See also Calendar
Eleath experiences four seasons of unequal length which affect everywhere all at once through the passage of its 612 day year:
| Season | Length | Desciption |
|---|---|---|
| The Warming | 150 days | Thaw and heating up. Water is collected as snow thaws, especially in the drier regions. |
| Greatsun | 100 days | The sun is large and bright in the sky. The weather is hot but can be stormy and unpredictable, particularly in the tropics. |
| The Cooling | 150 days | The world hunkers down ready for smallsun. Wood is stored and animals hibernate. New homes ensure they have their hearthstones. |
| Smallsun | 212 days | The sun is small in the sky, feeling dimmer and lacking warmth. Snow covers almost the whole globe. This season feels like forever - hence the extra 12 days of the year being considered part of it. |
Although the seasons are simultaneous over the whole planet it is hotter in the tropics than towards the poles, which are permanently icy.
Day length remains roughly the same throughout the year in all latitudes.
Why?
When the planet was hit by the asteroid that formed the Circle Sea it was knocked into an unusually elliptical orbit, while its axis of rotation remained perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic. This orbit with a high eccentricity gives rise to the long winters over the whole world when the sun is more distant and the movement of the planet is slower, while the perpendicular axis of rotation means that day lengths remain contant.
These explanations are given for the benefit of curious players and DMs and are not understood by the inhabitants, who know only about the current seasons, and accept them - although there are legends of the times before The Cataclysm when the world was warm and winters were short.