settled-reach/wiki/GOVERNANCE.md

Wiki Governance

Owner: Miri (structure and worldbuilding) Contributors: Anyone on the team, following templates

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Status Lifecycle

Every wiki entry has a status field in its YAML frontmatter:

Status	Meaning	Who Can Set
proposed	Under consideration, not yet reviewed	Anyone
draft	In review, content being refined	Author + reviewer
canonical	Confirmed setting truth, safe to reference	Miri or project lead

Progression: proposed → draft → canonical

Demotion: A canonical entry can be demoted to draft if a decision changes its foundation. Only Miri or the project lead can demote canonical entries.

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Creating New Entries

1. Copy the appropriate template from _templates/
2. Fill in the YAML frontmatter (all fields)
3. Write a concise description — one line that captures what makes this entry distinct. This field enables context-aware loading (agents filter by description before loading full files).
4. Set status: proposed
5. Write the content following the template structure
6. Submit for review

Templates available: star-system, station, district, location, character, faction, technology, cultural-group, contraband, institution, species, lore, concept, triangle

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Directory Rules

Spatial Hierarchy (star-systems/)

star-systems/
  {system-slug}/
    index.md                    # System overview
    {station-slug}/
      index.md                  # Station overview
      {district-slug}/
        index.md                # District overview
        {location-slug}.md      # Location files (flat within district)

• Systems contain stations (nested directories)
• Stations contain districts (nested directories)
• Districts contain locations (flat files, no subdirectory)
• Each directory level has an index.md with that entity's overview
• Slugs are lowercase, hyphenated, unique within their parent

Flat Categories

All other categories use flat file structure:

{category}/
  {entry-slug}.md

No nesting within flat categories. Use cross_refs in frontmatter for relationships.

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Cross-Referencing

• Use cross_refs in YAML frontmatter for machine-readable references (slugs only)
• Use markdown links in body text for human-readable navigation
• Use decision_refs for links to decisions/*.md entries (e.g., [D-036])

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Scale Considerations

The spatial hierarchy is designed to scale from 1 star system (v0.1) to 500+ (full game):

• Each system is a self-contained directory tree
• Cross-system references use full slug paths (e.g., star-systems/van-maanens-star/sova/transit)
• Characters, factions, and other flat categories remain at wiki root — they are not nested per system
• Characters reference their home district via home_district frontmatter field

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Naming Conventions

• File slugs: lowercase, hyphenated (e.g., kael-davan.md, the-last-shift.md)
• Directory slugs: lowercase, hyphenated (e.g., van-maanens-star/, sova/, transit/)
• Canonical IDs: match content schema format (e.g., npc:kael-davan)
• Display names: title case, as they appear in-game

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Last updated: 2026-02-13