Definition of Canon
Canon is a collection of mythology taken to be true. The word has been used in the past to refer to "religious canon," whatever set of documents a religion counts as scripture. In Star Trek (and science fiction in general) role playing, canon is extremely important because it makes up the background of the role playing environment. What is and is not canon determines what elements of a universe are "accepted" by the role playing organization.
Novus follows a three-source canon. It is unique in that it has its own collection of mythology, referred to as the Novus Canon, which comprises all past events in the role playing envrionment. All events and characters in Novus fall into the Novus Canon.
The sources in the Novus canon are as follows:
- The Novus Canon, the in-character portions of this wiki as well as all character bios.
- Accepted Star Trek publications, such as technical manuals.
- Episodes and movies themselves.
Because of the difficulty in collecting these sources, players are encouraged to use the Memory Alpha Wiki for research purposes.
Mythology Conflicts
Because of the size of Star Trek, there are often conflicts within its own canon. The problem is made worse by the inclusion of our own mythology, which sometimes adds to or modifies events in canon. Therefore, the following rules govern specifically which mythology takes precedence.
- The Novus Canon takes precedence over all other sources.
- Publications take precedence over episodes and movies.
- Newer publications take precedence over older publications.
- Extended-universe sources may be used at the GM's discretion.
- The GM is always right.
Alternate Universes
If a ship goes to an alternate universe with an established canon (ie, Star Wars), the GM may define what is canon. The above rules apply only to Universe Prime.
