Content Model of Aletheia Site

Collections, Types, and Article Evolution

Collections, Types, and Article Evolution

The World of Aletheia is organized intentionally. Its structure exists not to constrain creativity, but to give it coherence. This document summarizes our current understanding of how canon content is structured, how types function, and how articles may evolve over time.

This is a working model. It is stable enough to build upon, but flexible enough to refine.

Structural Overview

Aletheia’s content operates on three structural levels:

Layer → Collection → Type

• Layer defines scope (Canon vs Using).
• Collection defines a major domain of reality.
• Type defines the article’s center of gravity within that domain.

Types do not cage an article.
They identify its structural focus.

Canon Collections and Types (Current Understanding)

Below is our present working model for Canon content.

Sentients — Agency and Identity

The Sentients collection contains beings capable of agency, identity, and intentional action.

Types:

• person
• species
• deity
• spirit

If a being chooses, governs, worships, plots, or acts with intent, it belongs here.

Roles (king, criminal, priest, shaman, etc.) are attributes of a person, not separate types.

Sentience itself is explicit:

Agency defines this collection.

Bestiary — Species and Encounterable Creatures

The Bestiary contains biological or constructed beings treated primarily at the species level.

Types:

• animal
• monster
• undead
• construct

A Bestiary article answers:

What is this creature?

Even if the article includes cultural or historical notes, its primary focus remains the species itself.

If a species possesses structured culture and agency, it may instead belong in Sentients.

Flora — Plant and Plant-Like Life

The Flora collection contains plant-based life.

Type:

• plant

Magical plants remain Flora.
Alchemical herbs remain Flora.

If a plant develops agency, it ceases to be Flora and becomes Sentient.

Places — Space and Geography

Places defines spatial reality. It answers:

Where is this?

Types:

• settlement
• admin (kingdom, province, territory)
• natural_feature (river, mountain, sea)
• biome
• site (ruin, tower, temple, dungeon)
• infrastructure (road, bridge, canal)
• plane

Places describes land, environment, and location.
It does not describe institutions (those belong in Factions).

Factions — Organized Power and Institutions

Factions contains structured groups with collective agency.

Types:

• government
• military
• guild
• religion
• police
• university
• criminal_org
• order

A faction answers:

Who is organized here?

Governments rule territory.
Military forces conduct war.
Orders are oath-bound institutions defined by internal code rather than territory.

Lore — Knowledge, Domains, and World Structures

Lore contains conceptual and systemic knowledge about the world.

Types (current working list):

• culture
• law
• event
• history
• calendar
• economy
• cosmology
• domain-level types such as:
  • domestication
  • warfare
  • trade
  • agriculture
  • magic
  • ecology
  • others as needed

Lore answers:

How does this work?

Unlike Bestiary (which focuses on species), Lore domain types describe recurring world-level structures.

For example:

• “Domesticated Animals of Aletheia” → domestication
• “Warfare in Aletheia” → warfare
• “Trade Routes of the Western Marches” → trade

The type identifies the article’s center of gravity, not its full content boundaries.

The “Center of Gravity” Principle

An article’s type defines its primary structural focus.

It does not restrict:

• Adjacent context
• Cross-references
• Cultural notes
• Historical background
• Economic implications

A Bestiary entry on Dogs may include cultural context.
A Lore article on Domestication may reference multiple species.
A Warfare article may discuss geography and economics.

Types define emphasis, not purity.

Article Evolution Model

Aletheia’s structure supports organic growth.

The normal evolution pattern is:

1. Broad article is created.
2. It grows naturally over time.
3. When a section becomes substantial, it is split into its own article.
4. The parent article retains a summary and links outward.

Example:

• “Domesticated Animals of Aletheia”
  • Eventually splits into:
    • “Pets in Aletheia”
    • “Mounted Warfare in Aletheia”
    • “Agricultural Draft Animals”

This is expected.
The schema supports it.

No article must begin perfectly scoped.

Guidelines for Naming New Types

When considering a new type, apply two tests.

1. Structural Distinction

Does this category require meaningfully different information from existing types?

If not, it likely does not need its own type.

2. Practical Usefulness

Would users reasonably expect to browse this category directly?

If not, it may be better handled as a tag or subsection.

Prefer Concrete Domain Nouns

Types should be:

• Concrete
• Intuitive
• World-native

Prefer:

• warfare
• trade
• agriculture
• domestication

Avoid:

• overly abstract labels
• meta-architectural terms
• catch-all categories

The goal is clarity, not taxonomy for its own sake.

Controlled Growth

The list of types is not immutable.

It is versioned through practice:

• If a pattern of articles repeatedly emerges,
• If browsing value becomes clear,
• If structural difference justifies it,

Then a new type may be added deliberately.

Types are governed.
They are not improvised casually.

Final Orientation

The content model of Aletheia is designed to:

• Preserve clarity
• Support long-term expansion
• Avoid taxonomic chaos
• Enable both worldbuilding and gameplay utility

It balances order with flexibility.

Structure without rigidity.
Growth without fragmentation.
Coherence without constraint.

This is our current understanding.

It will evolve.

But it is strong enough to build upon.