User:Sol Pacificus/Manual of style

The Manual of Style is the codified set of standards for writing and formatting across all articles here at the Assassin's Creed Wiki where we strive for a level of professionalism as diligent as any other academic medium.

As with any style guide, the aim of this page is to ensure clarity, coherence, and consistency throughout our articles through efficient organization, thereby rendering our content readily accessible to the audience. Although we share common principles with conventional styles of professional writing, our manual of style is specially adapted to the unique goal of synthesizing Assassin's Creed lore and presenting it in an encyclopedic format. Those familiar with composing scholarly works need not refrain from drawing strategies from that background when contributing to this wiki. However, it should also be remembered that Assassin's Creed Wiki is a special platform of its own with distinct standards that have been developed by convention and consensus to best fit our specialty.

Perspective

More than just a typical guide on a video game series, Assassin's Creed Wiki is dedicated to compiling and maintaining the lore of the entire franchise. To that end, our first and foremost priority is to synthesize the metanarrative of not only each game, but also across the diverse range of transmedia. We meticulously incorporate every piece of information on the series' universe, no matter how minor, and weave them together into a unifying whole, so that fans may witness how its world truly manifests.

Because our encyclopedia revolves more around the series as a world and less on the series as merely games, it is essential that articles are written from an in-universe perspective rather than an out-of-universe one with few exceptions.

In-Universe

When an article is written from an in-universe perspective, it is roleplaying as a document in the world of Assassin's Creed itself. Imagine that you are an Assassin who, eager to research the history of the Hidden Blade, consults a digital database which has begun to archive all this information. This database is Assassin's Creed Wiki, and although it does not actually exist within the series' canon, for our purposes, we act as though it does when writing. We pretend as though we, the writers, are within the universe of Assassin's Creed rather than fans existing outside of it.

This perspective of writing manifests in the following ways:

1. All subjects must be treated as though they are non-fictional rather than fictional.
2. The historical past tense is used unless the subject still exists in the present moment in the series. Under conventional grammar rules, plot summaries for fictional works are written in the literary present tense. Because we imagine the Assassin's Creed world to be that of reality, however, even fictional characters that have since died in the story (e.g. Haytham Kenway) are treated as actually having existed at one point before passing away. When writing about them, they should therefore be described in the past tense. Conversely, subjects that still exist at the current time in the story (e.g. the Animus, Rebecca Crane, Rome) should be described in the present tense as usual.
3. Since the series' setting closely aligns with that of real-life, as a general rule of thumb, the current year in the real world is the current year in the series' story even in the absence of a new release in a particular year. Furthermore, the series is essentially set in a parallel universe to that of reality, with every historical event in the story mirroring that of our actual history. As a result, if a subject, be it an individual, city, or war, currently exists in real-life, even in the absence of an explicit reference to its current status in the Assassin's Creed universe, its status is presumed to be the same. Thus, if you are unsure if Masyaf still stands as a city in the present day of Assassin's Creed and no source in the series gives a clear answer, refer to its real-life status to find out. The exception to this rule is if within Assassin's Creed lore itself, it has been made explicit that the subject no longer exists even if it still does in the real world. In the event of such a deviation, one must of course defer to the Assassin's Creed version.
4. Refrain describing a detail as "unknown" if it is unknown to the fans. Details which are unknown to us may not necessarily be unknown to characters within the Assassin's Creed world.
5. Refrain from gameplay language.

Avoiding gameplay language

Note that simply avoiding any explicit references to the subject's fictional status while describing gameplay does not qualify as IU-writing. For instance:

"A Brute's regular attacks could also be countered through a disarm maneuver, which left them open to a lethal, follow-up attack."

In this example, the historical past tense is used as is appropriate, but to write from an in-universe perspective requires more than just correct tense usage; one must capture the point-of-view with respect to content and rhetoric as well. The sentence alone is not technically out-of-universe, as it is true that within the Assassin's Creed universe, a regular attack from a Brute can be countered by disarming him, just as in real-life, an attack from a soldier can be countered and disarmed.

However, it is not realistic to single out this detail as though it were a unique scenario. What distinguishes a "regular" attack from any other form of attack in real-life? Can't any individual be countered by being disarmed in real-life—is this detail specific to a Brute? Won't any counter leave an enemy open to a follow-up attack in real-life? Would it necessarily always be lethal?

Awkward in a non-fictional context, this statement is still in essence written from an OOU-perspective. Its point makes sense only as a matter of describing gameplay mechanics even if it can disguise itself by being technically correct if a Brute were to exist in real-life. In-universe writing should not be superficial.

Out-of-universe

The opposing counterpart to in-universe is out-of-universe (OOU) where an article is written from the normal perspective of reality. In this case, the writer does not imagine himself as situated within the franchise's universe; the subject matter is approached as part of a fictional work as usual.

Although by default, an IU-perspective takes precedence, certain subjects might call for an OOU-perspective to be adopted instead. The articles of such subjects are referred to as real-world pages and deal with game developers; voice actors; the actual games, comics, and novels themselves; etc. Subjects which appear within the Assassin's Creed universe but which have a real-world equivalent (e.g. Niccolò Machiavelli, Firearm, France) should still be written from an IU-perspective and should principally be presented in terms of the franchise's lore.

All IU articles have a Trivia section at the end which in essence is a less formal equivalent to the Behind the Scene sections of other wikis. As such, items in Trivia may be written from an OOU-perspective even when the article as a whole is not. This is necessary if a trivia point describes gameplay elements of the subject, such as the way it functions or bugs involving it. Because Trivia is a pool for miscellaneous OOU and gameplay points, this is the only section in IU articles which permits OOU-perspective writing.

Naming convention

When naming an article, abide by the following steps in this order:

1. Use a canonical name whenever possible
2. Use the full, legal name of an individual whenever possible
3. If no legal name is known, use a canonical nickname and add {{Nickname}} to the top of the page. (e.g. Noob and Numbskull)
4. If the subject has no canonically verifiable name, but it has a real-life equivalent, use its real-life name
5. If the subject either does not have a real-life equivalent, or its name in real-life is otherwise unknown, devise a conjectural name and add {{Conjecture}} to the top of the page.

This means that if a subject has a real-world counterpart, the name by which it appears in the canonical source takes precedence.

Example: Julius Caesar instead of Gaius Julius Caesar

Whatever the conjectural name, it should be one that can most rationally be identified with the subject (e.g. Zhang Zhi's father). A descriptive title may therefore be employed instead, but whichever title is chosen, it must still be in-universe. Hence, a character whose name is not given should never include words such as "unnamed" (e.g. "Unnamed Guard Captain") or "character" in its article's title.

Article title format

In accordance with this wiki's designated language, all titles should be in English to maintain consistency. An exception can be made for the following:

• If the name is romanized, but lacks an anglicized variant. (e.g. Ratonhnhaké:ton).
• If the name uses the Latin alphabet in its native form, but its anglicized variant is not conventionally used. (e.g. Lorenzo de' Medici not "Lawrence of the Medici")
• Both the native name and its anglicized and native variants are widely used, but the former is the one used in the subject's most prominent and/or central appearance. (e.g. Jeanne d'Arc instead of "Joan of Arc")

• The name used in the latest media takes precedence if there is a contradiction between a character's most central appearance and the greater prominence of another appearance, (e.g. Christopher Columbus from Assassin's Creed: The Movie over "Cristoffa Corombo" from Assassin's Creed II: Discovery) or if there is some dispute in any other way over the level of authority between multiple sources using different variations of a name (Saladin from Assassin's Creed: The Essential Guide over "Salah Al'din" from Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade)

Titles must also:

• Be at least romanized even if it cannot be anglicized. (e.g. Wei Yu instead of 魏羽)
• Be a noun or noun phrase.
• Be in singular, not plural case, unless the subject is a plurale tantum (e.g. Americas), or its very subject matter discusses a class or group. (e.g. administrative subdivisions such as "Nomes of Egypt" or people groups)
• Be in sentence case, i.e. with only proper nouns and the first word capitalized.
• Avoid including a grammatical article, definite or indefinite, at its beginning except when it is a component to a work's title (e.g. The Canterbury Tales) or the subject's formal name (e.g. Le Chasseur).
• Use the full name of the subject, spelled out, rather than an abbreviation.

The exception to this last point are the articles on Assassins and Templars which, per the convention in the series, are titled as people groups despite referring to the formal organizations.

Disambiguation

Disambiguation is applied when two or more articles have competing, identical titles.

There are three, principal disambiguation scenarios:

1. The page at Maria is a disambiguation page, leading to all other uses of "Maria".
2. The page at Assassin's Creed is about one particular usage, called the primary topic, and there is a hatnote leading readers to Assassin's Creed for all other uses of that name.
3. The page at Desmond is the primary topic, with a hatnote linking to the other use, Desmond (dog). No disambiguation page is needed because there are only two competing pages with one taking precedence.

A primary topic for a term is a subject which has far greater likelihood of being the one sought after by a reader than all the other competing subjects combined; it is indisputably the most notable usage of name. It may also otherwise have a long-term significant claim to that title (e.g. although Assassin's Creed might more commonly refer to the series, its name is derived from the original game that spawned the series).

These three examples illustrate the three different means of disambiguation, in which a primary topic is present in the latter two, but absent in the first. In the first case, at least two usages of that name (i.e. Maria Thorpe and Maria Auditore da Firenze) has approximately equal notability and significance, so the base term is used as the disambiguation page.

When an article must be distinguished with another, in the absence of a better alternative, typically a parenthetical descriptor is used. An exception is place names, where, if the disambiguating term is a higher-level administrative division, it should be separated by commas rather than be set within parentheses (e.g. San Marco District, Florence and San Marco District, Venice). Pluralizing one of the titles, adding an unwarranted definite article, or violating the grammatical format in any other way is an absolutely improper way of disambiguation.

Section headings

Section headings, like article titles, must use sentence case, where only the initial word and proper nouns are capitalized, and all subsequent words after the first are not provided they are general nouns.

Use equal signs around a section heading ==Title== to create a primary section; ===Title=== for a subsection; and so on to =====Title=====.

The heading must be on its own line, with one blank line before it. While a blank line just after the heading is optional and can be ignored, two or more blank lines after the heading is prohibited, for it creates unwanted, visible space.

In addition:

• Headings should not refer redundantly to the subject of the article. (e.g. "Early life" instead of "Desmond's early life" or "His early life")
• Headings should normally not contain links.
• Citations should not be placed within, or on the same line as, section headings.
• Headings should not contain images.
• Headings should not be phrased as questions.

Capitalization

As aforementioned, titles of pages and headings should employ sentence case.

Assassin

As a demonym for the Assassin Brotherhood, "Assassin" is a proper noun and should always be capitalized when referring to a member of this organization. When used as a general noun by referring to any individual who attempts an assassination, "assassin" should not be capitalized. Hence, the combination of "Templar assassin" describes a member of the Templar Order who targets the life of an individual for political reasons without being aligned with the Assassin Brotherhood.

Hidden Blade

Since the "Hidden Blade" is a specific weapon that should not be confused as a descriptor, it should always be capitalized.

Introduction

The opening section of every article, the introduction should always begin by introducing the name of the article's subject in bold with a statement summarizing its main, defining characteristic as per Wikipedia convention.

Ideally, a complete introduction should summarize all the main points of the article, such that a reader unfamiliar with the subject can walk away having read only this opening section and have an immediate understanding of all the most crucial details of the article.

Date and time

Day

All dates should be formatted as [day]-[month]-[year] (e.g. 21 December 2012). Do not use numerical date formats such as 11/01/1165 as this can refer to either 11 January or 1 November.

Year

Years should be marked with BCE or CE in accordance with the Common Era notation system. CE should be omitted from a year if there is no need to distinguish it from BCE within the context of the writing.

Range

When expressing a simple year–year range, the correct format is to use an en dash (– or ALT+0150) not an em dash or a hyphen.

The birth–death range should be provided in parentheses immediately after the first mention of a character's name. Only the years should be specified.

Depending on whether the individual is still living or whether one of the years are unknown, the format may change. Follow by these examples:

• For an individual who is still living: Shaun Hastings (born 1985) not Shaun Hastings (b. 1985) or Shaun Hastings (1985–)
• For an individual for which only the death year is known: Warren Vidic (died 2012) not Warren Vidic (unknown–2012) or Warren Vidic (d. 2012).
• For a deceased individual for which only the birth year is known: Shao Jun (fl. 1505–1567)