Encyclopedia New Britannia

So it would appear I am completely off my proverbial rocker but then.. it wouldn't be much fun if I wasn't. I'm here to officially announce a new Scholar's of Novia project, the Encyclopedia New Britannia series.

The goal of this project as you may surmise, is the compilation of SotA lore into an encyclopedia series, written in the voice of a New Britannia natives, for natives of New Britannia. In other words, completely in-character. Entries should not by any means sound as if they're written for players, avatars or outlanders.

This will be an on-going project with no defined end and it will remain open to both addition and revision for long as the project is active.. which will hopefully be for however long SotA is live.

All entries will be lore checked and we will accept contributions from the community.

As this is largely my own pet project as a member of the Scholars I will be the one doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of organizing and such. So if you have any questions. I'm the one to ask.

For now the plan is the split up topics into several categories with multiple volumes each. Each category will ultimately be published together in-game. Revisions will probably also be done as a group.. so new publications will be tracked by category as editions like you might expect.

Some of the topics I hope to cover will include astronomy, famous people (both NPC and players), geography, flora and fauna, holidays (official and not) etc.

Information will be mainly technical by nature. Will try to keep fluff to a minimum.

For in-game examples I have already published a sort of proof of concept in-game. Encyclopedia NB: Holidays v1. I will be periodically putting more copies on public vendors if anyone wants a look. I will also have them on display at Caer Dracwych if you can't find a copy anywhere else. (Note, there should be a copy on the ground floor of our tower).

What needs to be done at this point is establish formatting and data required for each category so if anyone wants to discuss that here you're welcome to do so.

I will reserve a couple of posts for updates below.

 

This post will be for planned topics.

Astronomy

• Planets
• Constellations
• Celestial Events

Famous People

• Known Avatars? Or just Noteworthy People?
• Politicians & Nobility

Geography

• Landmarks
• Rivers & Lakes
• Mountains
• Minerals
• Notable Areas (zones)

Flora

• Herbs
• Trees
• Flowers
• Misc Plants

Bestiary

• Wildlife
• Fomorians
• Sea Life
• Insects
• Birds
• Magical

Society /Culture

• Towns (including Pots?)
• City States
• Groups (including bandits, cultists, Obsidians etc)

Archeology

• Ruins
• Artifacts

Magic

• Lunar Rifts
• Magic Schools
• Spells
• Enchantments

Technology

• Aether (Aether Waves, Radio etc)
• Kobold Tech (Air Gun, Towers, etc)

 

For the moment I'll be using this post for example entries.

Example from Holidays v1, 1st Edition.

The Spirit Festival
Held during the last weeks of Octobre, the spirit festival honors those who have past on. Particular reverence is given to one’s ancestors. Every region has their own traditions but often families will come together to remember the recently deceased with stories and merriment.

Common Practices
Families often erect shrines to their ancestors or visit their graves to leave offerings of food and flowers.

It is common to hold a festival lasting as long as few days. Often involving food and game stalls. Patrons to these festivals are known to dress up in costume or fine clothes.

Some communities hold of Festival of Lights during which community members will carry candles or lanterns in procession through the main streets. A variation of this practice is to send paper lanterns floating down a nearby river. This is meant to guide the spirits of the recently deceased to the next world.

Traditional Foods
There is little in way of a specific traditional food during the Spirit Festival but in recent years it has become common to indulge in sweet foods such as candied apples and confections which have become common at food stands during the festival.

 

But will you have travelling NPC's going door to door with them?

 

Uh probably not. But they could be sold or donated to public libraries and of course there will always be vendors out there. We will probably continue to host the odd book faire now and then as well. So get your first editions while you can as they may become rare collectables over time.

 

Sounds like a great idea

 

Ok just to start tackling topics.. one of the things that needs to be done at this point is defining what kind of data will be in each topic. So I thought I'd share my thoughts for feedback one at a time. Also, I've started to use the above <reserved> posts. So assuming we have a productive discussion I'll try to keep those updated.

Astronomy..

Suddenly I think this might be a more challenging topic since it should probably cover a good range of topics from planets, constellations, events and any other unique objects that may be in the sky. Hopefully we'll have comets as well.

Data that will probably be relevant to everything. Name, orbital path, rise/set date (orbital speed?), relative distance (planets), associations (virtues, holidays etc). 'static events'.. by static I mean the event always occurs reliably at the same times.

 

I will provide my autobiography for the Famous People section.

 

Just remember all entries are subject to a lore check.

 

@Bowen why don't you establish a scholars and/or librarian's guild for this? I'm pretty sure some people have plans of putting up public libraries ingame and this project fits right in.

 

A few reasons really. First I already have my own guild. Also while it's not a guild I am already one of the Scholars of Novia and I also do not want to limit potential contributions to being from any one group.

 

Good work Bowen. I don't have anything to contribute since I haven't played shroud since like r17 or so and only read a few chapters of bota. How is this coming along?

 

heh well right now it's mostly just figuring out what information to put where and how to format it. I think I have a pretty solid vision in mind though. Suppose I should update the 2nd post up there with something more substantial. Lot of other projects.. and distractions.. so it really helps keep me on track and motivated when someone actually takes a moment to ask how things are going. Much thanks.

 

Yep. Let's see it.

 

Updated the list above.. will continue to format and update as new information is added/planned. Also taking suggestions. If there's something you'd like to see that isn't listed feel free to bring it up for consideration.

 

Cool, all is well. I think you are doing a great job. Regards.

 

Added technology to the list, should include kobold tech, the radio, towers etc

 

With all the confusion regarding good places to hunt.. (as I was reminded by a recent post).. it occurs to me there should be an IC way to reflect zone difficulty. This will fall under Geography.

 

To bad we can't even put simple icons into the books at this point. Skull symbols would be a great way to indicate zone difficulty.

 

I think a comment like.. dangerous.. very dangerous etc in area descriptions should work well enough. What I want to see.. (and this has been suggested directly to Portalarium) is the ability to use stock images that come with the game. The tech wouldn't be a stretch I don't think as books already make use of embedded code for formatting. Stuff like creature concept art, skill symbols etc.