Outward Wiki:Lore policy
This page is an official policy on Outward Wiki.
This policy is considered a standard to be followed by all users.
Sources of lore
All official sources of lore are considered valid. This includes the game and the manuals and the official site. Comments by authors, artists, and Nine Dots Studio employees may also be of interest, but should always be clearly cited as such.
Clarify the context of information. This wiki serves as a repository for Outward lore. It covers the Outward series of games, RPG reference books, strategy guides, novels, "manga", and other sources. Each source of information should be clearly cited using <ref></ref>. Helper templates such as {{ref game}} are available to help, though unnecessary.
Source header templates may also be used in an article. The {{RPG}} template provides one way to clarify the context in which that information is relevant.
Citation
Cite your sources. As verifiability is crucial to the integrity of information in the wiki, statements which are likely to be disputed should provide citations to the above sources. Providing a citation allows other users to verify that information is correct, and helps identify speculation masquerading as official lore. Citation is particularly important when dealing with controversial topics, as well as statements including specific numbers, such as populations.
If a specific claim lacks a citation, it may be tagged with the {{Fact}} template. The {{Source needed}} banner can be used if an entire article or section has an unclear foundation in official sources. If no citation is provided within a reasonable time, the impugned material should be removed from the wiki.
Lore conflicts
Two or more sources of lore may conflict on significant points. However, it is not Outward Wiki's purpose to simply ignore older lore as if it never existed, but rather show the evolution of the story, and all alternate events. Perceived discrepancies may be retcons, flavor lore, or simply errors, but it is not up to the wiki to decide which is the case. All versions should be compared and contrasted with citations, in order to portray the true publishing history.
Please note, attempts to reconcile conflicting versions of lore falls under the category of Speculation, and are governed by the guidelines under that section. Official reconciliation is allowed if properly cited.
Speculation
Keep speculation separate. Speculation consists of anything that is not verifiable in an official source of lore and usually includes attempts to fill in blanks, resolve discrepancies, or predict future events. This separation preserves the integrity of objective, verifiable information. Speculation should not build on previous speculation or assumptions, and all ideas must have factual backing.
Speculation should be in a separate article with a title indicating the nature of the content, such as "speculation", "theory", or "rumor", or in a separate section in a main article with a similarly titled section. A {{speculation}} tag should be used in either case at the beginning of the speculated content. A completely separate article is only created if the theory is large or complex. Speculation is not the same as fan fiction, and if an author does not want their theories to be altered, their theories should be placed in a completely separate user subpage and labeled as one author's ideas.
Some speculation can be easily avoided by phrasing information as facts. While the line "Athridas Bearmantle might well be the long lost brother of Broll" would be speculation, the line "Athridas shares the name Bearmantle with Broll" would be constitute a fact and therefore be a preferred option.
Retcons or lore conflicts and gaps are particularly important. When describing these, the conflicting information from the cited sources should be presented without commentary. Theories as to how the conflict could or should be resolved should be relegated to separate sections or articles.
It is not the wiki's job to endorse a particular speculatory idea. If an idea is to be added to an existing speculation section or article, do not remove the existing speculation; add to it. The exception to this rule is if the existing speculation contradicts established lore.
Concise articles and source text
Lore articles on characters, places, and events should be kept reasonably concise by summarizing the facts and events directly relevant to the topic. Large sections of copied source text are strongly discouraged because they do not comply with the CC-by-SA licensing of the wiki. Such sections also tend to make articles lengthy, repetitive, irrelevant, and problematic to update.