4.7 KiB
4.7 KiB
Baltun'ia Vault Conventions (shared reference)
All campaign skills read this file first. It captures how this vault is actually structured and written. Match these conventions exactly — the goal is that a generated note is indistinguishable from one the DM wrote by hand.
Vault map
1. History of Baltun'ia/ ← lore by Age (Ancient → Fourth). Has Key Figures / Key Locations subfolders.
2. World Almanac/ ← the living world
Factions/<Faction>/ ← one folder per faction, "<Faction> Overview.md" inside
Species/ ← one note per species
Deities/ + Deities/Minor Deities/
Creatures/ + Creatures/Natural World/
Economy/
Languages/
Regions of Baltun'ia/<Region>/ ← region note "<Region>.md" at top of its folder
<City>/ ← city note "<City>.md" at top of its folder
<POI>/ ← POI folder, "<POI>.md" overview inside
<NPC Name> - <POI>.md ← NPCs live beside the POI they belong to
Documents/ ← in-world docs & event write-ups (speeches, letters, propositions)
3. Session Recaps/ ← "N. Title - M-D-YY.md", flat, narrative prose
z_templates/Framework Templates/ ← NPC / Location / Faction / POI templates
z_other/ ← monologues, Campaign Flow (mermaid plot flowchart)
Campaign Premise.md ← the central conspiracy / endgame
Index File.base ← Obsidian Base; filters out anything whose path starts with "z"
z-prefixed folders are excluded from the Index Base on purpose. Keep
templates and scratch material under z_*; keep canonical content out of it.
Formatting rules (do NOT deviate)
- No YAML frontmatter. Existing notes have none. Do not add it.
- Notes use heading-based sections (
###/##) copied from the relevant framework template, then filled in. Sections may be renamed to fit the subject (e.g. a POI's "History & Lore" became "Lore & Role in Voxiu"). Adapt, don't pad with empty boilerplate sections. - Wikilinks everywhere. Link the first mention of any species, region,
city, faction, deity, POI, or other NPC:
[[Humans]],[[Voxiu]],[[Belter Overview|Belters]]. Use[[Note Name|display text]]when the file name differs from how it reads in the sentence. - Notable-NPC entries use the bold-name + arrow-note style:
- **Hedda Wickwhistle**, Guildmother Weaver *(Human, elderly)*then a new line starting with→giving role / hook. - Tables (markdown pipe tables) are used for economy breakdowns — reuse that style for any quantitative data.
- Tone is in-world and concrete. Prefer specific, evocative detail over generic fantasy filler. American spelling, present tense for descriptions.
Naming conventions
- NPC file:
<Full Name> - <POI or City>.md(e.g.Kal Branth - Sea Bastion Docks.md). Historical NPCs instead go in the relevant Age'sKey Figures/as<Name>.md. - Overview files are named after their container:
Cotton Row Market/Cotton Row Market.md,Belters/Belter Overview.md,Voxiu/Voxiu.md. - Session recap:
<N>. <Short Title> - <M-D-YY>.md— N is the next integer after the highest existing recap, date is the real session date (no leading zeros:9-8-25, not09-08-25).
Linking discipline (run this before finishing any note)
- Every proper noun that could have a note gets a
[[wikilink]]on first use. - If you reference an entity that has no note yet, still wikilink it (a "future note" / red link is correct and intentional in Obsidian) and mention to the user that it's a stub worth creating.
- When you create an NPC/POI, add a reciprocal mention+link in its parent note's "Notable NPCs" / "Notable Locations" section so the graph stays connected.
Collaborative generation (applies to every content skill)
The DM chose a collaborative style. For any note that involves creative invention:
- Read the relevant template and 1–2 nearby sibling notes for tone.
- Gather every fact already established in the vault (search recaps, parent notes, the Campaign Premise, Campaign Flow).
- Draft the objective / known fields yourself (appearance, location, type, public role).
- Pause and ask the DM (via the AskUserQuestion tool) about the creative-pivot fields before writing them — the choices that shape the campaign: motivations, secrets, faction loyalties, and plot hooks. Offer 2–4 concrete options plus room for their own answer.
- Only after their input, write the file and wire up the wikilinks.
Never invent hard canon (a death, a betrayal, a hidden identity) without confirming — those are the DM's calls.