[blacxthornE]

Well I could as well go ahead and point out ideas that have probably occured to you so many times, (coz they're inspired by the real world) but...

Did you consider naming them after:
* Gods (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday named after Tiw/Tyr, Woden/Odin, Thor, Frigg/Frey, and Saturn)
* Monsters (well, Chinese years, only with monsters)
* Great Rulers (August and July named after Augustus and Julius)
* Elements and Forces (Moon of Cold, Moon of Fire, Year of Darkness, Year of Light, etc)
* Planes or Planets (Sunday and Monday named after Sun and Moon)
* Natural events (the season called 'fall' is when tree leaves fall, although I don't know if that's why it's called 'fall')

[Axel]

Is it necessary to have a numbering convention for the years at all? I believe it's entirely possible to simply not have such a system. Most people are unaffected by the date, it's necessary only for them to count backwards. Only historians and record keepers might make use of dates (and if they designed the system you can be sure it would be numbered). The imposition of dated numbering is completely arbitrary, and in a moon based calendar system it might be easier to just count moons directly, rather than years. Remember that the earth's year is based on our revolution around the sun, if the culture has no knowledge of heliocentric orbits (or lives on a world that doesn't revolve around the sun) then a year has no meaning for them.
Similarly since a year has meaning only for scholars, it might be easiest for them to reference all events to other events. I can see the only timekeeping system in exixtence simply stating how long the reigning monarch had been in power. Thus all records would begin with: "In the xth year of the reign of suchandsuch...."
Likewise you count the repitition of regular events. Say your world has regular eclipses, you could count "years" based on that interval. Count the number of winters since something happened. Count the number of knots on the cord hanging behind the throne, one knot is tied every New Years. Whatever.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Well, [WOMBAT]. You got some good ideas in there. The recurring events that happen most often are the seasons, obviously. Also, being an orary, there might be a conjunction that occurrs at a regular interval. And of course, as you said, the reign of rulers. This might actually create a nice timekeeping system that extends longer than a year. For instance, say the X plane comes into conjunction every 5 years, you've have 13 months to the year and 5 years to the X. So the years might end up with names like the months, weeks, and days have. That'd be kinda cool. Thanks, Axel. Awesome ideas.

By the way, the reason they know what a solar year is because of the seasonal changes. In truth, there is no actual sun the plane orbits, so the idea of a solar year is not really applicable, but the change in seasons is.

[Axel]

Oddly, that last one gave me a fairly good idea. In the throne room of the Emperor are statues of his predecessors, with empty pedestals for him and his successors. When he dies a statue will be made for him. Hanging from the throne is a golden cord, a near identical one hangs from each statue. A knot is tied in the cord for each Sawain that the Emperor is on the throne. When he dies his cord shall be tied to his statue, as has been done for all the previous emperors. All royal documents state simply the date, and how many knots have been tied during his reign. Historians trace back time by how many knots there are on each statue, and the order they are placed.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Nice idea. Too bad there is no emporer. But once there is a major ruler, that is a sweet way to do things. Will definitely be adopted once the dynasties begin. Thanks.

[Torap]

Wow...
wow...
wow. Ok. I'm definatly using some of this. This helps my idea processing. Alot. I had to grave dig this one. Raven is making all my world building WAAAYY too easy.

[Dthclaw]

Heh, yes, he does. Though, admittedly, we all steal quite a bit from each other - I've stolen a few things from Raven, Raven mugs me all the time, etc etc, so forth and so on.

So get cracking! I need to take yer stuff

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Oh yeah, we're all thieves here. Remember, there are no original ideas. Just steal an old one, file off the serial number, give it a paint job, and call it your own.

I'm glad I've come back here again. There's a lot that I had forgotten and am not stealing back from everyone else. Be warned! Muahahhahaha!

And yes, I'm totally stealing Axel's knot thing. Great idea and I'm working on something that does have emperors now. Perhaps I'll post what I have when I have more to post.