Time within the Arcanum is not measured by seconds or hours, but by different units derived from pulses—steady, rhythmic signals believed to be sent by the Undone, the cosmic force that shapes and unmakes reality. These pulses beat ten times per second, forming 864,000 pulses in each full day.
At the dawn of the Vala Sardelle Arcanum, Maelion Ardis engineered a device capable of counting these cosmic heartbeats. He named it the Regulator, an engine so precise that weather, season, and chaos could not sway its rhythm. It became the foundation upon which the Arcanum ordered its life.
To standardise this new cadence, Ardis crafted smaller descendants of the masterwork—Pulsekeepers—and attuned them to the Regulator’s magnetic broadcasts. By this, every hall and every initiate kept the same rhythm.
Whisper — 1,000 pulses (~1.67 minutes)
A moment for breath, clarity, or brief focus.
Murmur — 10,000 pulses (~16.7 minutes)
A learning segment, or meditation interval.
Beat — 20,000 pulses (~33.3 minutes)
Training blocks, errands, or concentrated work.
Measure — 40,000 pulses (~1 hour 6 minutes)
The standard unit of structured study or labour.
Cycle — 80,000 pulses (~2 hours 13 minutes)
Long rituals, or advanced lectures.
The Wake — 432,000 pulses (~12 hours)
The full waking span before rest.
Day — 864,000 pulses (~24 hours)
The sacred turning of the world.
To the Arcanum, the pulses are holy. To science, they would one day resemble the behaviour of an atomic clock—a device that keeps time by measuring the vibrations of atoms with extraordinary precision. Yet the Arcanum follows a different celestial source: a pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star that emits beams of radiation at perfectly regular intervals. Pulsars act as natural cosmic metronomes, far steadier than any earthly mechanism. Thus, while familiar in concept, the Arcanum measures time by an entirely different heartbeat—one written in the stars.
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