Tasked with keeping a steady 24 hour day cycle wherever it operates, the Deparment of Universal Chronology (DUC) is the oldest still existing institution on Dustcrown.
Their operational structure is closely tied to major hubs of activity and the overall administrative superstructure of the Star Trading Conglomerate (STC). Every polito-economic district is represented by 50 members of the DUC working on maintaining and operating the most complex and precise time measurement systems known in the STC. They each work in tandem and in a decentralized network ensuring a constant and physically almost perfect precision.
The organization also holds and coordinates the official new years festival, the Star Trading Conglomerate's most important holiday. It is usually accompanied by large processions and parties with artificial shades and light shows across all towns.
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History
Although written records for the first 250 years after the initial colonization are missing, the fact that standard earth time and a consistent calender have been maintained during their 800 years of isolation from exact dates of historic earth centric calender systems, indicates the existence of a continuous institution of some kind.
In fact some of the oldest texts and written information have references towards time keeping and an organization that seems to perform the same tasks as a later better known pre-industrial era institution.
Some of the earliest settler groups seem to have obligated one or more specialized individuals of keeping track of time, usually using primitive clocks or mechanical constructs that required almost constant sourveillance.
With the development of permanent settlements and more distant outposts, the first use of acoustic instruments and signalling towers can be traced back to the early 2850s. The oldest still intact bell made in 2982 is currently displayed in the national historic museum in New København.
While time keeping and measurement technology has developed greatly over time, conventional bell towers and simple yet robust electronic amplification systems are still in use, publicly announcing day time as well as "sunset" and "sunrise". Throughout all of Dalaran history and by all factions that existed, the institution has been recognized and respected as an essential organization necessary to keep basic societal functions possible.