# Primary Texts - Taxonomy Overview
## Description
Written records, sacred texts, philosophical treatises, and everyday documents from both cultures, presented as excerpts with contextual commentary
## Entry Guidelines for Primary Texts
These guidelines provide a flexible framework - adapt sections as needed for each entry's unique story.
### Core Elements (Include Most)
- **Text Overview & Context** - Brief introduction explaining the document's origin, author (if known), cultural significance, and how it came to be preserved or discovered
- **Extended Excerpts** - Substantial passages from the text itself, presented in the original voice and style. Let the document speak for itself through generous quotations
- **Scholarly Commentary** - Analysis from in-world perspectives - how different groups interpret the text, debates about authenticity or meaning, practical applications
### Additional Elements (Use When Relevant)
- **Translation Notes** - For texts crossing between cultures or dealing with temporal language barriers, notes on impossible translations or conceptual gaps
- **Material Description** - Physical details about the document - what it's written on, how it degrades (or doesn't), unique properties
- **Marginalia & Annotations** - Reader responses, corrections, arguments, or graffiti found in various copies
- **Competing Versions** - Variant texts, oral traditions, or deliberately altered editions that reveal cultural tensions
## Writing Guidelines
- **Length**: Target 300-400 words for initial entries (expand if the story demands it)
- **Voice**: Favor engaging, immersive writing over bland description
- **Style**: Mix documentary precision with narrative flair - include quotes, in-world documents, interesting perspectives
- **Connections**: Weave in references to existing entries naturally
- **Personality**: Each entry should feel distinctive and memorable
## Content Approach
- Present texts as living documents with histories, not museum pieces
- Use formatting creatively - indent excerpts, use italics for translations, show deteriorating text with [illegible] markers
- Include multiple perspectives on controversial texts - believer, skeptic, and confused outsider views
- Let the Portland aesthetic shine through - even sacred texts might have coffee stains or artisanal binding
- Show how texts function in daily life - quoted at protests, misunderstood by tourists, tattooed on believers
## Writing Philosophy
These guidelines serve as flexible frameworks rather than rigid templates. Each entry should be crafted to tell its unique story while maintaining consistency with the world's established tone and feel. Prioritize engaging, immersive writing that brings each element to life through vivid details, interesting perspectives, and natural connections to other world elements.
