Contribution Rules and Practices

## Rules

### General rules

A number of general rules apply to all aspects of contributing to the Aoshtai Wiki:

* **Permission.** Always get it before you edit or use content created by another user. Referencing another user's content is generally okay, though running it by them is advisable.
* **Our universe is entirely fictional.** The Aegis Cluster is unrelated to real-life galaxies or events, though some elements of culture and politics may derive superficial inspiration from real-life ones. While Humans are present in the universe, their origin is intentionally left unknown.
* **Don't plagiarize.** Avoid using copyrighted content, properly attribute when necessary, and don't make your inspirations too obvious. Your content is expected to be your relatively original work.
* **Current year.** Events and history are largely restricted from going over a set current date, which tends to be determined by progression of major wiki events.
* **Magic.** Aoshtai has existing hard and soft magic systems in the form of Psionics and Mysticism, respectively. Users are not permitted to create magic systems outside of these.
* **FTL.** Aoshtai has existing forms of faster-than-light travel: the Etheric Plane and Psi-Gates, each with their own rules. Users are not permitted to create alternative forms of FTL.
* **Teleportation.** Teleportation, whether through the use of magic or technology, is not possible in the Aoshtai universe. At the moment, naturally-occurring wormholes are not traversable and cannot be artificially created.
* **Death.** Death is permanent in the Aoshtai universe. Characters who die cannot be brought back. There is no true resurrection.
* **Be respectful.** It's not very hard to be a decent member of the community, and try to assume good faith in the actions of your peers. When events such as character death or national tragedies occur, respect what the author is comfortable with in reacting to it.
* **Be open.** While not strictly a requirement, we do advise that users be open to advice and critique from their peers. Your fellow users can be an incredibly helpful reserve of knowledge on different topics such as politics, history, and sociology.

### The Ban Hammer

Most offenses aside from obvious trolling, spamming, vandalism will not result in an immediate ban. If your behavior is in violation of our rules, the admin team will reach out to clarify your awareness of the rules, why certain behaviors are disruptive, and try to help you fit in the community moving forward. However, if disruptive behaviors become repetitive or aren't resolved, it may result in a ban from the wiki and/or the Discord.

Certain behaviours are not acceptable on Aoshtai and will be met with a reprimand or ban. These include but are not necessarily limited to:

* Repeated and consistent failure to follow the wiki's rules and guidelines,
* Vandalism of either the wiki or the discord,
* Abrasive, hostile, disorderly, or obnoxious behaviour, especially if intentional and/or repeated,
* Discriminatory or hateful behaviour towards others based on inalienable characteristics or lifestyle choices,
* Repeated and targeted harassment towards a single user, a group of users, or the community in general,
* Threatening or intimidating a single user, a group of users, or the community in general,
* Impersonating a single user, a group of users, or the community in general,
* Sharing or distribution of illegal content,
* Sharing or distribution of disturbing/shock content,
* Sharing or distribution of any user’s personal/confidential information, and
* Continuous advertising or promotion without permission.

## Characters

From great leaders to mercenaries, financial magnates, and crusaders, Aoshtai is rich with opportunities for character creation and involvement.

Events, wars, and Cogent campaigns are some of the best ways to quickly develop and involve characters in the universe.

Users are encouraged to write nuanced and believable characters, though we also fully endorse making clear heroes and villains.

### Race

Current universally usable races include the Aoshanti, Tesar, and Humans. Individual cultures and ethnicities of each can be found in multiple nations across each galaxy.

All other species are user-created and require permission to use for new characters.

### Role & Allegiance

Mercenaries and other freelancers tend to be the most flexible and user-controlled, while soldiers, politicians, spies, and businesspeople may be more heavily tied to the allegiance and standards of a nation or faction.

Determining a character's race will provide a strong starting point for their possible allegiance. Outside of mercenaries and travelers, a character's nation of origin, or an organization within it, will typically be the holder of their loyalty. Work with the controller(s) of the faction to determine your character's place and background in it.

## Nations & Factions

Grand strategy on the scale of nations and the factions that include or exist within them is a major aspect of the Aoshtai Wiki.

### Demographics in Aoshtai

Nations in Aoshtai, as a rule, generally do not exceed a population of 100 billion, with relatively few exceptions. Habitable planets also tend to be sparse, with nations having between one and a handful, depending on size. Much of the rest of a nation's territory may be empty or sparsely-inhabited, with spacer populations living aboard stations and outposts. Megastructures on the scale of ringworlds are also uncommon, due to the extreme difficulty and cost of such a project.

### Finding Your Home

If you plan to add a nation to one of the galaxies of the Aegis Cluster, you'll need a spot on a galactic map to place it.

It is generally expected that contributors discuss their planned nation with possible neighbors on the map, as well as their galaxy coordinator, to make sure your nation can fit in somewhere. Many parts of the universe have strongly established histories and political environments that may not be open to new nations, while others are more open sandboxes with history that is yet to be written. Once you have a neighborhood that suits you, drop a sketch of your nation's territory and location in the **#🌌map-requests** channel on Discord, and our resident mapmaker or corresponding galaxy coordinator will do their best to add it in.

Currently Active Galaxies & Coordinators
* **Aoshtai Galaxy** - Community, informally coordinated between Etzan, Parazrael, 9Eyes, and other users depending on map region.
* **Selten Galaxy** - CollinaSpores
* **Coriusian Galaxy** - Schutze Overlord

*\*These galaxies have unique mechanics which heavily impact the civilizations located in them.*
### Technology

*See also: Technological Classification*
While a degree of technological disparity is assumed to exist between civilizations on Aoshtai, in general they tend to be technologically similar, with the emphasis of most systems on the wiki still being on resource allocation and strategy. The core mechanics of a battle will be the same whether an army uses particle cannons or bullets.

Including extremely advanced technology in your content, such as black hole guns or planet-destroying weapons, is generally frowned upon. If you don't see a particularly advanced tech being used elsewhere on the wiki, you can ask an Admin whether it is allowed in the universe.

Currently, the technology to move or destroy most objects on the scale of a moon, planet, or larger body is not achievable. However, planets can experience heavy surface-level devastation from bombardment, and megastructures such as ringworlds can and have been destroyed.

## Stories

Many users also choose to write narrative stories, outside of battles or roleplay. Within all the rules listed above, you are generally free to write what you please. Don't be afraid to ask for clarification on certain topics, help with basic ideas, or feedback from your peers.

If you want to start small and test out your writing in-universe, the Whispers from Aoshtai project is an excellent place to start, for both narrative shorts and other formats.

## Canonicity

### World lore versus private lore

*See also: Lore*
Aoshtai Wiki differentiates between two kinds of lore:

* **World Lore** consists the hard-and-fast rules and systems of our universe. These rules are consistent across all stories and places and must be abided by if your creation is to be considered canon.
* **Private Lore** is the fiction written by individual authors and may be as elaborate, complex, and involved as any author may like. However, it may not break the rules of canon lore. Rules or plot devices which are employed in one writer's fiction may be used in those of others, but they are not binding.

Generally, world lore is considered to be anything which is written by and approved by the site. It is everything which is found within site lore pages, NPC Factions, site systems, and the writing of the DM. Writing done by players may elaborate on or explore themes, ideas, and concepts which are not supported by the site's lore, but these are not binding on other players if other players do not want to interact with them.

### Retconning

Factions, characters, and history on Aoshtai tend to operate on the understanding that, once something has interacted with the universe substantially and has extensive lore and interactions tied to it, what's written about it is the set canon, as long as it follows Wiki rules and standards. This is most true for events beginning from 1 NAC onwards, when the real-time roleplaying of events and interactions began.

While users' right to retcon elements of their content is ultimately respected, they are discouraged from doing so too extensively, or with content which is already heavily established in existing history or astropolitics, as we prefer to keep these consistent.

### Old Content

It makes sense that users will come and go over the life of the wiki, whether due to changes in life circumstances, changing interests, or creative differences with other users. It is considered courteous to announce that one will be absent before leaving, and to make plans for how one's fiction will be managed.

In the event a contributor is absent for 6 months or more with little or no comment, the site may take action to appropriate, redistribute, or decanonize that contributor's fiction in order to keep the fiction universe healthy and alive. We will always attempt to reach out to the original user before taking action.

In most cases, we will move inactive characters, fictions, and locations to the Non-Canon namespace, where they can still be read and accessed and made canon again in the future, but in-universe they will not be considered to exist. If the fiction is essential to the functioning of other established stories or settings, they will most likely be administered by staff and kept in the spirit in which they were originally created.