The Fourteenth Cycle of Lingering Light
AK stands for:
After Kami — counted from the year the Celestial Plain lifted and direct divine intervention ceased.
There is no Year 0.
The first year after the Withdrawal was:
1 AK — The First Dawn
We are now fourteen cycles removed from that turning.
Some elders remember:
The sky trembling during the Withdrawal
Shrines that went silent overnight
Minor kami fading or weakening
Islands fracturing spiritually
This is not distant theology.
It is inherited trauma.
At 14 AK:
Clan confederations are forming but fragile
Shrine networks are semi-organized
The Way of the Sword is experiential, not codified
No formal Bushidō exists
Sea pacts are unstable
Yoru’mei bleed zones are still shifting
Nothing is yet institutionalized.
Everything is still being shaped.
The Tidemarked Cycle itself was only formally agreed upon in 7 AK at a Dawn Isle shrine conclave.
Before that, islands tracked time loosely by harvest and moon.
So 14 AK is only the 7th year of unified timekeeping.
This reinforces:
Shrines matter more than kings.
Early clan treaties being tested
First attempts at codifying oath enforcement
Maritime survival more important than politics
Sea kami contracts fluctuate unpredictably
Yokai courts mostly indifferent to mortal calendars
Humans still seen as spiritually volatile
Corruption pockets expanding slowly
Outcasts gathering power
We are still within the Lingering Echo Period.
Meaning:
Divine presence still faintly detectable
Miracles occur slightly more often than they will in later centuries
Oaths carry stronger immediate consequence
Celestial events feel “closer”
This makes 14 AK an ideal campaign start year.
It allows:
• Slice-of-life realism
• Political birth of traditions
• Early legendary figures
• Foundations of future myth
Dates are recorded as:
14 AK — Green Breath, Sun-Breath
14 AK — Veil Thinning, Shadow-Breath
Formal shrine notation:
14th Cycle of Lingering Light
9th Turning, 6th Breath