Overview
Cycles are words associated with your calendar that change on a regular intervals. One real-world example of this is the Chinese Zodiac calendar, with a different "Year of the X" each year.
Formatting the Cycle
The first available input is the cycle format. This is the text that will be displayed directly below your year and era at the top of your calendar. The important part of this input is that it has special symbols that denote where to put the name of the current cycle in.
For example, in the above case of the Chinese Zodiac, you would use "Year of the {{1}}." The specific number to put into the format is also displayed in each cycle's box as a reminder. The first one is always {{1}}, and the second is {{2}}, and so on.
In addition, you can also make the cycles display on separate lines by using {{n}} in the format.
"Year of the {{1}}{{n}}Era of {{2}}" could become:
Year of the Wolf
Era of Fire
Multiple Cycles
Making multiple cycles is possible. When you add another cycle, it allows you to use additional cycle symbols in the format ({{2}}, {{3}}, etc). You can list any or all of them in the cycle formatting, allowing you to make a cycle displayed as "Year of the Wolf, Era of Fire." and other unique combinations, based on different elements on your calendar.
Creating a Cycle
A new cycle has four inputs; cycle is based on, length, offset, and number of names.
Cycle is based on
This input changes what the cycle is based upon. The first option is "year", meaning that every year the cycle will change accordingly to that year's number.
Length
The length is how long each part of the cycle lasts. This means that if you have 12 names, and a length of 2, each name will last for two years (if your cycle is based on the year) before shifting to the next name.
Offset
The offset determines which name is the start of the cycle. If this is set to 0, the first name of the cycle is first. If this is set to any other number, you will offset the names. For example:
| Year | Offset 0 | Offset 1 | Offset 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Name 1 | Name 5 | Name 4 |
| 2 | Name 2 | Name 1 | Name 5 |
| 3 | Name 3 | Name 2 | Name 1 |
| 4 | Name 4 | Name 3 | Name 2 |
| 5 | Name 5 | Name 4 | Name 3 |
Names
The number of names is the number of different stages in a cycle you define.