Style guide

This page sets the writing and formatting conventions for the Arcana Novum Wiki. It exists to settle disputes and keep pages consistent, not to be exhaustive. Where it is silent, follow the conventions of an existing well-written page.

Adapted from the Minecraft Wiki style guide, used under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Scope

This wiki documents Arcana Novum. It does not document vanilla Minecraft. Every vanilla item, block, entity or mechanic is linked to the official Minecraft Wiki with {{Mc}} rather than given a local page:

{{Mc|Crying Obsidian}} → Crying Obsidian

{{Mc|Potion|Potion of Leaping II}} → Potion of Leaping II

The second parameter is a display override, for variants with no page of their own. Arcana content uses ordinary [[wikilinks]].

Article titles

• Use the item's display name — the name shown in game — exactly.
• Create a redirect from the internal name where it differs. Tether Arrows redirects to Runic Tether Arrows.
• Use singular form unless the in-game name is plural (Runic Tether Arrows stays plural).
• Never write names in all capitals: Augmentation, not AUGMENTATION.
• US English.
• Hub and mechanics pages use Title Case like headings: Skill Points, Configuration Options.
• A page title can never contain #. Leave it out of the title and show it with {{DISPLAYTITLE:…}}: Lore:Ascendant Origins 1: The First Ascendant displays as Ascendant Origins #1: The First Ascendant.

Capitalization

Capitalize:

• Arcana, always, as the proper noun it is: Arcana XP, Arcana items, an Arcana level. The only exception is text copied verbatim from the game, which keeps the game's casing.
• Rarity tiers: Mundane, Empowered, Exotic, Sovereign, Divine.
• Arcana item and block names: Celestial Altar, Nul Memento.
• Augment and achievement names: Stellar Control, Pocket Ocean. See below for when they take brackets.
• Progenitor and Ascendant names: Gaialtus, Enderia, Nul, Equayus, Brimsuth, Tenbrous, Ceptyus.
• Effect names: Death Ward, Nearsighted.
• Forge additions: Twilight Anvil, Midnight Enchanter, Radiant Fletchery.
• Named systems and currencies: Arcana XP, Skill Points, Classic Recipes.

Do not capitalize:

• Generic mechanics used as common nouns: an altar, a multiblock, a catalyst — unless naming a specific one.
• Vanilla items, which follow Minecraft Wiki convention: crying obsidian, a nether star.

Writing

• Third person. Describe what the item does, not what "you" do — except in tutorial or guide pages, which may address the reader directly.
• Present tense. "The Altar consumes a nether star", not "will consume".
• No speculation. Document what the mod does. Planned or theorized behavior does not belong in an article.
• Italics for emphasis, not bold or capitals.
• Bold only for the article subject in the opening sentence.
• Oxford comma in lists of three or more.
• Write out numbers under ten in prose; use digits in tables and for any in-game value.

In-game text is verbatim

Any text reproduced from the game — tooltips, augment descriptions, achievement requirements, lore entries — is copied exactly, including typos. Add {{sic}} after a genuine error rather than correcting it.

Never merge in-game text with wiki commentary. They occupy separate columns. In-game text is what the game says. A Note is wiki-authored, and exists to clarify what the in-game text leaves unclear:

In-game text	Note
Decreases Altar Cooldown by 5/10/15/20/25 Minutes	The Altar's base cooldown is 30 minutes, so maximum augmentation decreases it to only a 5 minute cooldown.

Writing "reduces cooldown to a minimum of 5 minutes" in the first column destroys the distinction and is not permitted.

Empty cells

No table cell is left blank. Where there is nothing to say — no note yet, no goal, no prerequisite — write an em dash (—, —). A blank cell looks like a mistake; a dash says "nothing here" on purpose.

Augment and achievement names

In game, augment and achievement names appear in square brackets. On the wiki the brackets work like a citation: they mark a name as an augment or achievement when it is mentioned in running text, so a reader can tell it apart from an item or mechanic.

In prose, notes and descriptions — use brackets

The Altar's cooldown can be reduced with [Orbital Period].

Completing [Lycanthrope] requires a full moon.

In a table's name column, a heading, or an infobox — no brackets

The column already says what the entry is, so brackets only add noise.

Augment	ID
Orbital Period	orbital_period

Exported names never include brackets; the wiki adds them only where the rule above calls for them.

Augment tiers

Augment tiers are shown the way the game shows them: one ❖ per level, colored by the catalyst rarity that level needs. Hovering a ❖ names the level and tier. In prose, write the tier out instead: "Level 3 requires an Exotic catalyst."

IDs are always shown

Augments, achievements, research tasks and config keys always display their string id. Readers use them for commands, configs and bug reports.

Page layout

Item and block articles use this order. Omit a section entirely rather than leaving it empty — no empty headings.

1. Infobox
2. Lead — one or two sentences naming the item and what it does
3. Appearance
4. Tooltip
5. Obtaining — research, then crafting or drop sources
6. Multiblock Structure (if any)
7. Usage — including Geomantic Stele behavior (if any)
8. Used In (if any)
9. Transmutations — every Transmutation Altar recipe the item is part of (if any)
10. Augmentations (if any)
11. Achievements (if any)
12. Skins (if any)
13. Tome Entry — the item's entry in the Tome of Arcana Novum, verbatim (if any)
14. Lore — writer-authored lore, always inside {{Spoiler}} (if any)
15. Configuration (if any)
16. Trivia
17. History
18. Credits (if the asset was contributed)
19. Navbox, then categories

Trivia and History appear on every page.

Tome Entry and Lore are different sections

• Tome Entry is the mod's own text for the item, from the Tome of Arcana Novum. It is generated from the mod and copied verbatim. Do not edit it except to fix a copying error.
• Lore is reserved for lore written by the wiki's writers: how the item connects to the Gods, the Progenitors and the world. It is always spoiler-gated on item pages. Longer lore belongs on a page in the Lore: namespace, linked from here.

Recipes

Each crafting recipe is shown as a screenshot of the Starlight Forge, named Recipe Item Name.png, followed by a table of the ingredients and the total needed. Where the server's Classic Recipes pack uses a different recipe, it appears in a second tab named Classic Recipe, with its image named Recipe Item Name Classic.png.

Headings

• Main sections are level 2 (== Heading ==). Never level 1.
• Title Case: Multiblock Structure, Tome Entry, Used In. Articles, conjunctions and short prepositions stay lowercase unless they are the first or last word: Tome of Arcana Novum.
• No links or templates inside headings.

Spoilers

Arcana Novum hides a large amount of content behind discovery, and the wiki respects that.

• Mechanics pages stay in the main namespace. Anything that reveals a Progenitor, an Ascendant, or a boss encounter is wrapped in {{Spoiler}} so the reader opts in.
• Pages that are spoilers from top to bottom in the main namespace — boss fights, their creatures, the Lore and Entities hubs — start with {{Spoiler notice}} instead.
• Lore-only pages — the Progenitors and Ascendants themselves, the Ascendant Origins stories, timelines — live in the Lore: namespace.
• Do not put spoiler content in a lead, an infobox, a section heading, or an image caption. Those are visible before a reader can opt in, and they leak into search results and page previews.

Categories

The category tree starts at Category:Contents. Each hub page has a matching category: Items, Multiblocks, Mechanics, Entities and Lore.

• Item categories are set by the mod. The type and rarity categories on item pages are generated; do not add or remove them by hand.
• Put a page in the most specific category that fits, and not also in that category's parent. Nul Construct is in Bosses, not Bosses and Entities.
• Every page in the Lore: namespace is in exactly one of: Progenitors, Ascendants, Secret Events, Ascendant Origins or Characters.
• Mark unfinished pages with {{Stub}}; it files them in Category:Stubs, which is the wiki's to-do list.
• A new category needs a description page before anything is filed in it. Ask on the to-do page rather than inventing one.

Versions and history

Articles describe the current version of the mod. When behavior changes, update the article and record the change in its History section using {{Version}}. Do not write "as of 2.1, the Altar consumes…" in the body; write the current behavior and put the change in History.

Images

• Filenames match the page title exactly, because pages find their images by name:
  • Item or block sprite: Item Name.png
  • Tooltip: Tooltip Item Name.png
  • Recipe: Recipe Item Name.png, and Recipe Item Name Classic.png for a Classic Recipes variant
• Sprites, tooltips and recipes are uploaded automatically from the mod's renderer. Upload one by hand only if it is missing, and use the name above.
• Alt text is required on every image. Tooltip images additionally reproduce their text beside the image so it stays searchable and selectable.
• Captions take no terminal period unless they are full sentences.
• Use vanilla resource packs and default UI for in-game captures.
• Credit contributed textures and models in the article's Credits section.

Linking

• Link a term on its first mention in a section, not every time.
• Roughly one link per sentence is the ceiling. Overlinking is as unhelpful as underlinking.
• Prefer a redirect over a piped link.
• Use suffixes rather than piping where possible: [[Altar]]s, not [[Altars|Altar]].
• Every vanilla name gets {{Mc}}, every time it appears in a table. In prose, first mention per section.

Editing

New accounts have their edits reviewed before they appear. This is not a judgement of the edit — it is how the wiki stays free of spam. After a good first edit, ask an administrator to add you to the automoderated group and your edits will publish immediately.