Bestiary Resource Book (All Developers Must Read Here!)

Greetings developers,

Please read through these different issues which we thought to be important for you before making your first or next Bestiary entry. Bestiary entries although simple and apparently easy (not so... trust me), involve a lot of thinking and research, since they should be integrated into story and 'feel' of Caelereth and should include multiple reference to other entries of the Santharian dream. Creating these strong knots to entries around yours is one of the best ways of making sure you have a good entry which will be looked at carefully. Similarly it is essential that the entry is in the appropriate format.

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The Idea

Before you continue forward with the development of a beast, you must first come up with and idea. While it may be completely revolutionary and a unique 'twist' of a terran beast, you must make sure that it can be integrated into the world without any major problems. To prevent these from arising, you must do research before beginning work. To do this research, you must access the main site and search through the various entries. By looking in the Bestiary (Click on the icon with the horse's head) you can find a list of already approved entries. We would suggest reading through these entries as they show the requirements for a proposal and can be used as models.

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Need an Idea?

Sometimes its hard to come up with sufficient inspiration or intimidating to create a new creature. If you find yourself out of ideas, or would like to help out someone else, be sure to take a look into the following thread:

Need an Idea?

(We strongly recommend all new members to first attempt one of the entries found here, since they already have some material and the hard part of integration taken care of already)

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Bestiary Entries Re-Worked

So many entries have been created for the compendium throughout its lifespan. Some of them though weren't complete or need reworking or expanding upon. If you think you are up for the job, consult one of the suggestions below:

Need an Idea or Want to Revise an Entry? Click Here!

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Writing (The Template)

After you have come up with the idea for your beast, you will begin to work on the content of your proposal. All proposals should be submitted written and submitted in the following forum.

Notes: At least one space should be put between each section and its heading to prevent the text from becoming what is known as a "brick." Each paragraph should be seperated by at least one space. All the rules of English Grammar and Spelling apply to each submission. (There is a spell check function next to the Preview button.)

   Basic Overview of the Beast
Do a short description on the beast, which can be placed on top of the entry and at the general overview page: What kind of beast (category) is it? How large is it approx.? Where does it live? What are it's most important features etc. When you read the overview you should know most important things about the beast, before you've even read the whole entry.

   Appearance
A detailed description of what the beast looks like. Everything from size, in peds, to bone structure. I stress the 'detailed' part, put in as much detail as possible. This doesn't mean make it as long as possible, go for quality over quantity.

If you need measures and weights in order to describe your beast, please refer to the general Measures and Weight tables.


   Special Abilities
Do these creatures have any sort of special abilities? Able to withstand extreme cold, run very fast, things like that. And if they do, then how do they do this? A specific muscle structure, or extra fat layer?

   Territory
Where are they found? Check out the map section, do some research on the differen't places, and make the best choice on what you find. A creature with thick fur? Probably somewhere cold. That type of thing.

   Habitat/Behavior
If you were to see these creatures, what kinds of things would they be doing? Challenging the pack leader for control, or wandering by itself? Get into as much detail as you can.

   Diet
What do your creatures eat? And if they eat a lot, what is their favorite food? Also make sure that what they eat can be found where they live, otherwise it just isn't practical

   Mating
What are their mating behaviors or rituals? Do they mate at all? Is there maybe some sort of dance? Which gender is the aggressor usually? Again, detail.

   Myth/Lore/Origin (Optional)
Do they come from anywhere special? Applicable e.g. at supernatural creatures like demons, ghosts, spirits etc.

   Researchers (Optional)
Any noted researchers on these creatures?

   Usages (Optional)
In case products or parts of this animal (like milk, hide etc.) have a special use, let us know who uses them, where and why.

   Anything Else (Optional)
Can you think of any details to make this even better?

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Notes:

Always keep in mind that this is a fantasy world!

Words like "vitamins", "chemicals", "genes", "fossils" etc. usually are unknown terminology to medieval researchers. So keep away from these things, and also don't try to explain everything in detail what researchers of the 20th century have found out. Researchers of the Middle Ages weren't really "scientists", but mainly investigated what they could see, watch and thus describe. We have alchemists in the "medieval" world of Santharia, no chemists, which is an important difference, as alchemists are still lacking the profound background chemists of nowadays have.

In the same respect I guess we can't emphasize enough that though evolution and belief don't necessarily have to contradict each other in our world of today, it was impossible to think of such things 1000 years ago. Especially in a fantasy world like ours I think that we should forget about evolution in the Darwinistic sense completely. We have other explanations why the original landmass split into various parts (Gods/War of the Chosen) and a typical evolutionary theory doesn't fit too well to our mythical concepts.

Also try to make your stuff as unique "Santharian" as possible. Why not create a giant beetle, a large bloodfly, a strange fish, mushroom trees... - which never existed here on earth? It's good that we use some "earth creatures" in Santharia as well, especially horses, cows, deer, some cats, and bees are helpful as well etc. But always keep in mind that unique Santharian creatures should predominate over "modified" or "twisted" earth creatures!

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Development Icons

Now that you have written your entry following the appropriate template and used the appropriate heading, you will need to put up the development icon. Always make sure to use the appropriate development icon when you post it here on the Forum at the first post of the thread. Change this icon by editing the first post at the thread once the status changes as well. The icon may also be changed by a Moderator or Administrator.

... Entry is still being edited, not really ready for comments yet or an extensive comment has been given and is currently being integrated.

... Entry is done, waiting for comments now or all previous comments have been integrated and marked in a colored font.

... There's a major question concerning this entry, where an answer is necessary. You can/should put the topic of the question in brackets in your post title.

... Entry is ready for upload. Don't add this posticon! It will be put up by a moderator after they feel the entry is complete.

... Entry was already integrated by your dear webmaster. If you can't see it on the site yet, it's probably because the update is still in progress.

... Post is meant as an addition to an entry or contains details on necessary adjustments.

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Restrictions (i.e Creatures Not to Attempt)

Its natural that everyone has certain creatures they would love working on, however some types of creatures dont fit into the world of Caelereth or are already more than abyundant. Below wil be a constantly updated list of creatures we ask you not to attempt at creating:

~ Dragons (Only if a currently proposed Dragon. See the "Need an Idea or Want to Revise and Entry Thread for all dragon choices)
~ Mythical Creatures(Only with special permission)
~Golems(Unless special permission is obtained)
~Demons(Out dated and need magical rework)
~Super Beasts(eg. A rat with telepathy and the ability to time travel)

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Beast Images

Images are often nice because in some cases they convey features about a creature words may not quite reach. If you're looking for any images that might suit your creature, or you may wish to create a creature about one of the images, then be sure to check out these links to some of the Compendium's artists' galleries

Quellion's Picture Resources
Bard Judith's Picture Resource
Arbaon's Picture Resource

Other Artists' galleries are still being updated from the change to the new board

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Etiquette of the Bestiary

When thou art in the domain of the Bestiary, you shall heed to these rules:

1. You will not repeatedly post in your own entries when you do not recieve commentary. If a period of three days passes when have had no comments what so ever, you should send a bell-ring to either of the two mods, Drasil Razorfang or Decipher Ziron, or Jonael if he ever returns.

2. You will not give your entry the Dev status two (yellow exclamation mark) if it has not filled the following criteria:

- It does not follow the template (which can be found in the left side menu under the 'Create Beasts' link)

- All neccesary sections of the template have been added, and all of these are at least one paragraph long

- It is a creature that is banned by the restrictions (or is a creature which requires the permisson of a mod or higher ranking member [and you have not attained said permisson])

3. Your entry will not be full of spelling and grammar errors. Some lapses are acceptable but an entry which has no punctuation, pointless capital letters, MSN/IM speak (i.e dere porz hlp dem 2...) etc. will not be commented on (other then 'use the spell checker')

4. You will not ignore commentary. You will either intergrate the comments given or provide a legitimate reason why you are not ('I don't want to' does not qualify as a legitimate excuse.

5. You will respect each other and authority. You will not disregard somebody's commentary due to their status on the board. If you have been here for seven years, the comments of somebody who has been for seven days should be followed with the same process as in rule 4.

However, if you happen to be the guy who has been here for seven days, you must accept that:

- Most people here know alot more then you (about Caelereth and developing, if you happen to be a professor at Harvard I doubt the high-school bestiary mods could best you in an academic battle)

- The people who have been longer then you have earned the trust of Artimidor (the almighty overlord of this beautiful creation, and who has the final say on EVERYTHING) and are able to create things which are at the moment restricted to you.

Don't be bitter if one of the ancient members is allowed to make a hundred foot dragon, and your only allowed to make a butterfly (though a hundred foot dragon would never be approved anyway).

6. We have the final say. Apart from Artimidor, the mods have the final say on all bestiary works. If we believe it won't work, it probably won't. If you still persist after we have told you your idea is unworkable, do not be bitter if all you ever get to develop are butterflies.

7. The bestiary is a place of creativity. You have no right to dismiss the works of others (that's drasil's job ). Somebody's ideas may be questioned, but you will never discourage somebody for no valid reason other then you do not like the beast.

If you have any questions or think something must be added, do not hesitate to PM any of us.