Oohh, the time passage issue.
Messy, but/therefore interesting.
I don't like the Istarian years being equal to RL years. If that is true, then the oldest player-controlled Gifted Ancient whose age hasn't been subjected to
Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome or set high prior to the beginning of play is only three or four years old. I'm happy to explain a lot of things away using the Gift, but not that.
The amount of development a character can be roleplayed through in three RL years is ridiculously frenetic if it's also three Istarian years. If one were to adhere to the timeline's implication, no relationship would last for a significant time, no hatchlings/children would grow up, etc.
That said, I don't know exactly how Istarian time
should be handled.
As for increasing the length of day and night, that isn't feasible because then some players would never see some times of day because of their login schedule.