Time Zones of Venturia
Time zones in Venturia are regions of the world that observe different standard times in those areas for legal, commercial, and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries of countries and their subdivisions because it is convenient for areas in close commercial or other communication to keep the same time, however this is not always the case. Zones in Venturia are always exactly one hour apart.
Venturian Standard Time, the system of timekeeping the zones use, was created and coordinated in the early to mid-1800's, with the Protectorates of Allia first creating the time zones, and working with other nations such as the Nista Federation of States to standardize the zones. Eventually more and more regions were using the system, and in 1882 the International Conference on Standard Time was convened, made up of the world's nations, which standardized the zones and have been kept until the present day.
Contents
History
Early Timekeeping
Before the invention of clocks and the widespread use of them in the early 18th century, it was common to keep time with the Sun, and plan different events and routines accordingly. For instance, people may have had balls in the 17th century at sundown, and one would wake at sunup. This changed with the invention of clocks, as the sun and moon's cycle in the sky was divided into 24 hours, with AM and PM periods of 12 hours each.
As these clocks became used by much of the world, each city or local town had their own time, as in the early 1800's not many people traveled outside their own cities or towns. However problems arose when national trains couldn't communicate about when they would arrive at each stop, because of the difference in times, with incidents involving thousands of people missing trains, the 1827 Josephsburg Riots in Drumes caused by train delay upsetting numerous people, as well as an incident in 1837 when Quentinian Secretary of Professions and Labor missed his train to visit Baltimore from Lindin because of a large miscommunication, resulting in him arriving in the city 3 weeks late.
National Standardization
With these incidents, it comes as no surprise that the Sovereignty of Drumes was the first to establish national time zones, with a decree from Emperor of Drumes Kalkoaunas I splitting the nation into two time zones, one for the coast and one for the inland areas. The United States of Quentin soon followed with the Timekeeping Act of 1842, where each Quentinian state was assigned a time zone, according to when the sun set in each area and when it rose again.
These early time zones were extremely successful, so in the next 20 years, numerous other nations followed, including the Republic of Megatridimensional Order, Protectorates of Allia, and New Dawn. These systems worked for the individual nations, however as international trade grew as the 19th century progressed, numerous roadblocks were encountered. The main one was railroad trade between Allia and nations in the north part of the Asperian Continent. While nations in the north, including New Dawn and the Democratic-Republic of Lindsaya, had established railroad time zones and were working with Allians to trade, this was made obsolete as the United Villages of Southia still refused to establish a time zone, and would also not allow Allian or northern cargo to pass through the country. Tensions grew, and after the First New-Southian War as well as the Railroad Wars of 1874, the issue still was not settled. This issue, combined with numerous issues trading over water with nations such as Docneighland and the Nista Federation of State created what is called the International Conference on Standard Time, held from 1881-1882.
Conference and International Time
Numerous countries were reluctant, and outright insulted, to be invited to the conference, one of these being the United Villages of Southia, the others being Docneighland and Bymaria. Docneighland was brought to the conference after Allia released a document threatening embargo, backed up by the MTO and USQ, and Bymaria was also threatened by Allia, backed this time by the USQ and a plethora of northern nations. An embargo from Allia wouldn't affect Southia's economy much, and even after Allia, Lindsaya, and New Dawn moved troops to the border, Southia wouldn't budge. This situation, called the Greater Railroad Incident, pushed the world to the brink of a 19th century great war, however after the USQ moved its navy in in late 1879, the UVS finally agreed to send a representative to the conference.
The conference began in 1881, with nearly 20 countries represented. The conference hashed out the details of time zones, establishing 11 zones, each one hour off from each other. There was a large debate over which region should hold the Venturian Standard Time, however ultimately the west central region of the Asperian continent won the debate. Finally, the time zones were standardized and clocks were set to each time zone's time on July 2nd, 1882.
Venturian Standard Time Zones
The Venturian Standard Time Zones are the official time zones of Venturia. There are a total of 11 of these time zones, with the Venturian Standard Time Zone being in the center of 5 other time zones on both sides. VST/0, as it is called, is always either ahead or behind the other zones. The zones are listed below, along with their nicknames and a map below that. (P) on the table stands for partially, as in the nation listed is partially covered by the time zone listed.
