Regardless of whether or not some pagan Dara Happan told a lie that could easily be disproven by heroquesting, the Brithini have citizens for whom the invention of Time as we understand it is akin to the invention of cell phones as an event in the lives of humans born in the 1920s. It's astonishing, and science fictional, but it's just one more thing that happened in a very busy life - is it *really* worth resetting all our calendars for? The fact that the Brithini *did* have the red sands of **time** during the Ice Age suggests that the idea of absolute timelessness before the Dawn is a central Genertelan idea, and should not be considered truly universal.
And The Dawn being THE defining event after the Darkness is persuasive, but not conclusive. By this logic, the three Abrahamic religions would all date their calendars from the creation of the universe, and yet, all three have chosen dates that seem somewhat arbitrary or foolish to the other two.
I'm starting to incline to theories that the Rokari calendar starts with the revelation of the Abiding Book, the Brithini probably from the creation of the Eranschula. With the Loskalmi, I'm still torn between Hrestol's revelation, or even as late as the Syndic's Ban when Loskalm was able to begin its Utopian project. The orthodox Hrestoli of the Castle Coast are almost certainly dating from Hrestol's revelation, which may or may not match up with the Theyalan Dawn-based calendar. The Stygians are a mess, and while it'd be neat and tidy to have their calendar go from Arkat's apotheosis, there's just too many outside influences going on up there.
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