UESPWiki:Lore

The Lore namespace is the section of the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages (UESP) which is devoted to documenting the overall background of The Elder Scrolls (TES) universe in which the games are set. It was previously known as the Tamriel namespace (dating back to the old UESP site), but in July 2008 the namespace was renamed to Lore, following a community discussion about how to best describe the content.

Because the Lore namespace has a fundamentally different purpose than other namespaces, the guidelines for the Lore namespace are also different. The overall intent is to provide an encyclopedia of accurate and verifiable information in The Elder Scrolls universe, separate from game-related details, whereas the game-related namespaces are primarily game guides that focus on those game-related details. This article summarizes the guidelines that are specific to the Lore namespace. All guidelines are subject to revision pursuant to a community consensus.

Content Guidelines

• Avoid Game-Specific Information: Gameplay details should be avoided in Lore articles.
• Perspective: Game events should be described as historical events from the perspective of an anonymous citizen of Tamriel following the latest chronological events of the officially approved TES media. The articles are still expected to be encyclopedia-style, but designed as if they were (extraordinarily well-researched and polished) reference materials for a citizen of Tamriel.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall in Lore: Relevant, noteworthy real-world information may be included in the "Notes" section of a page (see, for example, Lore:Solstheim), though it's advised to have a talk page discussion before introducing such information and achieve a consensus. Some pages may find it necessary to ignore this rule in order to best help the reader.
• Images: To better complement the Lore's unique perspective, depictions of in-game maps, banners, drawings, etchings, paintings, diagrams, and similar non-screenshot materials which are relevant to the topic are preferred when they are available. Of course, the ultimate decisions remain with the contributors and agreements they may reach on the talk pages.
  • Images which have been altered by editors to highlight relevant portions may only be added to the lore pages once a favorable consensus has been reached by discussion. This restriction doesn't apply to images which have been cropped, magnified, or otherwise uniformly changed.
• Multi-Topic Articles: E.g., Lore:People A, Lore:Books A, Lore:Factions A, and Lore:First Era. Pages like these should generally not contain information from unofficial sources, or UOL (see below), and also should not contain any controversial points. Articles which contain many "snippets" about multiple topics should stick to summarizing basic, widely accepted facts about those topics.
  • This UOL ban encompasses the sections of any lore articles which are transcluded into other namespaces.
  • If there are any facts that need additional explaining, then the topic needs to have its own article (e.g., Lore:Vivec (god) instead of just the snippet on Lore:Gods V).
• Pre-Release Content: Information from unreleased games or DLC should not be included in the main text of lore articles or have separate lore entries. Links to relevant gamespace pages can still be added to summary tables and the See Also section. This is to avoid adding information which is liable to change, and to maintain the quality of the article until an editor with a full understanding of the subject can update it. Articles which deal with pre-release content can be sandboxed until the game is released. The addition of relevant concept art to image sections is allowable provided it is marked as such.

References in Lore

• Cite Your Source: In general, every sentence should be cited using proper in-line citations.
  • Some transitional sentences, or ones containing very basic in-game information, may avoid this rule, but additions which remain uncited will generally be flagged and/or removed.
  • Special citation formats may be used rarely for exceptionally complicated pages which were created using a wide variety of resources.
  • Many lore articles need updating; there is still much uncontroversial content which remains uncited. If you see an unsupported, uncited sentence conveying information you suspect may be erroneous, cite it for review at the end of the sentence using a template such as {{fact}} or go to the article's talk page.
• Official Sources: These should be the primary focus of all articles, including summarizing them and explaining their meaning.
  • Official sources include the games, supplemental materials (e.g., game manuals or the Pocket Guides to the Empire), as well as other official works taking place in the TES universe, such as the full-length novels (see The Infernal City and Lord of Souls).
• Unofficial Sources (UOL): Information from sources which are not officially approved works is referred to as UOL (for "unofficial lore"). UOL should only be used when it helps to explain in-game content. The UESP need not start documenting every fact mentioned in UOL. Using solely UOL to support definitive statements of fact should be avoided. Any UOL should appear low on a single-topic page for which it is substantially relevant. Private correspondence that has not been expressly cleared for public release by all parties involved cannot be used as a citable source.
  • Edit Summary First: When introducing new information from UOL, an explanatory note must be left within the edit summary to justify its inclusion. If the explanation is too lengthy to fit, it must be posted to the talk page instead. Failure to do so may result in the UOL information being moved to the talk page for further discussion.
  • UOL by Game Developers: UOL that has been written by a game developer should receive preferential treatment, especially for those works which reconcile apparent contradictions among the in-game sources.
    • This includes additional books, drafts of in-game books, developer interviews, etc.
    • Note: We've begun using a {{Stored URL}} template, {{TIL}}, for links to The Imperial Library so that they may be fixed quickly if URLs on that site are changed.
  • Other UOL: UOL that has not been written by a game developer in general does not belong in UESP articles.
  • How to Cite UOL: UOL should be cited using a separate UOL group of the {{Ref}} template. This reference group should appear under an {{UOL}} citation disclaimer, separating it from references to official material (for an example, see Lore:Firsthold).
  • Loremaster's Archive and other Interviews: Answers to questions in Loremaster's Archive and in-universe interviews conducted with developers during their tenure at the company (ie. Interview With Three Booksellers and the Homestead Interview) can be cited as an official source. However, the contents of the questions themselves must be cited as UOL, i.e., inclusion is by consensus only, as decided on a case-by-case basis.
• Original Research: Original research is strongly disfavored in UESP articles. Even if a series of statements can logically be put together to reach a conclusion, that conclusion does not belong on UESP unless it has already been stated elsewhere (in valid source material).
  • A core goal of the UESP wiki is to summarize what's already known, like any encyclopedia, rather than to come up with new information.
  • Exceptions to this rule may be possible, but those exceptions need to be discussed on the talk page beforehand.

Suggested Reference Names

When using the {{Ref}} template, filling out the whole citation more than once can be avoided by making use of the name parameter. Below is a summary of how various types of references are commonly abbreviated in the name parameter.

• Book titles: Abbreviate all the words in the title of the lore book page, all in caps, ignoring punctuation and parenthetical clarifications, and add applicable volume titles numerically.

The Monomyth = TM

The Argonian Account, Book 2 = TAA2

Mythic Dawn Commentaries 1 = MDC1

Frontier, Conquest = FC

• Special cases with book names:

Volumes of 2920, The Last Year of the First Era: 2920v1, 2920v2, etc.

The 36 Lessons of Vivec: 36L1, 36L2, 36L3, etc.

Sections of the Pocket Guides: PGE1S, PGE1C, PGE1High, PGE1Ham, PGE3Arena, PGE3All, PGE3M, PGE3Sky, PGE3Sug, PGE3Sum, PGE3Ors, PGE3Other, etc.

Single-word titles: The word. I.e., Withershins, Wabbajack, etc.

• Works with multiple names: Briefer is better. For instance, "The Story of Aevar Stone-Singer" has also been titled simply "Aevar Stone-Singer", so ASS is preferable over TSOASS.

• NPC dialogue: Add the abbreviation of the applicable game, then the character's first name.

Neloth's Morrowind dialogue = MWNeloth

Neloth's Dragonborn dialogue = DBNeloth

Mankar Camoran's Oblivion dialogue = OBMankar

• Loading screens: Add the abbreviation of the applicable game, then "Loading". OBLoading, SRLoading, etc.

• Generic link to game events: Just the name of the game. So a reference name "Skyrim" would connect to a reference saying something like "Events of Skyrim".

• Specific quests: The game abbreviation plus the first full, undercase non-article word of the quest name.

A Venerable Vintage in Oblivion = OBVenerable

The Bonds of Matrimony in Skyrim = SRBonds

Format Guidelines

These are guidelines specific to the lore namespace; see the UESPWiki:Style Guide and its layout pages for more general formatting information.

• There's room for variation: The specific layout of independent sections within single-topic lore articles is not important, so long as they are in general conformity with articles of similar subjects.
• Use as Needed: It almost goes without saying that various sections need only be included as needed.
• Trails: Applicable trails for each topic should be included.
• Links: Links to relevant articles inside the lore namespace should be used if available. Links to other namespaces are generally inappropriate if a lore article covers the topic or will soon cover the topic, and they should not be transcluded to an unrelated namespace.

Content

• Content includes the introduction of a page and may come in a number of unique sections and sub-sections. The content sections are those which should not break the fourth wall.
• Typically, topics for which there is little to say should redirect to entries on the multi-topic pages for their respective Lore sections. Others with more relevant information should have their own single-topic page; the associated multi-topic page should include a brief summary and an integrated link to the single-topic page (no "see main article", if possible).
• Content which is transcluded to other pages should use <noinclude></noinclude> tags to stop unwanted content, such as unneeded sections or paragraphs, from appearing elsewhere.

Gallery

• Galleries are for any images on the wiki which are iconic for the subject matter that don't already appear in the article.
  • If it is only composed of maps, the section may be entitled "Maps" until such time other relevant non-map images are added.

Notes

• The Notes section is for miscellaneous but relevant information that, for whatever reason, does not fit well in the Content section, notably 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 TES-related media a subject has appeared in or been otherwise involved with.

See Also

• This section is meant to link to relevant articles in other namespaces relayed with the simple "For more information ..." structure.
  • This section may or may not include a list of relevant books in alphabetical order, even if they are cited and appear in the reference section.

References

• References should be proper in-line citations, not merely links. See Help:References.
• If the best or only support for a proposition comes from an in-game source for which no book citation is available, contributors may simply cite to the events of the game, preferably in a specific manner (see, e.g., Lore:Barbas and Lore:Throat of the World).
• Special citation formats may be used where appropriate.

External Links

• Relevant external links should be included in a section at the very bottom of the page underneath an {{UOL}} disclaimer (see, e.g., Lore:Dawn Era and Lore:CHIM).

Understanding Lore Categories

• There are currently 20 different categories of the Lore namespace. Each category has an Overview page, and most of them consist of multi-topic pages listing all known subjects relevant to their focus, with single-topic articles used to expound on topics where appropriate.
• Snippet entries are those where what little is known about a subject is included in a short entry on the appropriate multi-topic page.

Categories

• Lore:Alchemy

• Lore:Artifacts

• Lore:Astronomy

• Lore:Bestiary

• Lore:Cuisine

• Lore:Death

• Lore:Factions

• Lore:Flora

• Lore:Gods
  • In those rare cases where a character may belong in both this and another category, the practice has been to have a single-topic article in the category where the majority of the information on the subject is focused. This usually means a snippet in the Gods multi-topic articles and a longer article elsewhere (see, e.g., Lore:Tiber Septim and Lore:Gods T#Talos; we know plenty about Tiber Septim the man, but comparatively little about Talos the god).

• Lore:History

• Lore:Library

• Lore:Linguistics

• Lore:Magic

• Lore:Minerals

• Lore:Names

• Lore:People

• Lore:Places
  • Obviously, every in-game location should not be added. "Places" for lore typically include realms of existence, celestial bodies (including planets), continents, major bodies of water, major islands, provinces, counties/holds, cities, settlements, and significant landmarks.

• Lore:Races
  • Generally, unless quoting material, the races of TES are referred to in the same manner that most members of that race refer to themselves in-game (so we would say Dunmer, not Dark Elf, and Orc, even though they're also called Orsimer). See UESPWiki:Spelling for more policies on word choice.
  • Certain creatures have the makings of being considered races; if you're wondering whether something in the universe of TES should be considered a race, the determination is best made through forming a consensus on the Lore talk:Races or UESPWiki:Community Portal on how TES games have meant to portray that group (please check to see if your concern has already been addressed).

• Lore:Recreation

• Lore:Appendices
  • Generally, sections for notes, a gallery, and references should be included if they're feasible (in many cases, they're not). Appendices often follow special citation rules.