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Clock-Moon Cycle
AE-408Era: ember-ageTech tier: 3
Ember Age harbor rhythm: ten orrery turns per AE year, each quartered into wax, hold, wane, and slack—ley-keyed phases that audit feasts, fractions, and street time beneath Veilspire's tiers.
Before the Aether Epoch pinned public time to the First Ley Surge, Veilspire's tiers kept rhythm by clock-moons—not celestial bodies but brass indices on harbor orreries, each full turn of the coastal miniature heaven marking one clock-moon in guild law.
The ten-turn year
Syndicate manufactories standardize the year as ten equal orrery turns, each turn further divided into four quarter-phases keyed to ley harmonics: wax, hold, wane, and slack. Dock clerks still speak of "the seventh moon" when they mean the seventh turn; auditors write AE-###.# so the fraction cannot hide inside a season.
Clock-moons are not interchangeable with weather. A wet slack can arrive during Hold; a dry wax can punish Ebb markets. The cycle measures instrument agreement, not comfort.
Wax, hold, wane, slack
- Wax — ley aspect rises; storm glass brightens; surge-craft apprentices are forbidden from unsupervised benches.
- Hold — the plateau artisans prefer; harbor throughput peaks; binding sigils mature on schedule.
- Wane — industrial fences sell futures; smugglers claim the tiers grow careless (they rarely do).
- Slack — orreries recalibrate; fractions pause until storm glass and brass agree; feasts without witness stay unbilled.
When ley tides slip—as they did the surge week—harbormasters strike slack early and refuse to advance the public fraction until miniature heavens scream in unison again.
Guild marks and street time
Temple feasts and market wakes still hang on cliff walls beside AE stamps. The clock-moon cycle does not replace saint-days; it audits them. An orrery log and storm-glass strip must agree within one fraction before a feast earns Syndicate recognition.
Outer galleries measure honest wind. The city below measures turns. A runner who quotes only "slack" without the AE year invites a fine; an auditor who quotes only the integer without the fraction invites a lawsuit.
Cross-era note
Mirror Spring laboratories keep MS reckoning keyed to glass consensus, but harbor lockstep still translates MS decimals against clock-moon fractions at triad review. The cycles do not argue in public—they queue until clerks publish a reconciling line both ledgers can walk without forfeiting breath.