User:Kalis Agea/Lore Project Outline

The Lore Pages Redesign Project

The Lore Pages Redesign Project (or LPRP for short; temporary name) is an extensive community project made to redisign, rewrite, or write articles in the Lore Namespace. This project combines the aspects of rpeh's WULPPIOHTAASWDP, Alpha Kenny Buddy's Lore Overhaul Project, and Kalis Agea's Lore Pages Redesign Project, namely: deletion, rewrites, redirects, references, section overviews, categorization, and other Wiki markup. This project has very little in common with any other Projects here on this site.

Thanks to Alpha Kenny Buddy (for suggesting the format) and Minor Edits for the major contributions they've made to the completion of this project outline. Also, thanks to SerCenKing for the use of his ingenious format, which I have made use of in the "Categories" section.

For more info on the main catalogued sections of the Lore namespace, see the Main Page.

Style Guide and Tips

NOTE: Credit for this draft of the Style Guide goes to Minor Edits, with a few minor edits from me (that pun was intended).

• Beastiary and Fauna: Practically perfect. Maybe some small touches here and there, but the formatting is fine. But it might be best, with Skyrim on the horizon, to spell out the rules for even this section of the lore pages. I assume there's some general format or outline from a previous project that you can incorporate? If not, it shouldn't be too hard: name, image, sentence or two of description, game info and appropriate links and trails, done.

• Factions: Content, Gallery, Notes, See Also, References

This info is applicable to the remaining sections. Content is the only absolutely guaranteed section, all others are to be used only as needed. Applicable trails for each subject should be included as appropriate.

Content may come in a number of sections and sub-sections, since some articles must find ways to relay gargantuan amounts of relevant information in aesthetically pleasing ways. Typically, "stub" articles with little or no potential for growth should simply redirect to its entry in the master list for its section, while others with more relevant information should have their own page while retaining a link followed by a brief description in the master list (no "see main article"). All content in the Content section should not break the fourth wall; nothing should directly reference the game. It should be written as if it is for (and if possible, by) a person of Tamriel residing in the most modern era available in any Elder Scrolls media.

Galleries are not about action shots, comedic screencaps, ect. They are for any images on the wiki which are iconic for the subject matter that don't already appear in the article. Typically not specific people, since images of people tend to date the lore page, but for relics important to the subject, emblems, and other relatively static images of that nature. Maps should be incorporated into this section. If they are the only images included therein, the section may be entitled "Maps" until such time other relevant non-map images are added.

The Notes section is for miscellaneous but relevant information that, for whatever reason, does not fit well in the Content section. Notably, this includes game references and other behind-the-scenes real-world information. If ambiguity persists in the article, there may also be a "featured in" note to articulate what Elder Scrolls-related media a subject has appeared in or been otherwise involved with.

See Also section may contain sentences with links to relevant articles in other namespaces relayed with the simple "For more information ..." structure. Following this may or may not be a "Books" subsection, if applicable, containing a bulleted list of relevant books in alphabetical order, even if they are cited and will appear in the reference section.

References must be proper in-line citations, not merely links.

• Gods: Content, Gallery, Notes, See Also, References

Content should include any necessary sections and subsections, including for artifacts associated with the deity.

• History: Content, Notes, References

There is no definite character limit here, but there shouldn't be any reason why any summary of events here should exceed a paragraph. Exceptions may apply in some rare cases, of course.

• Library: All we need to do is make sure it's updated when Skyrim is released. However, we should also make sure that the descriptions given to each piece of literature do not make inappropriate value assessments.

• People and Places: Content, Gallery, Notes, See Also, References

• Races: Woefully inadequate. Generally speaking, the outline should be the same: Content, Gallery, Notes, See Also, References. However, the Content section can be further delineated for Race articles since each deals with predictable parameters. The Dwemer page, as the longest Race page (that I've seen) with the most sections, should probably be used as a model. So a full Content section would look like this: Introduction, History, Technology, Architecture, Appearance (or Anthropology), Religion & Philosophy (or simply Society), Artifacts, and Language. Of course, most races won't have all these categories, but if they do, they should be arranged in this order. Any sections currently on the pages which can't fit in to one of these archetypes should be removed and it's content incorporated somewhere else on the page. List of important individuals should be discouraged in favor of textual explanations of why those people are important.

• Appendices: There can't really be any over-arching rules for a category that is, by definition, an amalgam of leftovers. Notably, this section has to be given leeway in breaking the "no game references" rule, since some are vastly more useful that way (for example, the calendar page). But generally, notes, a gallery and references should be included if feasible.

Categories

There are 10 different categories of the Lore namespace: Bestiary, Factions, Flora, Gods, History, Library, People, Places, Races, and Appendices (or Miscellaneous).

Beastiary

Task Leader:N/A
Task Overview: Though the Beastiary pages recently underwent a major revamp, there are still small tasks to be done here and there. Links, info that was left out, and images (if there are any missing) should be taken care of right away. Any additional errors or stubs, if found, should also be taken care of ASAP.

Factions

Task Leader:N/A
Task Overview: Probably the biggest problem here is that there are Faction articles that still rely almost exclusively on in-game information. Additionally, the main Factions article is missing an Overview. For the overview, a few important points need to be covered. First of all, what qualifies as a faction? Does a Guild? a brotherhood of knights? A drinking club that the only general connection between the members is the love of alcohol? This needs to be defined. Maybe an explanation on faction relations might be good as well.

Flora

Task Leader:N/A
Task Overview: The Overview for this section has already been completed, but there are still a few tasks to complete. Firstly, we need to make sure that all things mentioned that have an article are linked to said articles. Second, we need to describe where the plants are found (i.e. climate, whether they grow in bunches, etc). And lastly, some of the images on the articles may need to be retaken in-game and repalced.

Gods

Task Leader:N/A
Tasl Overview: We need to decide on whether or not every mentioned deity needs a page. Does some obscure Ayleid deity only mentioned in one text still count as a God? Also, the articles that exist could still use some references and expansion, and the useless articles need to be deleted. Also, this section still needs an Overview; when writing it, consider the following points: What qualifies something or someone as a God? Does any worshipped deity count? Or do they have to be revered by many? What about those who have few followers?

History

Task Leader:N/A
Task Overview: In the past, the History section underwent something of a revival. There was a major revamp of the Empire by several Users back in April, and the section began to see more attention for a short time. Now, however, it has again become mostly ignored. For example, articles like this and this feel a little like "dead-end" articles, and could be linked to a few more articles. These are mild examples, however, and some are really in need of expansion. Articles that are useless or can be folded into other articles need to copied/pasted and deleted.

Also, as a side note, the Era articles are rather neglected in some areas as far as references go. An example, though certainly not the worst, is the First Era.

Library

Task Leader:N/A
Task Overview: A few things to be done here. First of all, the pages for various books are still missing Links to articles. Secondly, the section needs an Overview. When writing an overview, consider these points: What do we consider to be a book? A textbook grossly defining an entire area of in-game lore? a short novel found in bookstores everywhere? A scroll containing ancient information? A random scrap of paper with no relevance to anything what so ever?

People

Task Leader:N/A
Task Overview: There are still some articles to be created for People (characters in books, games, etc.). Also, the sections still requires an Overview. When writing the overview, there is only one major point to be considered and covered: What qualifies someone as a notable figure? Yes, it's (almost) just that easy.

Places

Task Leader:N/A
Task Overview: This is pretty straightforward, just like the People section. Basic expansion and deletion of useless articles is the main task to be done here. Also, when writing the section Overview, consider this: Does every place ever mentioned in a book or tome need an article? If not, should they at least be in the alphabetical Places sections? Yet again, it's pretty basic stuff.

Races

Task Leader:N/A
Task Leader: Most of the work that needs to be done with the major Races has already been done, however, the articles for the more elusive and exotic races (the Akaviri races, the Maormer, and the Sload to name a few) could still use some more references and, perhaps after Skyrim, maps and images. The Overview still needs to be written; when writing it, please cover these few points: What qualifies as a race? Are Goblins a race? Or do races have to be intelligent and fully sentient?

Miscellaneous

Task Leader:N/A
Task Overview: The various articles in the Lore namespace that do not fall into any of the above categories. Just some basic expansion is needed, and when Skyrim comes around, the Dragon Language page, and the associated Alphabet page, will mostly need to be updated. See Appendices for some other examples.