Sources

Sources are a critical part of this wiki. They are what connects this wiki to they official background released by The 9th Age Project, through the in-world narrators they use.

Throughout the articles you as a reader will find footnotes that link you to the Sources section of the article, like this one . Here each source is presented so that the you can understand where information came from. These source contain information both on the in-world narrator and on the real-world publication where you can find this information yourself.

## Official background

All official background information produced for the 9th Age project is presented though an in-world source, on this wiki called a narrator, that details the world around them. Because of this, nothing can really be said to be objectively true, just like the real world. However, just as with the real world, as more sources start to pile up, and as you become able to evaluate the reliability of each individual source, a clear picture can often emerge.

The creation of this clearer picture is essentially the purpose of this wiki. It strives to condense the information spread out among countless sources to a single place that is easy to access, read and navigate.

## Narrators

The in-world sources through which the background of The 9th Age is presented are on this wiki called Narrators. Most commonly these are persons, characters within the world, that write about the world around them, though there are other kinds of narrators.

When there are articles for these narrators on the wiki, they often contain a section dedicated to how they are as a source. This is most often an argumentative text (see Using Source below) that discusses how useful this narrator is as a source and how reliable it is. The texts often touch upon whether or not the source is dated and if not when it likely is from (based on the information provided). It also discussed the person and how well informed this narrator might be, someone titled doctor is for example often more reliable than someone presented as a mad hermit. It can also bring up how well established the information is in other sources, thereby earning credibility.

## Background releases

The background of the 9th Age has been released to the community in several publications. Mostly in the shape of rulebooks with background information and art worked into them, so called "Full Books". All of these are available for free download on the 9th Age site, either under the Downloads tab or Beta Rules tab. So far, the following Full Books have been released:

* The 9th Age: Fantasy Battles - Rulebook
* The 9th Age: Fantasy Battles - Paths of Magic
* The 9th Age: Fantasy Battles - Sylvan Elves
* The 9th Age: Fantasy Battles - Undying Dynasties
* The 9th Age: Fantasy Battles - Warriors of the Dark Gods

In addition, some background information has been released through the bi-monthly digital magazine The 9th Scroll, which is also available for free download of the 9th Age site. The majority of this background information however come in the shape of teaser full page spreads from an upcoming released called the Background Compendium.

## Using sources

The in-world sources of the official background are refereed to countless times around this wiki in the shape of footnotes. This is done to inform the readers of the reliability of the texts.

To create the footnotes, the the citation or reference tool is used. Each statement, sentence or paragraph should be be presented with a footnote that refers the reader to the Sources section at the end of each article, just like this paragraph is. Following this footnote will take you to the section which shows an example of how a source can be presented, although this format is not always possible.

The wiki articles for each publication containing official fluff should contain a list that details each source found in that publication. This list can be used a resource when finding source for your texts and when on how to present the source.

In some cases footnotes are not necessary to use:

* Texts with information that is obvious and can be taken for granted can be left without a source footnote. This can be a subjective matter though so might cause discussion. An exception is information that can be learned from the Slim Rulebook, which can always be assumed to be true. For example, no source is needed to state that Wretched Ones are part of the Warriors of the Dark Gods faction, as they are present as a unit in that book. Similarly no source would be needed to state that Yema is subject to worship among the Dread Elves, since they have rules about cults to Yema.
* *Texts that reach their own conclusions based on official background do not need source footnotes. These text must however use clear argumentation based on sources (which may be referenced through footnotes when mentioned) so that the reader can understand how these conclusion are reached. Such texts must also be clearly distinguished from other texts on the wiki, by being coloured green and written in italics, just like this paragraph. This can be achieved using the formatting style called 'Preformatted' (available in the visual editor), or using the Colour Template to colour the text green (write 'green' in the first field).*

## Source example

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Author's name (XXX A.S.) Name of book or source (*Name of real world publication, preferably with a page reference*)