Style Manual

The **Style Manual** outlines the basic expectations for wiki articles to make provide consistency and accessibility for users.

Articles should be written in plain English, with a decent quality of grammar and spelling. The majority of articles should be written from in-universe points of view, describing characters as if real. Biographies and backstories should be written chronologically for the characters, rather than when revealed in the books.

Articles should be written in an encyclopaedic manner similar to traditional wiki pages, describing characters, objects, and events impartially. Personal opinions on characters should be left to the comments section, although some speculation can be included in trivia sections if adequately justified. Similarly, avoid addressing the reader, as it is inconsistent with an encyclopaedic presentation.

## Article Titles and Sections

### Article Titles

Article titles should, where possible, be unique and easily identifiable.

* The initial letter should be capitalised, and then following sentence case (e.g. 'Power animals' rather than Power Animals), unless a proper name (e.g. Grand Exhibition).
* Titles should omit *A, An*, or *The* as the first word, unless it is a title (e.g. The Seven Sands).
* For articles relating to topics with different potential titles, the most commonly used and easily identifiable one should be used (e.g. 'Shalla' rather than 'Sha'maat', '*castradazi*' rather than coindancer).
* Articles discussing characters should omit their titles, except where they are more commonly known by the title (e.g. 'Janucha zal Ghassan' rather than 'Credara Janucha zal Ghassan', but 'Queen Ginevra' rather than 'Ginevra').
* Argosi characters should be referred to by their commonly used names where possible ('Rosie' rather than 'The Path of Thorns and Roses', 'Durral and Enna' rather than 'The Path of the Wandering Thistle', but 'The Path of Skyward Oaks').

### Section Layout

Articles should begin with an introductory paragraph that summarises the page's content, and characters and books should have infoboxes filled out with key information, and all infoboxes, pictures, and other non-text content should be right-aligned.

Although not currently necessary, citing sources is good practice. Contributors who wish to include citations on article pages should include a references section at the bottom of articles, and references to books should include title, chapter heading or number, and page number based on the international hardback edition.

### Section Headings

Section headings should follow the guidance for Article Titles above. They should also be unique within the page, to prevent issues with section links.

Section headings should not include links. If the topic of a section has its own page, the {{Main}} Template should be used to link to the main article.

Section headings should not redundantly refer to the article title (e.g. use 'Relationships', not 'Kellen's Relationships'), should not be phrased as a question, and should use default font and colouring.

## Italics

As a general rule, use of italics should match use in the books. Italics can be used when introducing terms, especially when in another language in the book, such as terms in the Gitabrian language, which should, where possible, should also be translated. The exception to the italicisation of non-English terms is in proper nouns (e.g. Notia Veras).

Gitabrian titles should be italicated when used generically, but not when used as a means of address (e.g. 'Servadi Zavera té Drazo', but 'Savire is a *castradazi*').

Jan'Tep magic spells should always be italicized.

Latinate terms, such as *Felidus arborica* for Squirrel Cats and*Obandiria neheris* for Obsidian worms should always be italicized.

## Grammar

### Use of Pronouns

To maintain an encyclopaedic manner of presentation, editors should avoid using first or second person pronouns ('I' and 'we' or 'you'), and referring to readers. Most articles can be described without direct relation to readers.

### Verb Tense

Most articles should be written in the present tense.

Plot descriptions in book articles should be written in the present tense.

Articles on characters that are deceased, or cultures that have declined, may use the past tense.

### Contractions

Contractions should be avoided in encyclopaedic writing. If a sentence seems bulky without a contraction, consider rewriting the sentence.

## Links

Use links only when they are relevant and helpful. Links should only be used on the first instance of a topic, unless identifying a character in disguise, or using another name (e.g. linking 'the leader of the Sha'Tep conspiracy' to Abydos, even after a link to Abydos). Links regarding characters in disguise or under another name should link to the main character article, under their most common, or true, name.