The Sixth Astral Era ended in 1572 at the end of 1.0 with the coming of Bahamut. There was a Fernehalwes dev post (can't find it atm, but I'm sure Moose has it bookmarked) that explained that the year resets when a new era starts.

Therefore, 2.0 begins in year 5 of the Seventh Umbral Era. At the end of the main scenario quests, the GC leaders "declare" that the Seventh Astral Era has begun. According to "MMO time", I assume it takes less than a year for the events of the main story to complete. Questions:

1) Can they just do that? Do they have the authority just declare the beginning of an Astral Era like that? I thought only historians had that kind of perspective (e.g. people in 1920s never said that they were in the "Roaring 20s"; the Dark Ages are only called that in hindsight, etc.).

2) Is it now year 1 of the Seventh Astral Era? Or is it still year 5?

3) Naming conventions! If I were to ask you "what year is it?", what would you say? Do you say "it's 1572 of the Sixth Astral Era", or maybe just "it's 1572" or "it's 1572 of the Sixth Era"? Essentially, how do you format dates?