Category talk:Backstory Characters

I created this page since the list of characters uses this categorization. Previously, most of these entries were in the Category:Minor Characters. There are still a few I'm uncertain about. For example, I put Weeny Wikki Beeki Birdi here instead of Category:Legendary Characters but it could be that he/she is fictional though the Pkunk history says he/she was real. And also the Veep-Neep Dynasty is both contemporary and in the past, so minor character or backstory character? --Fyzixfighter 21:44, 9 Nov 2005 (CET)

I'm not sure about that. "Characters" refers to individuals, does it not? In that case, I probably wouldn't put Veep-Neep Dynasty in EITHER of those categories. This category's pretty good, and state that this category is for historical characters that are not fictional.

Now, do we make any or all of these categories (Category:Minor Characters, Category:Game Characters, Category:Backstory Characters, or [[:Category:Legendary Characters) mutually exclusive? ie, any article can only belong to one of these categories at most? Your edits seem to suggest that you believe these four categories should be mutually exclusive, and I would agree with you. It makes sense to group characters into only one of these four categories.

As for the specific case of Weeny Wikki Beeki Birdi, I would probably count it as fictional. The Pkunk speaker seems to state it as legend instead of "fact". However, I could be wrong about that. --Phoenix (t) 22:58, 9 Nov 2005 (CET)

I was basing my edits on the definitions of the categories that originally appear on the List of Characters page. These are four mutually exclusive groups - the exception possibly being contemporary characters (game or minor) that also affected the the story before the game began. While I didn't come up with the categories, I think that it is a natural way to organize the characters in the UQM universe. I agree that the Veep-Neep Dynasty should be removed, but one could simply change this to be the Veep-Neep Queen, which page I believe is just a redirect to the Veep-Neep Dynasty - so I'm not too keen on that quick fix. --Fyzixfighter 05:09, 10 Nov 2005 (CET)

Yeah, I'm aware of the redirect, but since the Dynasty isn't a specific character, I'm not sure it's entirely appropriate. Wikipedia style doesn't usually have a category on redirect pages, so I'm not sure what's appropriate. I suppose it's more a judgement call than anything else. As for game characters that affect the story before the game begins, I think it's more a question of whether they had a fairly big impact on the backstory. What examples are you thinking of right now? --Phoenix (t) 14:07, 10 Nov 2005 (CET)

I had forgotten about that feature of categories. Well, strike what I said and reverse it (or just plain ignore it). And I mention the possibility of characters with dual category citizenship just to play devil's advocate - in all honesty, I also can't immediately think of any characters that would meet that criterion. --Fyzixfighter 07:31, 11 Nov 2005 (CET)

Eureka! After digging around the dialog files looking for new characters to add, I've found some possible (but odd) candidates for dual citizenship. They are the Mycon personalities Dugee, Shloosh, and Gussh and the Utwig Great Proctor. The Great/High Proctor has a big effect on the background by breaking the Ultron, is also present in the PC credits sequence, and could still be in that position during the game (the Utwig make contemporary references to the Proctors). One could argue that these are not the same people (slightly different titles) or that the credits are not truly "canon." The Mycon are a strange case that would be fun to argue. Per your question though, they don't have a big impact on the backstory. And while we're on the Mycon, how would we categorize the Creators? --Fyzixfighter 10:28, 11 Nov 2005 (CET)

Excellent work. I think a good rule of thumb is whether the character is "active" (Minor) or "retired" (Backstory). I think Dugee, Shloosh, and Gussh are backstory characters because they existed in the past and are no longer retired. Having the Mycon speak about them as contemporaries only emphasises the fact that memory is preserved even when the individual is dead. As for the Proctors and the Great Proctor, I would definitely ignore the events of the credits, but regardless, I think they are minor characters because they are active in the game. If the Veep-Neep Queen had her own article, she'd be a minor character for the same reason. I'd put the Creators under Legendary, per your recent change to the text there. --Phoenix (t) 14:32, 11 Nov 2005 (CET)