Hours of the day

Most inhabitants of Faerûn divided the day into ten segments. Common names for these divisions of the day are given below:


 * Dawn : The time around sunrise.
 * Morning : The time between sunrise and highsun.
 * Highsun : When the sun was directly overhead; also called "noon" or "twelve bells".
 * Afternoon : The time after noon.
 * Dusk : The time before sunset.
 * Sunset : The time around sunset.
 * Evening : The time after sunset.
 * Midnight : The time roughly 12 hours after noon; also called "twelve bells".
 * Moondark : The darkest part of night; also called "night's heart".
 * Night's end : The time before sunrise.

Other divisions in common use included:
 * Godswake : The time before dawn.
 * Harbright : From dawn to highsun.
 * Elsun : The latter hours of morning.
 * Thulsun : The early hours of afternoon.
 * Tharsun : The latter hours of afternoon.
 * Eventide : Same as evening, twilight, or gloaming.
 * Nightfall : Same as dusk.
 * Gateclose: The hour at which a city's gates close for the night; the exact time could vary from city to city.
 * Night : The hours of darkness.
 * Deepnight : Same as midnight.

None of these divisions were precise. Different folk's usages might overlap with others. In general, however, these slots of time ranged between one and four hours.

In larger cities, bells were sometimes used to mark the hours. The churches of Gond and Lathander were also particularly interested in accurate timekeeping. In such cases, hours were numbered 1 through 12 twice, with 12 being both highsun and midnight. Bells were commonly used on spelljammers as well. "Evenpeal" was an hour in the late evening; it was the last hour for which bells were rung in Waterdeep.

Magically Auspicious Times
When practicing the Art, the position of the sun could have noticeable effects on the efficacy of certain spell components. These times of day and the item affected, as told by Elminster, are listed below:
 * Foredawn : The quarter-hour before 5 am to the quarter-hour after 5 am. Magical immersions using turquoise were best used at this time.
 * Mornbright : The quarter-hour before 8 am to the quarter-hour after 8 am. Any spells or magical writings using amethysts were more likely to succeed during this interval.
 * Midmorn : The quarter-hour before 10 am to the quarter-hour after 10 am. Magical workings using sapphires were best done during this period.
 * High morn : The quarter-hour before 11 am to the quarter-hour after 11 am. When enchanting a weapon adorned with garnets, starting the procedure during this interval generally produced the most favorable results.
 * Highsun : "Noon", as above. Magical workings involving diamond dust produced an increase in effectiveness when the sun was directly overhead.
 * Waterclock : The quarter-hour before 2 pm to the quarter-hour after 2 pm. Casting spells or other magical processes using emeralds as a component had an increased chance of success if performed at this time.
 * Time of summer sunset : About 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Enchantments involving powdered ruby were most effective when performed at this time of day.
 * Twilight : Around 6 o'clock in the evening. Steps of an enchantment process using opals had the greatest chance for success at this time.
 * Candleglass time : The quarter-hour before 9 pm to the quarter-hour after 9 pm. Powdered jade was best added to magical immersions during this interval.