Legacy of Kain Wiki updates

[Bazielim]

Hi guys, as some of you may be aware I'm one of the admins at the Legacy of Kain Wiki, and it seems that the time may finally have come for some formal promotion of the site and content.

For the uninitiated, Wikias (or Wikis) are fairly simple, free to run and use online encyclopaedias (and so much more) covering practically any particular subject, where content can be edited and discussed by anyone (think of a specialised Wikipedia, if it helps). The best (generally, the most often edited and maintained) Wikias can be downright awe-inspiring and cause many a night lost at the computer. The Legacy of Kain Wiki was first established in 2007, has been actively administered since 2010 and is constantly being improved and edited. In time, we hope to become a valuable resource for Legacy of Kain fans, documenting all facets of the series in a comprehensive and approachable manner.

Now for the crux of my visit (Drumroll please). After much effort, the first of the major game-related projects - the Blood Omen 2 Project - is now complete (though as you may have guessed from the ethos of the site, nothing is every truly complete on a wiki, it's just as complete as I'm prepared to go right now). I deliberately chose BO2 as the game that appeared to have least concrete information, to demonstrate just what it is possible to achieve with this; and it has turned out to be around 180ish articles of BO2 related knowledge - including virtually all levels, locations, characters, gameplay terms, weapons and attire, enemies and Abilitites/Dark Gifts - all up to a decent reputable standard and fully referenced, albeit somewhat ham-fisted in places. The project deals mainly with 'foreground' BO2 stuff, with 'background' articles (such as timelines), real-world articles and some exceedingly minor articles left temporarily to the Abyss, and a handful of major over-arching articles left unreferenced.

So without further delay here is the Main Blood Omen 2 page, which was intended to be a bit of a 'portal' to the rest of the pages, but sort of ended up turning into a bit of an analysis itself. If you're finding that a bit tough to wade through, here's the BO2 Index, from which you can find most of the BO2 pages directly (though you may have to click through the sub-categories at the top to find them all). Feel free to browse around the rest of the site as well; though much of it only been brought up to an 'acceptable' standard at present, there are still many 'Gold-Standard' articles around as well.

And now for the true purpose:- Wikis live and die by their editors (or writers if you prefer); as I mentioned above, the very best wikis are the ones that are frequently discussed, edited, updated and maintained; to do that you need editors. If you know your stuff and have any free time to aid the cause, please consider helping us improve the site. Here are some pointers if you get stuck, though the default editor (if you pick a small enough area) should be fairly simple to work out. Just be accurate (and referenced or linked if possible) and please don't copy text or pics from other fan-websites. Should anyone feel especially interested/helpful, There are also plans afoot for future expansion and adding of detail, which will go a lot faster with more editors. There are still tonnes of things that could be written and sources untapped (or unknown) to many and I hope some of you will consider joining us. Anyway, enough pleading, enjoy!

Oh, and we're also on Facebook

[lucinvampire]

I just wanted to say I think you are all doing a great job on the wiki ; I use it all the time and think it’s a great resource to find out or confirm things about the series. Once I have finished a few projects I’m working on and I have a little free time I will give you a shout as I will be happy to help out.

[Ardeth Silvereni]

The wiki is looking fantastic, and its all thanks to the hard work of its editors. Baz, do you ever sleep?

As always, the wiki has my full support, and I only wish I could do more of the hands-on stuff. I've given it a plug via my DC Twitter and Facebook pages, and hopefully when people see how well the wiki is maturing, more fans will get involved.

The wiki is a great resource, and definately one of the best sources of LoK info on the web. Long may it continue to grow!

[The Hylden]

It's a great resource also for pics, which I've used, and am using, when I do paintings of the series.

[Raina Audron]

Congratz, Bazielim! I really like to read the wiki and check for updates

[Inquisitor Lexy]

Originally Posted by The Hylden

It's a great resource also for pics, which I've used, and am using, when I do paintings of the series.

I have been meaning to ask, is there a place on here where one can see or post fan art...?

[Ardeth Silvereni]

Originally Posted by Inquisitor Lexy

I have been meaning to ask, is there a place on here where one can see or post fan art...?

Occasionally there have been threads devoted to fan art here, but I would also recommend the DeviantArt website to you. You can set up an account there to post fan art, and there are several LoK-related groups already there: lokclan is the largest. They're a nice community, and have been active for years, so there's plenty to see.

Nosgoth.net also has fan art, but Tenaya hasn't had the time to update the gallery with new submissions for a while.

[Inquisitor Lexy]

Originally Posted by Ardeth Silvereni

Occasionally there have been threads devoted to fan art here, but I would also recommend the DeviantArt website to you. You can set up an account there to post fan art, and there are several LoK-related groups already there: lokclan is the largest. They're a nice community, and have been active for years, so there's plenty to see.

Ah, I see, thanks. I just wondered if there were any particularly 'active' fan art threads on here. I already have a DeviantArt account and I think I am a member of lokclan... I think I submitted a few things there fairly recently, although I lose track of these things, and of what groups I belong to... having more than one account for fan art and one for my 'serious' stuff. (Art is my job, so... I sort of like to keep them apart. )

Nosgoth.net also has fan art, but Tenaya hasn't had the time to update the gallery with new submissions for a while.

Thanks. I was just quite curious what the devoted longtime members come up with if they made LoK fan art at all. I've been a fan of the SR series for what seems a very long time, but it's only recently I've made any fan art, just to kind of get my head away from serious stuff all the time... and it's always good to see what others have made too.

[The Hylden]

Yes, Deviant Art has the most active stuff. I'm working on a couple of paintings simultaneously right now to add to the thread I made for my own work, which is down the page a bit now. I'll make it "active" soon again, lol. Personal issues are making it take longer to complete these works, but I'm drudging along. If you wanted to make a thread and show off your stuff, that would be ok, too.

[Bazielim]

Thanks for all the kind words guys and thanks for the boost Ardeth - my FB likes just took a large jump

Originally Posted by Ardeth Silvereni

The wiki is looking fantastic, and its all thanks to the hard work of its editors. Baz, do you ever sleep?

I do have some 'interesting' sleep patterns, and I have been known to burn the candle at both ends - always "just one more level/article/reference" and suddenly the sun's already up. Ultimately, if I'm gonna have sleepless nights, I thought I'd better have some productive use for them

Originally Posted by The Hylden

It's a great resource also for pics, which I've used, and am using, when I do paintings of the series.

Cool I'd have to pass a lot of graphical credit to Corlagon who's been working sorting and organising our image galleries for some time. (much easier to find stuff now!) As with much of the rest of the site, it can only get better - I've got loads of images saved etc that I simply haven't really got appropriate pages for yet. I'm glad we can be useful for other fan-work and projects. As I say, more should pop up soon.

If anyone's interested, I think my next port-of-call (for me personally at least, and maybe after I've slept a few days) will be SR2 and I'll probably start with enemies - That Acid demon is looking at me funny

[Inquisitor Lexy]

Originally Posted by The Hylden

Yes, Deviant Art has the most active stuff. I'm working on a couple of paintings simultaneously right now to add to the thread I made for my own work, which is down the page a bit now. I'll make it "active" soon again, lol. Personal issues are making it take longer to complete these works, but I'm drudging along. If you wanted to make a thread and show off your stuff, that would be ok, too.

Cheers. I look forward to seeing your new works when you're ready to post them up.

[Bazielim]

Hi guys. We've recently celebrated our 5th Anniversary over at the Legacy of Kain Wiki; so it has now officially been 5 years since our first admin 'Zeromus' asked the inevitable question - "Why doesn't the Legacy of Kain have a wiki?" and the 'Legacy of Kain Wiki' was born. Fast-forward 5 years and there have been many changes and improvements - particularly within the last two and a half years - and we hope we're now well on the way to becoming a valued, reliable and recognised Legacy of Kain resource (that anyone can contribute to).

For some time, we have been hard at work behind the scenes for the Anniversary and have been rather secretive about what has been updated - and with the volume of things we have going on, it seems that we may have less of an "Anniversary Update" and more of an Anniversary Season, with many changes to be announced in quick succession over the next few weeks and months. We do have some quite special things planned for these updates, not all is completed yet and not all will be revealed just yet, so keep your eyes peeled as there is a lot more coming... Some of which could be very exciting...

Anyway, the time has now come for the first teasers of what has been going on, (though there will be much more to come later, and a lot of it is much more interesting). So without further ado, I give you our first offering of this ''Anniversary Season'' - the new Sixth Game article - a detailed run-down of the potential for a new game. Other touches that I can reveal now are that there are several reviews and improvements of existing articles under-way, with Mortanius our first to reach completion.

More will follow over the next few weeks

[Raina Audron]

Thanks for the update, Bazielim! I´ve read the article about DP yesterday, very nicely summarized.

[Bazielim]

Glad you like it, but I don't actually think the Dark Prophecy article itself has had much done since TheLostWorlds update - in fact it could now probably do with a link to TLW, thinking about it.
It's the general 'sixth game potential' article that's new... and a lot more I'm not saying yet

[Raina Audron]

I am sorry, I meant that article about "sixth game" looking forward to more news on wiki!

[Bazielim]

Apologies for delays in updating; there have been a few background reshuffles which have slowed progress a bit.

To begin with, some of our explanation and 'starting point' pages have been refreshed and updated - with the renewed Community Portal providing a starting point and 'Beginners guide', with an introduction to the site and the concept. The improved portal continues to link to some of the most useful explanatory pages of the wiki; with many links added, improved or themselves updated. Among these links is the new reworking of the Manual of Style, which provides a set of guidelines for content writing and a guide to writing pages, for both 'basic' and 'advanced' levels. We've also completely reworked our Referencing system to make it more streamlined and approachable (and make finishing articles much quicker) and we'll be applying these across pages in the near future.

With the background details out of the way, some of our articles can now take advantage of the revised system. First of these is the awe-inspiring article on Timelines; covering Crystal Dynamics' unique interpretation of temporal logic, and featuring several diagrams detailing the entire history of Nosgoth across several timelines. Other articles that have been completed include the pages for Soul Reaver 2 Factions - with the page for Demon hunters already completed, the major Faction articles dealing with the Sarafan brotherhood and Moebius's mercenary army have also been completed (but not updated to the new reference system yet).

more to come soon.