Age (Era)

An Age (sometimes called an Era) is an unset period of time in Mencu's history that help better divide the different time periods of the world into clearer-set eras.While there are no set guidelines on how long or how short an Age can be, the length of an Age is determined by the astronomical events called the Dissipations. While to the naked eye they appear to be little more then impressive looking supernovas, they are in truth, residual views of worlds that have collapsed or dissipated back into The Origin due to various instabilities with aetheric flows or the like. While most Ages last at least 2500 years or more, some of the longer anomaly ages lasting upward of 4000 or even 5000 years, and a few have been abnormally short. The 182nd Age is an example of an abnormally long Age, currently lasting 4610 years as of The Crusade of Zulera.

Origins
Timekeeping has been a part of Mencu's history since its creation, and while different cultures have sprung up over the years and ages, all of them agreed on a universal timekeeping system, including the Arakos. Ultimately however, the concept of an Age was brought into practice after the collapse of the 186th Facsimile, which began the 1st Age.

The Facsimiles
According to ancient studies by the Jalenga in times past, The Origin is a world possessing exactly 201 copies, known as The Facsimiles. While created in the likeness of The Origin, they have long since diverged and become unique worlds each on their own, not unlike how the Vartiz and Kasil have since split into nearly a dozen other distinct races over time. Each time a Facsimile collapses or is otherwise destroyed, its remains briefly light up the sky for several days, and on Mencu this is heralded as the ending and beginning of an Age. As of the 197th Age, only four Facsimiles remain: The 5th, The 52nd, The 148th, and The 197th. Of these, Mencu is the 52nd Facsimile, and based on the length of the age and the amount of effort contributed into keeping Mencu stable, it is popularly believed that it is—or was—"next in line" to be destroyed, and that the resilience of the people of The 52nd are the reason the Age has lasted as long as it has.

Names & Lengths
Timekeeping Councils exist between most nations, including the orderly Arakos and the freewheeling Zaderei. While many of these races and cultures are often at odds with one another, this council exists as a neutral and apolitical entity that serves to keep consistent records across Mencu. Even the contentious Arakos who are often at war with many other countries, cooperate in this endeavour, for they too wish for an orderly world with well-recorded events.

Naming Conventions
While originally, ages were named after the event that caused the age to start, scribes and scholars quickly shortened these to the 1st and 2nd Ages. However, even as ages were numbered, they still had full/official names, to serve as records and reminders of what events caused their change. A name is given to an age only after it ends, with the Žaníma of the age's final year marking the last day of that age.

Years in an age are always numbered with four digits, with even lowers years such as 35 or 648 being written 0035 and 0648, respectively. No age has ever lasted beyond 5200 years (let alone 9999 years), and as such, the need for a 5th digit in the year-numbering convention has never been necessary. However, were such an event to happen, it would likely simply be numbered 10000, 10001, 10002, etc.

Lengths
There is no set length for an Age to last,

Role in the Series
The events of the The Crest of Zabutur series all take place in the 182nd Age.