One the game begins, time enters The Simpsons Bubble and stops moving in any logical way; this is because time can't progress to any degree that would make the game inconsistent for a player that's going to start in 2017. For established players, the imperial soldiers are all still just hanging around at the castrums even though their Legatus is dead, leaving it to us to say, "Well, I guess they just have nowhere else to go. The XIVth came here alone, after all, and Garlemald is now (we're told) in civil war!" That could be true, but it's also true that newer players just need them there for consistency.
Because of this, you can (probably) make the assumption that we will never leave the current year behind us officially. The 5th Year of the Seventh Umbral Era is (likely) just also known as The 1st Year of the Seventh Astral Era, and that's our bubble. You can play with the rules by going through time like FFXI did, but otherwise you're (generally) stuck with this limitation in the world lore. There's a little bit of relativity - a few turns of the sun here - a few turns of the moon there - but even if this game is out for another decade, we probably won't be seeing Maggie to high school (without time travel).
Based on the Five Ages, the eight days of the week are aspected towards the six elements and two polarities, and the list begins (like the months) at ice, so I've just been saying Iceday, Watersday, Windsday, Thundersday Firesday, Earthsday, Astralsday, Umbralsday - lol.
