GuildWiki:Style and formatting/NPCs

Definition
A non-player character (NPC) is defined as a creature within the game who is not hostile to players. This is primarily indicated with a green dot, which changes to a green triangle when NPCs become allies for a particular mission or quest.

General Guidelines
The style and formatting guidelines presented here should be adhered to wherever possible. If any guideline here contradicts that which is presented in Style_and_formatting/Bestiary, the guideline here takes precedence. Refer to the Bestiary guidelines for any information not stated here.

Please use the BeastInfo template for the info box.

NPC the Great, NPC
Origin: Ascalon Profession: Monk, specializing in Protection Prayers Armament: Staff

Put any description, history, or important information here. Please indicate if there are spoilers. The above three lines provide at-a-glance information summarizing the important details of an NPC. Provide these only if they are known: Origin, Birthplace, Age, Profession, Armament.

Location

 * Region 1
 * Location A (any specifics?)
 * Region 2
 * Location B (any special conditions?)

Quests Given

 * Quests I offer

Quests Involved In

 * Quests where you have to interact with me

Evaluation
Got any behavioral evaluation or comments? Put them here.

Dialogue

 * "Something NPC says when clicked on or when prompted. Please indicate if there are spoilers."

Quotes

 * "Something I say for apparently no reason and no pattern at all, but please indicate if there are spoilers."

Note

 * Whatever is notable.

Sections
There are several sections that an NPC article should have. Keep to the section names listed here for consistency and omit any section that does not have any content. The sections are described below and are meant to be listed in the following order:
 * 1) Description An explanation of the purpose and/or history of the NPC. Character description or in-game relationships with other characters are also appropriate. Location or purpose can be mentioned here, but try to phrase it such that the more detailed version appears in their relevant sections.
 * 2) Location All the locations where an NPC can be found, grouped by regions in the order of the storyline. A map of an explorable area may be furnished to indicate important or hard-to-find locations.
 * 3) Quests Given Quests that can be obtained from this NPC, preferably in the order of availability.
 * 4) Quests Involved In Quests that involve this NPC in any manner (unless already listed in Quests Given), preferably in the order of availability.
 * 5) Skills Used Skills that this NPC is seen or known to use. There is no need to specially mark elite skills or monster skills.
 * 6) Evaluation Meant for recording any behavioral notes, usefulness evaluation, and handling advice. This is mostly used by NPCs who become party allies or those involved in quests.
 * 7) Dialogue NPC dialogue that are provided in proper message boxes. Messages that are mentioned to advance the plot or storyline during a mission or quest should also be considered for inclusion in this section.
 * 8) Quotes This should only include random text bubbles or random messages, most notably from the henchmen or NPCs like Meerak. If necessary, group them by region.
 * 9) Notes Any additional notes or trivia. This should always be the last section.

Exceptions

 * An NPC may be presented differently from area to area. For each version of the NPC, repeat the above sections as appropriate. See all the henchmen or Meerak for examples. In such cases, the Description section can be replaced by the NPC section header.
 * For certain types of NPCs, such as Merchants and Collectors, an additional section (preferably inserted after any quest sections) is required:
 * Armor Crafters need a Armor List section to list (in table format) the types of armors available. See Alemeth or Hagen for examples.
 * Artisans need a Rare Crafting Materials Available section to show the rare materials that can be crafted. See any artisan, such as Artisan Orpah, for examples.
 * Collectors need a special table listing the collector items. See any collector, such Slayton Redblade or Tully Blackvine, for examples.
 * Merchants need a Goods for Sale section. See any merchant, such as Trader Versai or Kara, for examples.
 * Skill trainers need a Skills Available section to list the skills that can be learned. See any skill trainer, such as Master Scout Kiera, for examples.

Categories
Each NPC is expected to have several categories. As a general rule, use as specific a category (or categories) as possible. Please do not use categorize any NPC page into Category:NPCs, as that is meant to be the topmost category for all NPC categories only. Use Category:General NPCs if an NPC does not fit into any of the existing NPC types.

The following category groups should be present where possible for each NPC article:
 * 1) Type
 * 2) Species
 * 3) Profession (optional)
 * 4) Nationality (optional)
 * 5) Organization (optional)

Categories should be grouped into and ordered as per the list above. If a category group has more than one applicable category, order the categories within that group alphatically. For example, all type categories should be ordered alphabetically before any species category.

Type
An NPC must be categorized with one or more type categories. Refer to Category:NPCs by type to see the available type subcategories. Apply as appropriate. Check each type subcategory for an simple explanation or description. Use Category:General NPCs if and only if no other type category apply.

Species
One race category must be present for each NPC article. Please refrain from categorizing multiple species categories; use the most specific category. Also, please use the NPC subcategory of the appropriate species and not the species category itself. For example, classify as Category:Human NPCs and not Category:Humans.

Profession
The profession category is optional for NPCs. Only provide this if known. Please use the NPC subcategory of the appropriate profession and not the profession category itself. For example, classify as Category:Monk NPCs and not Category:Monks. Each NPC should normally have only one profession. But certain special cases do arise, like Saidra.

Nationality
All NPCs should only be associated with one nationality, which is the nation or country they come from. This can be omitted if unknown. Do not confuse nationality with location or race. For example, Tyria is a continent and is not a nationality, but Cantha is both a continent and a nation, hence the existence of Category:Canthans. Ascalon and Kryta are both considered nataions, but regions such as the Maguuma Jungle and the Crystal Desert are not.

As another example, in Factions, both Luxon and Kurzick are more appropriately cultural races, rather than nations, as both these peoples have been assimilated into the Empire of the Dragon long ago. Unless more details regarding their previous nations surface, consider them Canthans.

See Category:NPCs by nation for a list identified and categorized nations or nationality.

Organization
Some NPCs can be associated with a particular organization or group, such as the Shining Blade or the White Mantle. Each NPC should at most belong to one such organization, unless they are specifically known to belong to more than one (see Dinas for an example). See Category:NPCs by organization for the current list of identified and properly categorized organizations, factions, groups, or clans.

Exception
It is important to note that certain organizations such as the Stone Summit and the White Mantle are comprised of both enemies and NPCs. This raises the issue of how to categorise them, since this will tie in to the category tree traversed from Category:Bestiary. As such, it is preferable to keep NPCs separated from actual enemies (i.e. in a subcategory). This means that all NPCs of the White Mantle are categorised as Category:White Mantle NPCs instead of Category:White Mantle (which is still the parent category). For such cases, the NPC subcategory of an organization or group is an acceptable stand-in to fulfill the this Organization category type. This keeps articles of hostiles separate from NPC articles. In the case where a character is both an NPC and an enemy, it is acceptable to be in both the parent and NPC subcategory, such as Confessor Dorian.