The age of The Constant.

[VeIkan]

Me and my friends spent some hours trying to figure out the exact age of The Constant, so this is what we got:
(This is not EXACTLY the age, since it was told that The Ancients ruled before Maxwell.)

Some rules:
8 in-game minutes = 1 day.
We also assumed that the seasons repeat. So we used 365 days instead of 70. 
48 Real life hours = 182 (Constant) years.
The Constant has no year leap, since all seasons are the same even when you reach 4 years in-game days.
One Constant year gets added every 2 real life leap years.

1906 is when Maxwell and Charlie did the last show.
1921 is when Wilson entered the Constant.

1906: 182 Constant Years.
1908: 546.5 Constant Years. 
1912: 1275 Constant Years.
1916: 2003.5 Constant Years.
1920: 2732 Constant Years.
1921: 2914 Constant Years.

If we assume someone ruled before Maxwell, The Constant is over 3000/4000 years.
(Sorry if i did something wrong, English isn't my main language.)

What do you guys think?

[ArubaroBeefalo]

4 hours ago, NegoNey said:

What do you guys think?

that having 8 min days is the way klei decide to make the game playable not an actual messure of the constant days in his lore

[TipherethB]

1 hour ago, ArubaroBeefalo said:

that having 8 min days is the way klei decide to make the game playable not an actual messure of the constant days in his lore

Well, Maxwell does mention that time works extremely weirdly in the constant- so the days actually being 8 minutes long isn't impossible. I don't feel like fact-checking the math but the constant being ~4000 years old (as of maxwell showing up, as it's confirmed that the constant existed BEFORE maxwell) is relatively plausible. Nice post, OP!

[CameoAppearance]

I don't think the ratio of in-game time to time experienced by the player is necessarily the canon ratio of time that passes in the Constant to time that passes on Earth. The characters talk about things that the player doesn't get to see, like drinking rainwater and Wigfrid smacking people with trinkets, so we can't assume everything in-universe happens exactly as the player sees it.

Maxwell's quote ("What year is it out there? Time moves differently here.") establishes that Constant time is different from Earth time, but not how it's different. He doesn't actually say how many years of Constant time make one year of Earth time, or if there even is a consistent number. If he was even talking about that and not something else time-related like how the survivors can survive for thousands of days without getting any older, for that matter.

Having said that, it's definitely possible that a day in the Constant is 8 minutes on Earth and a year on Earth is hundreds of Constant years, and your numbers seem plausible in that scenario!

[SouthTom]

38 minutes ago, CameoAppearance said:

Maxwell's quote ("What year is it out there? Time moves differently here.") establishes that Constant time is different from Earth time, but not how it's different. He doesn't actually say how many years of Constant time make one year of Earth time, or if there even is a consistent number. If he was even talking about that and not something else time-related like how the survivors can survive for thousands of days without getting any older, for that matter.

Considering Winona got into the Constant not too long after Wagstaff but she got sent after Charlie took over while he was sent while Maxwell was still the king, I'd say time isn't evolving in the same way.

[prezera]

5 hours ago, ArubaroBeefalo said:

that having 8 min days is the way klei decide to make the game playable not an actual messure of the constant days in his lore

I forgot when he says this but Wagstaff also says something about the short days. That or my memory is terrible.

[PasssionFish]

1 hour ago, PrezPara said:

I forgot when he says this but Wagstaff also says something about the short days. That or my memory is terrible.

Nah your correct:

[Rinkusan]

8 hours ago, SouthTom said:

Considering Winona got into the Constant not too long after Wagstaff but she got sent after Charlie took over while he was sent while Maxwell was still the king, I'd say time isn't evolving in the same way.

Winona was pulled in by Charlie the Night Monster though, implying she was dragged in before Maxwell was de-throned just like Wagstaff. 

A lot of the time logic in DST is honestly really confusing and muddied by subjectivity. If time really is moving faster in the Constant relative to Earth as Wagstaff implies from the rapid day phases, why isn't everything being fast-forwarded? Why are the survivors, beefalo, pigs, spiders, birds, etc. going about their day "normally" instead of moving around at the speed of sound? 

[Maxposting]

lore =/= gameplay

[Scrimbles]

4 hours ago, __IvoCZE__ said:

lore =/= gameplay

To be fair, for all intensive purposes this could be true.

Maxwell gets turned into dust the moment he's released, I assume he was basically on life support, before, you know...

 

[VeIkan]

6 hours ago, Rinkusan said:

Why isn't everything being fast-forwarded? Why are the survivors, beefalo, pigs, spiders, birds, etc. going about their day "normally" instead of moving around at the speed of sound? 

2 Theories:

1- It's just magic and we don't know exactly what type it is.

2- The Constant has gravity laws, and the land they're in moves very quickly, but since they're inside it, they are moving at the same speed, making them don't feel anything. Just like the Earth, we're moving around at 1600 km/h, yet we don't feel nothing.

My problem with number 2 is that the sea of The Constant would move very, very quickly, but we don't feel that in Don't Starve Together when using a boat.

 

[Rinkusan]

4 hours ago, NegoNey said:

1- It's just magic and we don't know exactly what type it is.

2- The Constant has gravity laws, and the land they're in moves very quickly, but since they're inside it, they are moving at the same speed, making them don't feel anything. Just like the Earth, we're moving around at 1600 km/h, yet we don't feel nothing.

My problem with number 2 is that the sea of The Constant would move very, very quickly, but we don't feel that in Don't Starve Together when using a boat.

What I mean when I say that other creatures should be moving at the speed of sound is that no matter what magic is being used or how fast the planet rotates, if time really is being sped up and that sped-up time is causing things like the phases of the day, the hair growth on beefalo, the growth time of grass, etc (as Wagstaff comments in his quotes), then the survivors and creatures' perception of time should also be sped up relative to all those fast-growing things. But we know for sure that that's not the case; otherwise, from our perspective, everything would be growing normally. 

I think what's happening here is like a nonsensical interpretation of real-world time dilation in Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity where instead of relative speed causing you to experience less time relative to a stationary object in the same reference frame, it's straight-up lunar magic. And considering the fact that both Special and General Relativity were developed in 1905 and 1916 (i.e. almost perfectly smack-dab in the Don't Starve lore timeline), I don't think it's too far-fetched to say that Klei might be using an artistic interpretation of a revolutionary scientific theory that exists within the franchise's time period as part of the world building.

[Notecja]

The plants are growing from seed to full plant in 2 days without rain. After applying some poo, they grow instant.
The wind doesn't impose the direction of the boat, but the boat imposes direction of wind. (please correct me if I used a wrong word)
Sunrise takes just only seconds, while evening can be longer than day.
The moon shines only on full moon. Otherwise night is as pitch black as no moon.
Characters don't age. At least is not visible. They die, they live again, then again die...
We could have a much longer talks about physics laws of this world, than in ONI. I rather believe time in Constant is elastic, as much as players can just change how long are years in Constant... So there is nothing against that numbers, and at same time, Constant may be a new world every day (just reset game). The most interesting thing is, even if the world is reset, is kinda always reset to the same day... Constantly looped.

[VeIkan]

35 minutes ago, Notecja said:

The plants are growing from seed to full plant in 2 days without rain. After applying some poo, they grow instant.
The wind doesn't impose the direction of the boat, but the boat imposes direction of wind. (please correct me if I used a wrong word)
Sunrise takes just only seconds, while evening can be longer than day.
The moon shines only on full moon. Otherwise night is as pitch black as no moon.
Characters don't age. At least is not visible. They die, they live again, then again die...
We could have a much longer talks about physics laws of this world, than in ONI. I rather believe time in Constant is elastic, as much as players can just change how long are years in Constant... So there is nothing against that numbers, and at same time, Constant may be a new world every day (just reset game). The most interesting thing is, even if the world is reset, is kinda always reset to the same day... Constantly looped.

You're probably correct, i wanted to try to study The Constant and somehow discover the year, or maybe where they are, but nothing points out to at least one of these things.

I really wish Klei decided to say something, or maybe throw a puzzle so the community would try to solve it. It would be really funny.

[oCrapaCreeper]

It's still unsure what was around before Maxwell. He claims there was nothing there when he got there (just dust, the void, an Them) yet things like Merms or Marble structures were there before he got there.

 

Lots of the original Maxwell singleplayer lines outright contradict lore established in DST, could be an oversight, but that's besides the point anyway.

[CameoAppearance]

13 hours ago, oCrapaCreeper said:

It's still unsure what was around before Maxwell. He claims there was nothing there when he got there (just dust, the void, an Them) yet things like Merms or Marble structures were there before he got there.

 

Lots of the original Maxwell singleplayer lines outlight contradict lore established in DST, could be an oversight, but that's besides the point anyway.

I just assumed he was either a) lying to make himself sound more important, b) remembering things much more flatteringly than the way they really happened, or c) both. 

[Lucenix]

It's good and all but Charlie asks Winona how much time has passed, so I think time goes on faster outside than inside.

[cropo]

On 8/5/2020 at 7:29 PM, oCrapaCreeper said:

It's still unsure what was around before Maxwell. He claims there was nothing there when he got there (just dust, the void, an Them) yet things like Merms or Marble structures were there before he got there.

 

Lots of the original Maxwell singleplayer lines outright contradict lore established in DST, could be an oversight, but that's besides the point anyway.

My headcannon is that Shipwrecked was before Maxwell. Maxwell doesn't know about anything there. There are small signs of civilization there. You have the Obsidian, as well as workbenches made to utilize said resource(sound familiar to a certain fuel?) and there is even an altar that you can sacrifice things to that pleases the volcano. Nightmare Fuel is one of the items you can use, and the Sailing Stick can be made with Nightmare Fuel which wagstaff considers a ''great use of the dark fuel''.

 

The Dark Sword itself looks to be quite nautical in nature, and Woodlegs calls it ''Me cursed Cutlass!'' although this could just be him generalizing the sword as one, one thing to note however is that Woodlegs was originally going to be cursed to be a skeleton but the idea was scrapped mid development due to difficulties turning him in and out of one.  However one can make the Cutlass Supreme, which has the exact same stats as the Dark Sword without any of the penalties. When examining Nightmare Fuel, Woodlegs also claims that he's seen that cursed magic in the sea before.  For the Dark Armor, most characters comment on it's weirdness, or insist that they hate wearing it. Woodlegs however, says it ''feels good to put on''.  Another interesting thing is that with the Nightmare amulet, most characters will comment in fear of it, or be neutral of it only pointing out what it does. Woodlegs says that it looks good on him(Only Wortox has a favorable impression of it besides him.),  When examining the Vortex Cloak, he mentions ''It's like staring into the oceans depths'' although this could be me thinking too much about the meaning of that quote, but with the Dark Tatters from Hamlet he mentions it's like Davy Jones' Cloth.  Woodlegs was going to originally be immune to death by drowning, when a character drowns in shipwrecked they are pulled into the water by the shadow creatures, this idea becomes more interesting if we remember that Woodlegs was originally going to be cursed to be undead and speaks as if he's been to the bottom of the ocean before, it's possible he's seen some stuff down there.

 

 

With a lot of these general bits in mind, I think the pure shadow items(that aren't based on gems) were items that originated from items in the Shipwrecked world, Woodlegs seems quite familiar and at home with them. There are hints of a civilization being there(and likely destroyed) before we play the content in Shipwrecked.  With the recent trend of Sea-based updates to DST and the title of the expansion being ''Return of Them'', I think it's fair to say there's a possibility that the Shadow Creatures originate from the sea and possible that whatever happened in Shipwrecked was responsible for their creation.  It's like the Shadows are stealing the culture and designs of civilizations so that they give shape to themselves. The Fuelweaver has a quote saying ''Let the Fuel take shape'', so the ''end game'' of the Shadow Creatures might be to absorb an amalgamation of the fruits of civilizations creativity to give itself a sort of ''ultimate shape'' instead of being vague shadowy nightmare things.

 

Although I haven't really given much thought to this idea, this is just sort of a headcanon I have until I hear something that contradicts this. I think Shipwrecked is much bigger to the lore than it seems.

[ArubaroBeefalo]

23 minutes ago, cropo said:

.

Maxwell is shown in the smoke made by the volcano in the sw trailer :/

[Maxposting]

6 minutes ago, ArubaroBeefalo said:

Maxwell is shown in the smoke made by the volcano in the sw trailer :/

That is canonically still before Adventure mode...

[cropo]

2 hours ago, ArubaroBeefalo said:

Maxwell is shown in the smoke made by the volcano in the sw trailer :/

 

Maxwell does not speak as if he knows what anything in the Volcano is, nor does he take credit for making anything. In fact.

 

When examining the Altar of Snackrifice, he says 

''It appears to be a place of offering''. If he made it, why would he make such a curious examination of it?

When the Altar demands tribute, he can examine it and he says 

''Do I dare play with more forces beyond my control?''

 

When examining the Volcano, he simply states 

''I respect it's power''.

 

When examining the Magic Seal, he says ''I sense a powerful force within it'', when examining typical magical items from RoG, he will state that he either had a hand in it's creation, or flat out explains the mysteries behind it(the Dark Sword and Dark Armor being some exceptions).   When examining the Baby Seal after the Seanado is killed he says ''It's..uh...cute?'' as if he's never seen it before and is shocked to look at it.

 

I don't really think the face in the trailer had any special meaning to it. Maxwell isn't the one who taunts the player when they start out in Shipwrecked, he's learning about everything at the same pace other characters do.  Why would he supposedly have knowledge of the place, and have created it, if he talks about the environment like this?

 

There is a very clear difference to how he speaks about the stuff he examines in the ruins, to how he examines stuff in the Volcano.

 

I don't quite know where Hamlet falls into the picture here, but at the very least I think Shipwrecked existed before Maxwell came into the constant.

 

Another thing I just remembered is that Maxwell says ''They just watch, until you get too close..and then.....well, there's a reason I'm so dapper'' on the throne.  Woodlegs himself seems quite ''dapper'' with all these nightmarish artifacts himself, out of all the characters he's actually comfortable using them and wearing them although it has nothing to do with the topic of how old the constant is it really seems like Woodlegs has been in close contact with the shadows like Maxwell has been. The Quacken itself holds one of the keys that has him locked up, and it drops the Bootybag, which Woodlegs examine quote is ''Me thought me lost that''. Why is his belongings locked away under the sea?Is it possible that the Quacken is actually aggrod to the player because it thinks they're trying to uncover some sort of secret when using a trawl net to nab treasure underwater? Wagstaff also claims the Magic Seal is a ''conduit for the dark fuel''. Why would a monster from Shipwrecked, that Maxwell has no knowledge of, be a conduit for Nightmare Fuel? 

 

I know I'm making a lot of assumptions here but we can take this a step further and say that another force or entity might have had a hand in Shipwrecked that doesn't include our main cast of characters. When Wagstaff examines the Iron Key, he will say ''Made of Iron....is there iron in this world?''.  When examining the iron Turbines, he says ''Who manufactured this blade? It's quite precise!''.  There is no iron in Shipwrecked, but there IS iron in Hamlet. So Hamlet might even pre-date Shipwrecked and someone might have traveled to Shipwrecked from there and, for some reason, made the device on the Baby Seal to turn it into the Sealnado. The Baby Seal might not even be the one attacking you, but the tornado created from the turbines automatically attacking you, a notable function is that it ''steals'' items and stores them inside of itself, it's possible that whoever created the device was actually trying to CAPTURE the Baby Seal and other items of importance This would explain why it's not hostile towards you, and why killing it is considered a naughty action...this creates an even bigger question, when you go off screen it ends up dead anyway with its loot on the floor. Did someone come by and kill it because you weren't willing to do it? Why they did this is a mystery, but they might have also been responsible for crafting all of the floaty boat knights and NOT Maxwell.  When Maxwell examines the Floaty Boat Knight, he says ''Obey me, Fool!''. When examining any of the other Clockworks, he mentions that he is proud of the craftsmanship of them.   Hamlet, very weirdly, has a lot of mech-tech in it with the Iron Hulk.  When examining various pieces(I'm not gonna post them all), Maxwell is quite clear that he has absolutely no idea what the thing is, while Wagstaff is excited and wonders who could have possibly built the thing.

 

And this trivia quote from the wiki

''According to Rhymes with Play #213, the identity of the Iron Hulks' creator is a secret.''

 

Klei has described the Iron Hulk as a lonely sentient being still lost in a long forgotten war. What war?

 

Theory: There is yet another civilization or group or person that is a major player in everything that is happening, and they've authored content throughout the constant and it's worlds that we are unaware of. Hamlet may indeed pre-date Shipwrecked. This group, or person, intentionally has a hand in imprisoning Woodlegs, why they did this is unknown...but again Woodlegs seems to actually be an important factor in all of this.

 

EVEN WEIRDER is that if you are killed by the Iron Hulk, the death cause is listed as Shenanigans, which usually implies suicide......And since the concept of Time is so messed up in Don't Starve...and Wilson happens to be a mad scientist....?????  Maybe the current plot of DST is going to make our characters go to war with the Shadows, with Charlie slowly nudging our progress in the right direction(like training us through the Forge). Maybe with Winonas help, or everyone's help in some way, they'll end up creating tools of war against the shadows. Something will happen with time Shenanigans and the characters will end up going to the past, and then create a loop where they help their past selfs reach the conclusion we're currently at now(or, figure this out, and find a way to stop it).