The Content Families

Package provenance — this chapter ships with the Ontology & Structure Engine. Provenance tag: source-ontology-project. When loaded into a new world, grep the tag to find the engine's templates and instructions.

The engine's content types group into six families. You don't need to memorize the file types — the Assistant knows them — but knowing the families helps you ask for the right thing in the right order, and see how your world fits together.

Space and world

The stage. Landmasses (continents and seas), celestial bodies (suns and moons), cosmology (the structure of reality — planes, heavens, afterlives), regions and their nesting, locations (settlements, dungeons, landmarks), architecture, weather, and calendars. Space links downward: regions sit inside landmasses, locations inside regions, polities rule over regions.

Ask for: "a map of the marshlands — the town, the clans' grounds, the old road" — then deepen location by location.

People and society

The cast. Species, cultures, languages, NPCs, characters, backgrounds, classes and sub-classes, feats, and dynasties. People link to their groundings: an NPC has a species, a culture has a language, a faction has territory.

Ask for: "the marsh clans as a culture, and the ferryman who collects the toll" — a culture, a faction, and an NPC, each linked.

Power, faith, and order

The rules of the game. Polities (governments and borders), factions (guilds, secret societies, corporations), religions and deities, magic traditions, laws, and military units.

Ask for: "the town council's charter, the toll law, and the Ferry Guard that enforces it."

Conflict and time

What happens. Conflicts (wars, sieges, feuds), events (anchored to a location, participants, and a date), and prophecies.

Ask for: "the toll war as a conflict, and the barge burning as an event with the ferryman present."

Things, trade, and nature

The props. Equipment (one type, subfoldered), vehicles, companions, flora, afflictions, currency, and technology.

Ask for: "a longbow for the warden, a ferry for the crossing, and a bog-iron trade route to the city."

Knowledge and play

The connective tissue and the play surface. Lore (chunked knowledge), rules, spells, quests, media, game starts, and GM instructions.

Ask for: "the founding of the town as lore, the fog as weather, the wyrm under the marsh as a monster, and the burning barge as a quest."

Build in whatever order your intent demands. A one-shot wants the play surface early; a sandbox wants the factions and tensions first.