Notes incuded in the Oak Box Codex detail a system of timekeeping
used by the “Fae.”
According to the codex, the Fae have a twelve-hour day. This twelve-hour
day is likely a very old feature of the Fae measurement system,
although its origin cannot be dated precisely. It is possible that
Sumerian, Babylonian and Roman twelve-hour days were
influenced by Fae timekeeping.
The Fae hour is two ordinary hours long.
It is divided in twelve, and again in twelve, and again in twelve on down
to the breath, which lasts exactly 4 1/6 seconds.
A Fae hour contains a “thousand” breaths (base twelve),
which in our base-ten number system is equivalent to 1728 breaths.
Each Fae hour contains twelve great minutes,
each containing twelve minutes of twelve breaths each.
The breath in turn encompasses twelve thoughts,
each lasting approximately a third of a second.
The breath hand makes one full revolution per Fae minute (50 seconds).
Fae chronometers (clocks) resemble standard twelve hour clocks,
but advance at half the speed. They have as few as two and as many as six hands.
(Navigational clocks can contain many more), though three or four is most common.
The day begins at midnight, and hours are counted from zero,
which is at the bottom on the clock face. The Fae clock always shows
local solar time (the Fae do not use time zones).
This means the hour hand also shows the position of the sun in the sky.
When the hour hand points straight up to 6 (noon),
the sun is at its highest point in the sky.
To read the clock, read the hands in order.
Each hand corresponds to a base-twelve (“uncial”) digit from one to twelve.
Eleven and twelve are represented by the digits “∂” and “ε”.
Customarily, the time of day is written in hours, breaths and thoughts.
For example, 2’3ε7:ø is read “two hours, three hundred eleventy-seven breaths, and zero thoughts,”
and is equivalent to 2 hours + 3 great minutes + ε minutes + 7 breaths + zero thoughts.
uncial
1. of or written in a majuscule script with rounded unjoined letters. Uncial scripts were common in 4th–8th century European manuscripts.
2. of or pertaining to a duodecimal or base-twelve number system or numbers written in such a system.
3. a fraction whose denominator is a power of twelve (twelfths, 144ths, etc.) expressed as numerals placed to the right of a uncial point.
From Latin uncialis “of an inch, of an ounce,” from uncia “a twelfth part”.