Ultronomicon:Manual of Style
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This page is the style guide for the Ultronomicon. It is intended to help make the Ultronomicon easier to read by following a standard, consistent format. As stated in Editing Essentials, we're pretty much following the Wikipedia style unless otherwise specified here.
At this stage, this guide is just in the beginning stages: you can edit this guide as you see fit, but please document according to how things are already done in this Wiki. If you disagree with a section of this style guide, please add (disputed) to the end of that section and discuss this in the talk page.
Introduction to the style guide
This style guide gives specific examples of naming conventions in bold, and sometimes as a bolded Wikilink to a specific article. Note that you can choose to use Wikilinks (or not) in the article unless otherwise specified. In this style guide, bold is used merely to highlight the convention and should not be used all the time.
For example, if the guide states the proper usage as Shofixti, you can use this in the text as the following:
- Shofixti
- Shofixti
- Shofixti (under specific conditions)
- Shofixti (under specific conditions, such as the first use in the Shofixti article)
Language
The Ultronomicon currently uses American English (see talk).
Writing style
The Ultronomicon is supposed to be an objective reference work. Don't write the articles as if you're writing a story; write them as an exposition about a topic.
Only write statements as a (game) fact when there is no doubt that that is the correct interpretation. If there are other interpretations, however unlikely they may be, use words like "possibly", "may suggest", "perhaps". "it may be that", etc. to clearly indicate that what is written in the article is not set in stone.
When there is a lot of discussion about a topic, it may be appropriate to dedicate a section to the various theories that go around. The theories themselves should be written with a neutral point of view. The writing should not show the prefered interpretation of its writer.
General naming conventions and usage
The following are the general ways we use to name or specify groups of items within the game.
Race boxes
In progress. This section will discuss how to fill in the {{RaceBox}} template, especially the order of items in the Member of field.
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Specific naming conventions and usage
The following are the specific ways we use to name specific elements within the game.
The protagonist
The protagonist of Star Control II is simply referred to as The Captain or the Captain.
The default name in the 3DO version and The Ur-Quan Masters is Captain Zelnick, but this can be changed in the game settings, so it shouldn't be used here. In the PC version there wasn't even a default.
The protagonist's flagship
The flagship in Star Control II is simply referred to as The Flagship or the Flagship as a proper noun. The Captain's flagship and the Captain's flagship are also acceptable, but not the flagship, The Captain's Flagship, or the Captain's flagship.
The default flagship name in the 3DO version and The Ur-Quan Masters is the Vindicator, but this can be changed in the game settings, so it shouldn't be used here. In the PC version there wasn't even a default.
The protagonist's alliance
The name of the new alliance in Star Control II is the New Alliance of Free Stars. When listing this organization in the {{RaceBox}}, do not use a leading "The" to specify this alliance (ie, "New Alliance of Free Stars", not "The New Alliance of Free Stars").
Commander Hayes asks the Captain to name the new alliance, and the following are the four options given in the dialog:
- The New Alliance of Free Stars
- The Concordance of Alien Nations
- The United Federation of Worlds
- The Empire of (Captain's name)
We chose the first option because it gives continuity from the original Alliance of Free Stars.