages to complete the task at hand as derived from the licor fermenting the juice of the notable crop of the Northern climate. This measurement is ordinary enough when used to describe the time it may take to bale a field of hay, 10 bottles of cider, for example, but somewhat concerning when used to describe large distances crossed on horseback. The trip to Neverwinter being a horseback ride of several cases of cider does give rise to a concern that many Neverwinterians are riding whilst deeply inebriated.