Current Eorzean year.

Hello, i'm working on lore based background stuff for my character and i dont know where to find the actual year in eorzea, the last data I have is the calamity.

How long passed since then? The 5 years is known, but after Arr where are we now?


Bests,
Z

It's very nebulous, depending on what timeframe you take. But there's two major camps, from what I can tell.

First, there's the assumption that time has passed in the game at the same rate as in real life, assuming that, for example, there was a few months between patch MSQs, since some do imply time has passed but never give specifics. Going with this, we're at about thirteen years since Dalamud; five years since the Calamity, and then around eight since ARR's 2013 launch.

Or you could take the 'short approach'; that all the MSQ takes place basically bumper-to-bumper, and so only the time stated to have passed has passed. With that, we'd maybe be looking at a year or so since ARR's launch, with most of that actually being in Stormblood (since I believe a timeframe of months is given for the trip from Eorzea to Kugane).

The canon answer is that time passes but it never adds up, it never moves. It is always the 5th Year of the Seventh Umbral Era aka the 1st Year of the Seventh Astral Era. This is equivalent to what would have been 1577 if the Calamity never happened. However, everyone in the game has a blank check to write for how long they think the story took. It's up to you. (Until SE says otherwise, which feels increasingly unlikely after every passing year.)

We know that months pass between certain patch ends, given that one of the House Fortemps Knights says as much at the start of the MSQ, "Promises Kept."

House Fortemps Knight: "Ser Aymeric de Borel, lord speaker of the House of Lords, lord commander of the Temple Knights, and viscount of House Borel, cordially invites Master <Player Character Surname> to dine with him in his estate."

"You seem surprised. The messenger assured me that his lord had broached the subject with you at an earlier date-- when the arrangements for the peace conference were still being finalized..."

"Of course, the intervening moons afforded little opportunity for leisure. But with the happy advent of peace, 'tis plain the lord commander sees no further cause for delay. What say you?"

I mean, correct me if I've erred, but I'd always taken the passage of moons to mean the passing of months (maybe it's merely days or weeks in other languages?).

Of course, just because that's true doesn't mean they ever nailed down just how many months, nor weeks, nor days... it's one of those pesky things that interferes with what's good for business. If they gave us any time scale, having the pubescent characters of Alisaie and Alphinaud demand that they show them age, eventually, and that's bad for character recognition/bonding or whatever.

I think they kind of liked to stake the idea on the long game. Where someone new to the game, even just starting out from level 1, can still finish the whole of the MSQ from getting off the carriage/ship to looking up at the reddening moon in roughly 2~3 months with doing some side stuff and what not. They put the passage of time in for everyone who has to wait, but they don't nail it down so it doesn't feel jarring to someone who's riding through.

Just put the year as 1577+ teehee

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Originally Posted by Vyrerus

If they gave us any time scale, having the pubescent characters of Alisaie and Alphinaud demand that they show them age, eventually, and that's bad for character recognition/bonding or whatever.

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I feel like they still could, assuming the time is reasonable. Elezen don't reach physical maturity until their 20s, and Urianger has this to say at one point:

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Aye...'twas not until my twentieth summer that I myself outgrew my boyish proportions...though Moenbryda towered over me nonetheless.

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The Twins are 16 at the start of ARR so the devs could totally say three years have passed: one year for ARR, one year for HW, one year for SB, and then ShB largely took place on the First so who cares. At that point, great, the Twins are 19, they haven't hit their growth spurt at all, and it's reasonable for them to still have the same appearance. The devs are never gonna actually do that though, easier to just say it's still the year 1577. Although at this point the year is actually 1 Seventh Astral Era. Is the year 1577 ever actually used in game anywhere, or do people in the FFXIV community just use it out of convenience rather than bouncing between 5 Seventh Umbral Era and 1 Seventh Astral Era? Always wondered about that.

Elezen growth spurts are also supposed to be very sudden, so it wouldn't feasibly be a huge plot hole that time has passed and the twins haven't visibly grown.

I'm not someone that really wants the twins to grow, I don't think it does much, but if it happens I want it to be as abrupt as possible. I want it to happen off-screen, halfway through a quest that isn't even about that. REALLY confuse the cutscene-skippers.

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Originally Posted by Cleretic

Elezen growth spurts are also supposed to be very sudden

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It does sound sudden, yeah. From page 83 of Encyclopedia Eorzea Vol. I where it talks about the physical attributes of Elezen:

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With lifespans one- or two-tenths again as a long as their fellow races, their physical maturity is somewhat delayed. It is not uncommon for Wildwood children to look up to their Hyruan friends in their early teens, only to rapidly outstrip them around the age of twenty.

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Originally Posted by Beddict

The Twins are 16 at the start of ARR so the devs could totally say three years have passed: one year for ARR, one year for HW, one year for SB, and then ShB largely took place on the First so who cares.

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It's most likely two years for Stormblood. There's literally over a year of just boatrides between then and now.

The passage of time is VERY nebulous in the game. They never QUITE commit to time passing or we still being in Year 1 7AE. Quest dialogue will imply weeks if not months happening between quest and quest, but in a manner that they never quite seem to add up to a year (even if, as Veloran pointed out above, logically speaking it should be AT LEAST one year with all the StB travelling, especially when it's mentioned that "The Domans who can teleport got here early", which still means the REST went the overland route). The Rising tip-toes around it but, then again, The Rising is also the one event that tends to drop all pretense of a fourth wall even existing.

I think they should actually commit to "each expansion takes up X amount of time", and I hope 6.1+ offers a significant (or even canonical) time-skip, otherwise it's... gonna be one heck of a year in 7.0...

Edit: I forgot my actual point in there somewhere: basically it was done for new player convenience so they didn't have to keep track of how long it's passed since the start of the game. But it does make for some funny things when looked at after ShB since the Crystal Braves were created and then disbanded in about a week; Ishgard went through a Revolution and upended its entire government in 3 days, rebuilt an entire housing district in days; liberated TWO Imperial controlled city-states in about a month (don't pay attention to the 6-month boat ride each way, you're the WoL and can teleport anytime anywhere, everyone else travels at the speed of plot), and then the First was moving in time MUCH more rapidly than the Source but then just decides not to the second you walk in.

So basically for RP purposes... do what feels best for you, if you want to calculate how long it has realistically been since the Calamity, you're free to do so. If it's been the wildest year of your life, that's canon, too.

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Originally Posted by Veloran

It's most likely two years for Stormblood. There's literally over a year of just boatrides between then and now.

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A fast merchant ship with favourable winds can make the trip from Vylbrand to Doma in about two months. Given that we used Carvallain's ship which also has a Garlean ceruleum engine, I imagine we did keep to the two month voyage. Although we do that four times so while I don't think it was quite a year, it was definitely at least eight months. Would give the devs four months to play around with, although that's suuuuper pushing it given the time it likely takes to raise multiple armies, and I ain't even gonna pretend to consider the Xaela of the Azim Steppe flying their Yols from Othard to Ala Mhigo because that will literally break my suspension of disbelief.

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Originally Posted by Beddict

Although we do that four times so while I don't think it was quite a year, it was definitely at least eight months.

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To start with we have Gosetsu coming to Eorzea, two months. We then have the trip to the Far East which is two months, but then Carvallain basically says he's going to make a round trip with all the goods he's picked up and come back afterwards. So that's at least four months of the Scions doing the Doma thing and him sailing around before he picks everyone up again, and it is indeed his ship seen doing so. Then that's another two months back. Then Y'shtola books passage there on her own, another two months. Setting aside the probability of the twins also having there again in 5.2, around this time the Doman refugees also travel back by boat, another two months. And then Alphinaud's body is necessarily shipped back over another two months. And then, because for some reason it was written this way, another two months for Tataru to sail back, which was after Alphinaud had already arrived at the Rising Stones.

That's like 12-18 months of boating just from the beginning to end of Stormblood depending on how you count it. And I'm pretty sure I've missed quite a bit, without even getting into other stated passages of time or side content.

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Originally Posted by Veloran

To start with we have Gosetsu coming to Eorzea, two months. We then have the trip to the Far East which is two months, but then Carvallain basically says he's going to make a round trip with all the goods he's picked up and come back afterwards. So that's at least four months of the Scions doing the Doma thing and him sailing around before he picks everyone up again, and it is indeed his ship seen doing so. Then that's another two months back. Then Y'shtola books passage there on her own, another two months. Setting aside the probability of the twins also having there again in 5.2, around this time the Doman refugees also travel back by boat, another two months. And then Alphinaud's body is necessarily shipped back over another two months. And then, because for some reason it was written this way, another two months for Tataru to sail back, which was after Alphinaud had already arrived at the Rising Stones.

That's like 12-18 months of boating just from the beginning to end of Stormblood depending on how you count it. And I'm pretty sure I've missed quite a bit, without even getting into other stated passages of time or side content.

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Ah, was forgetting some of the events, such as Carvallain making a round trip while we were puttering about in the Far East during Stormblood. I was counting the ride there at level 61, the ride back at level 67, and ride there with Y'shtola in the post-SB stuff, and then the time waiting for Y'shtola to return in the post-SB stuff. That would be a total of four two-month trips or eight months, plus or minus some time to account for some weather, but it appears I was off by quite a bit. No wonder the devs don't want to acknowledge the passage of time, Stormblood is a complete mess if you do.

Thank you for the answers and I've appreciated all the other novels that this question had evolved. So 23 years is the time the empire took control of Gyr Abania and after that nothing more than a month or two have past, due to time beying different at the first. I dont rly think the heavensward took us more than months due to the hurry and the state of possible invasion from garlemald anytime. Maybe the correct timespam I can see here is. 20 years from ala mhigo falls to arr start, 1 year from arr development till the exodus to ishgard, between 6-10 months for hw novel and about 1 and half for sb. After yours reply I think I can work with the year 1580 or 2 of Seventh Astral Era.

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Originally Posted by Zenglaf

I dont rly think the heavensward took us more than months due to the hurry and the state of possible invasion from garlemald anytime.

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Maybe true up to the battle with Niddhog. However, the dialogue in the dinner with Aymeric made me feel like a year or two had passed.
The Garlemald focus was on the Triad but they had no idea how to go about it. I'd like to think the Scion relaxed and took their time while monitoring them.

Personally, I like to think (or at least headcanon) that Shadowbringers was actually the shortest expac time-wise and was only a few weeks Eorzea time. I know G'raha said that the First and the Source were approaching close to being in-sync time-wise but that doesn't necessarily mean that were exact so maybe we spent like 3 or 4 months on the First while a month and half passes back on the Source. It would also explain why the amount of major developments seem to slow down a bit back there.

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Originally Posted by GoldStarz

Personally, I like to think (or at least headcanon) that Shadowbringers was actually the shortest expac time-wise and was only a few weeks Eorzea time. I know G'raha said that the First and the Source were approaching close to being in-sync time-wise but that doesn't necessarily mean that were exact so maybe we spent like 3 or 4 months on the First while a month and half passes back on the Source. It would also explain why the amount of major developments seem to slow down a bit back there.

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I think the "time in sync" comment is misleading, or mainly to provide an excuse why nothing goes askew if you abandon the MSQ and spend a few in-game weeks pursuing Eorzean sidequests. Though canonically I don't think you're supposed to have travelled back there at all throughout the main story.

When you return to the Rising Stones at the very end of 5.0, Tataru seems surprised at how quickly you're back – so I don't think the whole adventure has taken much Source time at all. Maybe a few days or a week.

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Originally Posted by Veloran

To start with we have Gosetsu coming to Eorzea, two months. We then have the trip to the Far East which is two months, but then Carvallain basically says he's going to make a round trip with all the goods he's picked up and come back afterwards. So that's at least four months of the Scions doing the Doma thing and him sailing around before he picks everyone up again, and it is indeed his ship seen doing so. Then that's another two months back. Then Y'shtola books passage there on her own, another two months. Setting aside the probability of the twins also having there again in 5.2, around this time the Doman refugees also travel back by boat, another two months. And then Alphinaud's body is necessarily shipped back over another two months. And then, because for some reason it was written this way, another two months for Tataru to sail back, which was after Alphinaud had already arrived at the Rising Stones.

That's like 12-18 months of boating just from the beginning to end of Stormblood depending on how you count it. And I'm pretty sure I've missed quite a bit, without even getting into other stated passages of time or side content.

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(Can't we teleport though, once we have attuned to aetherites? Not just from a gemplay point of view but in lore too? I remember the twins and ourselves literaly teleporting into Lakshmi's lair for instance -without attuning, mind you- so couldn't this at least cut some of these travels? Sure Carvallain needs to do the full thing with his boat, but I thought we were able to teleport anyway!)


Back to the topic, hopefully Endwalker being the end of that ark, we can have a sort of time skip at the end... The time bubble makes sens from an expansion point of view (Alexander rises and is shut off befor Stormblood events), but some other things not so much. Shadowbringers happens quite fast, but Ivalice (4.X and 5.X) sure implies more time is spent there than Shadowbringers patches.
I wouldn't be opposed to an official timeline, and each quest text having an indicative date for when it is happening.

And that's not even mentioning recurring yearly event which... happen every year.

I really hope the twins have their growth spurts somewhere between 6.1 and 7.0

Like a few others, I also hope they use the wrapping up of loose ends in 6.0 as a chance to close this chapter and move the current year forward, and to age up the twins a bit.
I wanna hang out with a proper grown up Alphi.

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Originally Posted by Jandor

Like a few others, I also hope they use the wrapping up of loose ends in 6.0 as a chance to close this chapter and move the current year forward, and to age up the twins a bit.
I wanna hang out with a proper grown up Alphi.

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The proper way to reflect this is obviously to have Alisaie hit her growth spurt first.

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Originally Posted by Cleretic

The proper way to reflect this is obviously to have Alisaie hit her growth spurt first.

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I was picturing a sort of credits finish rolling, location and current year appears on screen, fade in, adult Alphi and Alisaie walk in "That was a crazy 5 years, WoL. What will you do now?" situation.

Something like that, but y'know, good.

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Originally Posted by Mansion

(Can't we teleport though, once we have attuned to aetherites? Not just from a gemplay point of view but in lore too? I remember the twins and ourselves literaly teleporting into Lakshmi's lair for instance -without attuning, mind you- so couldn't this at least cut some of these travels? Sure Carvallain needs to do the full thing with his boat, but I thought we were able to teleport anyway!)

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Teleportation is VERY weirdly handled lore-wise. 1.0 had "Anima" as a limited but renewable resource that dictated how far and often you could teleport. This was SEEMINGLY dropped in 2.0 and instead uses gil (the lore explanation for this was the Aetherytes breaking and Eorzea taking out a loan from the Syndicate to repair them, the gil is meant to pay back that loan), but when repairing the Aetheryte at the House of the Fierce, Alphinaud will mention that they're basically only doing it for people with large amounts of Anima, such as yourself...

So sometimes it's treated like a very convenient plot device that negates travel times, and other times it's this prohibitive skill that's not as commonplace. For example: Flow was a big deal because you can't Teleport in battle and 2.55 respected that with Y'shtola using the riskier but shorter Flow. And then in 3.4(4?) the Devout of Darkness uses Teleport damn near instantly and everyone just neglects to stop her.

The only time “time” is talked about is during the Rising events, and even then it’s by Yoshida and decidedly NOT canon. He always says his meetings are outside of the in game world.

The minstrel and related NPCs to the rising do talk of “years” passing as that the Rising is a yearly thing, but that is also easily hand waved by the 5 year gap between 1.0 and 2.0.

Reminds me of the Simpsons tbh.

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Originally Posted by kaynide

Reminds me of the Simpsons tbh.

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That's the comparison they used when describing the time bubble if I recall correctly. Which does make me wonder just how seriously we were ever meant to take the concept.

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Originally Posted by WhiteArchmage

Teleportation is VERY weirdly handled lore-wise. 1.0 had "Anima" as a limited but renewable resource that dictated how far and often you could teleport. This was SEEMINGLY dropped in 2.0 and instead uses gil (the lore explanation for this was the Aetherytes breaking and Eorzea taking out a loan from the Syndicate to repair them, the gil is meant to pay back that loan), but when repairing the Aetheryte at the House of the Fierce, Alphinaud will mention that they're basically only doing it for people with large amounts of Anima, such as yourself...

So sometimes it's treated like a very convenient plot device that negates travel times, and other times it's this prohibitive skill that's not as commonplace. For example: Flow was a big deal because you can't Teleport in battle and 2.55 respected that with Y'shtola using the riskier but shorter Flow. And then in 3.4(4?) the Devout of Darkness uses Teleport damn near instantly and everyone just neglects to stop her.

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Anima is definitely still a thing, they mention it during the 3.0 relic questline briefly, too. It's just they retconned the player character to have Infinity Anima so the only currency you need for it is gil.

As for people teleporting, I think the general idea is that while Aetherytes are good for planned out long-distance travel, most people don't have the energy to zip around from place to place like you can. I think it's safe to assume that anytime a character has to travel a particularly large distance and there isn't another means of travel explicitly mentioned, then they probably teleported.