This is a basic race layout which is encouraged to use for all race related articles on the wiki.
Lead section[]
The lead section is anything included before the table of contents and/or the article content. With the exception of the introductory text, they are optional, depending on the situation, and must follow this order:
- Disambiguation links if there is another article of the same name, or may be confused with another.
- Article maintenance tags Alternatively, the maintenance tags can be included within a specific section of the article, with the exception of "spoiler" and "stub" which must always be at the top of the page.
- Infobox/transformer template. They are generally wrapped in
onlyincludetags. - Short introductory text, including the race name in Bold followed by a brief synapse of who they are, how they were first introduced to us, etc.
- Table of contents, which generally appears after the lead, provided there is more than four headings. If the page is long but does not have any table of contents, you may manually add it with
__TOC__.
History[]
This is where any history that we know of goes. This should include all official sources available and keep the following in mind:
- Make sure to keep things in past tense.
- Try to cite a year when possible in the writing or, if a year is not known but a general timeline (like knowing something occurred sometime after the 1230s) can note this.
- Don't make direct comments to sources. For example, instead of saying "Geralt gained the nickname 'Butcher of Blaviken' from what happened in The Last Wish book" just say "Geralt gained the nickname 'Butcher of Blaviken' for what happened in Blaviken's marketplace" and add a reference after it to the appropriate source.
- If a certain timeframe only has details from outside the books (like the games, show, etc.) and can't be added on as a minor note into the page with a reference (such as within the history text or under the Notes header), make use of the Canon Marker and Canon Marker End templates to section this information off.
- It is ok to note when something is not made clear how something occurred if it's to reference a drastic jump in the information we have. For example, Lyria is noted to have eventually separated from Rivia, with Rivia long gone by the known present (1520s), but we don't know if Lyria still exists by then.
- Keep in mind this is separate from speculation, which makes assumptions based on a mix of probable evidence and theories. If there's reasonable belief that something caused another via evidence in official sources, this can be added to the Notes section but must be backed by considerable evidence.
Culture[]
This is where any known culture about the race goes. Sections in here can range widely based on how much information is known. Some examples can be society, technology, art, clothing, weapons, language, architecture, religion, etc..
- Use general judgement based on if there's enough info to separate info sub-sections or not. For instance, if the only culture details known are a couple sentences, it likely does not need a sub-header for each topic we know of. However, if we know a lot about their weapons, but only have a few sentences about their religion, that can be separated off so it's not lost in the weapons topic.
Characteristics[]
This includes sections such as physical appearance, personality traits, and similar topics.
- Some may have unique characteristics that require unique headers, like "Mental traits"
Notable [race][]
This header name will reflect the race being mentioned. For example, it could be "Notable vrans", "Notable unicorns", etc. and those listed are put in a bulleted list. There are a few different rules here depending on the article:
- If it's a race with many known under it (humans, elves, etc.) only list notable beings in alphabetical order (keep list to around 25). As this is very subjective, it's best to go by how much importance the character plays in the lore compared to others in the list.
- To link to all known beings for a large group, use the For template to link to the appropriate category.
Trivia[]
Trivia should be listed using bullet points. This includes anything not directly related to the series (like easter egg examples would go here).
- Anything that is not a note goes here
Notes[]
Notes should be listed using bullet lists. This includes things related to the series in some way.
- Anything that is not a trivia or a bug may be listed here.
Gallery[]
Use <gallery></gallery> to display the pictures in a table.
References[]
Add <references/> when at least one <ref></ref> has been used within the article. The wiki will automatically list the references.
For more information on how to format references, see the help page on Wikipedia.
Categories[]
Avoid clogging the article with categories of subcategories. Always use the lowest subcategory possible and don't use any supercategories above a subcategory that is already listed.
To make the article sort different than the page name, you may use {{DEFAULTSORT:}}. If you want the article to appear at the top of the category page.
For more information on categories, see the help page on Wikipedia.
Interlanguage links[]
If the page exists in another language, you are welcome to add it.