BattleIntelligence:Manual of Style/Titles and positions

Purpose

Titles and positions pages on BattleIntelligence are designed as a place to list all the characters who have had the title or position indicated in the article title. The style guidelines on this page aim to give these pages a consistent appearance and utility function.

These not not intended to be full articles in the way a character or system page might be. They are a sort of "connective tissue" that helps organize information clearly for readers and promotes succinctness on the pages where it is used.

Page naming

When possible, the page is named exactly after the title, rank, or position as seen in its canon source(s), such as {{Coordinator of Worlds}} and {{Director of the Naval Command}}. If it is found in sources written multiple ways, the more common presentation should be chosen with the most recent publication being a major consideration.

However, there are times when the position is not spelled out in full and is inferred by similar positions. This is typically the case for planetary governors and corporate CEOs. If an official canon name is not available, Editors should review existing precedent in choosing an appropriate page name. For example, {{Duke of Hesperus II}} is identified across sources with "II" in the title and thus the page has been created the same way, but usually planets and systems do not need to include Roman numerals in the page name.

When there are both male and female spellings of a title (duke/duchess, baron/baroness, Mandrinn/Mandrissa, etc.), BattleIntelligence defaults to the male spelling. This is mostly owing to the fact that hereditary titles in BattleTech are often (but not always) passed down through the male line. When a female holder for a given title exists, a page is set up as a redirect to the male spelling. (e.g. {{Duchess of Arcturus}})

Introductory line

The opening sentence functions as a description of the title, rank, or position. The page title is often presented in bold—never in quotes—and italicized only if required to conform to standard writing conventions or BattleIntelligence's Manual of Style. The associated state, planet, or organization should also be provided and linked.

The position of Director-General of the Terran Hegemony was the post held by the ruler of the Terran Hegemony.

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The post of Chief Executive Officer of Apple Computers Interstellar is given to the person responsible for managing the corporation.

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The Caesar of the Marian Hegemony is the administrative leader of Marian Hegemony.

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The position of Khan is the military leader of Clan Smoke Jaguar.

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The title of Mandrinn (or Mandrissa) of Sarna is granted to the noble ruler of Sarna III.

Though the wording may vary, ideally it's best to stay consistent with others of the same title, rank, or position type.

History section

Additional description or an optional History section may be included if there is information on the name, origin, functions, or power of the position itself. This is not intended as a place to narrate those who held the position but may include such characters when relevant.

(Caesar of the Marian Hegemony)
Prior to Sean O'Reilly's ascension in 3048, the position was called Imperator. This is separate from the rank of Imperator, which Julius O'Reilly reintroduced to denote the commander of the Marian Hegemony Armed Forces.

(CEO of Golden Star Entertainment Group)
The position was titled "Division Head" when the company was a division of Interconnectedness Unlimited between 3013–3034.

Further examples: {{First Prince of the Federated Suns}} and {{Commanding General of the Star League Defense Force}}

List of characters

The main feature of the page is the list of known characters that have held the title, rank, or position throughout BattleTech canon. The base template is as follows:

  ==List of [page name]==
  {| class="wikitable"
  |- 
  ! scope="col" width="175" style="background: #dedede;" | Name
  ! scope="col" width="150" style="background: #dedede;" | Reign
  |-
  | [[character]]||[[year]] – [[year]]<ref name=citation1>''source 1'', p. x: "section name"</ref>
  |-
  | [[character]]||[[year]]<ref name=citation2>''source 2'', p. x: "section name"</ref>
  |-
  |}

• The section header always uses the page's plural title. So for {{Captain-General of the Free Worlds League}}, it would be "List of Captains-General of the Free Worlds League." Corporation pages are an exception, which for the sake of length, abbreviate Chief Executive Officer: "List of CEOs of [company name]."
• The width of the Name and Reign columns default at 175 and 150, respectively, but may be adjusted as needed. For example, {{Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth}} adjusted the Name column to 200 in order to accommodate double surnames.
• The character's name should be the same as its BattleIntelligence page name. It should not be piped to include a nickname, or abbreviated to avoid repeating a common last name.
• When placeholders for nameless characters are needed, they are italicized and unlinked. (e.g. {{Baronet of Timkovichi}})
• Only the year or range of years that can be clearly determined from source material should be entered into the Reign column. Reasonable assumptions do not qualify as evidence; Editors wanting to provide comments can do so in the page's Notes section.
• Year ranges are separated by a spaced en dash (–).
• Approximate year(s) are acceptable in some situations. Circa is abbreviated as c. or ca., decades can be written as 3080s (or early/mid/late 3080s), and some short words such as by, before, and after are permissible. Anything more elaborate, including eras or approximate year ranges, should be left out and better explained in the Notes section.
• Citations are required for all entries and are added after the year or year range. More that one citation may be needed if the character's full reign is not stated in a single source.
• Listing a character without any information in the Reign column is not uncommon, and the citation can stand by itself. (e.g. {{CEO of Di Tron Heavy Industries}})
• All characters and specific years in the table should be linked with the double brackets on each end (e.g. [[3025]]). Repeat listings can omit the link.

For example, {{First Consul of the Rim Worlds Republic}}:

Name	Reign
Heather Durant	c. 2400 – 2463
Terens Amaris	2463 – 2488
Terens' son	2544
Gregory Amaris	2544 – 2599

Sections

Sometimes the name of a title or position changes slightly, or there is a need to group the characters a certain way. Sections within the table allow Editors to better organize the list. To create them, copy the line found between the two character lines in the below template.

  ==List of [page name]==
  {| class="wikitable"
  |- 
  ! scope="col" width="175" style="background: #dedede;" | Name
  ! scope="col" width="150" style="background: #dedede;" | Reign
  |-
  | [[character]]||[[year]] – [[year]]<ref name=citation1>''source 1'', p. x: "section name"</ref>
  |-
  | colspan="2" style="background: #efefef;" | '''table section name'''
  |-
  | [[character]]||[[year]]<ref name=citation2>''source 2'', p. x: "section name"</ref>
  |-
  |}

For example, {{CEO of Alphard Trading Corporation}}:

Name	Reign
Marian Hegemony Subsidiary
Johann O'Reilly	2923
Livia O'Reilly	3050 – 3076
Taurian Concordat Subsidiary
Bruce Magliozzi	3067

Additional tables

On rare occasions, if the name of the title or position has been subject to significant enough changes that sections don't feel appropriate, an second table might be a reasonable solution.

Examples: {{CEO of Victory Industries}}, {{Division Head of Ryan Iceships}}, and {{CEO of Golden Star Entertainment Group}}

Apocryphal characters

In situations where an apocryphal character is included in a list, the cell background is shaded yellow. A code is added at the beginning of the line for the character in question:

  ==List of [page name]==
  {| class="wikitable"
  |- 
  ! scope="col" width="175" style="background: #dedede;" | Name
  ! scope="col" width="150" style="background: #dedede;" | Reign
  |-
  |style = "background: #ffffcc"| [[character]]||[[year]] – [[year]]<ref name=citation1>''source 1'', p. x: "section name"</ref>
  |-
  |}

For example, {{Duke of Kentares IV}}:

Name	Reign
Eric Dresari	3062
William Dresari	3062 – 3063
Ian Dresari	3063

Notes section

Consistent with its typical uses across BattleIntelligence, an optional Notes section is added when it is necessary to clarify or explain information that cannot fit in the table. For example, there is currently no one identified as having been the {{Duke of Zanderij}}, but the title is known to exist so the page has been created nonetheless. Sometimes there is conflicting information, such as with {{CEO of Ceres Metals Industries}}. Here, the discrepancy is documented so that readers are not confused, perhaps believing an Editor had been in error.

Other reasons for having a Notes section might include mentioning an era or time period when a character or family held the position (as seen in the Ceres Metals example), or for justifying why someone was added to the list when it might not be clear otherwise, as is the case for {{CEO of Earthwerks Limited}}. Sometimes, such as for {{Khan of Clan Smoke Jaguar}}, the explanation is for why a character wasn't included.

References and Bibliography

These two sections are added near the bottom of the page in accordance with BattleIntelligence's citation guidelines.

Further information: BattleIntelligence:Manual of Style/References

Tags and categorization

After the Bibliography section, the following code is added:

 __FORCETOC__

This forces the Table of Contents to appear on the page if there are less than four headers. Even when it is not necessary due to the inclusion of History or Notes sections, it's best to keep it in case the page is later formatted differently.

At the bottom of the page is the category tag. The page will have one of the following:

 [[Category:Noble Titles and Awards]]
 [[Category:Military Ranks]]
 [[Category:Political and Government Posts]]
 [[Category:Corporate CEOs|company name]]
 [[Category:Religious Leaders]]
 [[Category:Titles and Positions]]

Note that for Corporate CEOs, it will need to be piped using a vertical bar (|) followed by the company name. This allows the page to be sorted by the name of the company rather than by "CEO" or "President," which is likely to be the first word for most of those pages.

See also

• Category:Titles and Positions