• Overview
  • Map
  • Areas
  • Points of Interest
  • Characters
  • Races
  • Classes
  • Factions
  • Monsters
  • Items
  • Spells
  • Feats
  • Quests
  • One-Shots
  • Game Master
  1. The Shattered Imperium
  3. Lore

Using This Lore Library

The Purpose of the Lore Library

The Shattered Imperium lore library provides the wider knowledge Franz needs to portray the 41st Millennium consistently.

Lore pages explain subjects such as:

  • The Imperium of Man

  • The Eye of Terror

  • The Cadian Gate

  • The Warp

  • Chaos

  • Xenos civilizations

  • Imperial institutions

  • Daily life

  • Technology

  • Campaign history

  • World rules

  • Major conflicts

  • Social and religious customs

Lore pages should answer broad questions and explain how parts of the setting relate to one another.

They should not replace the individual entries used to run locations, characters, monsters, items, factions, quests, and player options.

Lore Pages and Structured Entries

Information belongs in a lore page when it explains a broad subject that may apply across several locations or adventures.

Examples include:

  • Why Cadia is strategically important

  • How Warp travel functions

  • What the Imperial Creed teaches

  • How the Inquisition is organized

  • Why the Adeptus Mechanicus treats machines as sacred

  • How Chaos corruption affects societies

  • What life is like in a hive city

Information belongs in a structured Friends & Fables entry when it describes a specific game element.

Use a:

  • Map for a visual geographic or strategic layout

  • Area for a large location containing at least one POI

  • Point of Interest for a specific playable location

  • Faction for an organized group with goals and influence

  • Character for an important NPC or player character

  • Race for a playable species or biological type

  • Class for a broad character role and progression

  • Spell for a psychic, supernatural, technological, or faith-based ability

  • Feat for a specialized talent or improvement

  • Item for weapons, armor, tools, relics, and equipment

  • Monster for a creature or hostile combatant

  • Quest for an objective, conflict, investigation, or adventure

Areas and Points of Interest

Areas are large locations.

An Area may represent:

  • A planet

  • A region

  • A city

  • A hive

  • A voidship

  • A space station

  • A fortress

  • A district

  • A wasteland

  • A battlefield front

Every Area should contain at least one Point of Interest.

A Point of Interest is a specific location where play can occur. It should offer opportunities for exploration, conversation, investigation, rest, trade, danger, or combat.

Examples include:

  • A gatehouse

  • A tavern

  • A shrine

  • A command bunker

  • A market

  • A laboratory

  • A prison

  • A ruin

  • A battlefield

  • A ship compartment

  • A fortress chamber

A planet should not be entered only as a single POI. It should normally be an Area containing regions, settlements, and playable locations.

Avoiding Duplication

The same full description should not be copied into several entries.

A lore page may explain the history and importance of Cadia. The Cadia Area entry should then focus on its geography, government, travel, dangers, contained POIs, and current faction control.

The Gate of Arrival POI should describe the gate itself, its layout, occupants, services, encounters, and secrets.

The Cadian Shock Troops faction entry should describe their organization, beliefs, territory, leadership, resources, and relationship with player characters.

Each entry should contain the information needed for its own purpose.

Related material should be connected through brief cross-references.

Player-Facing and GM-Only Information

Player-facing information includes facts that characters could reasonably learn through common knowledge, education, travel, public records, or ordinary observation.

GM-only information includes:

  • Hidden conspiracies

  • Secret faction influence

  • Unrevealed motives

  • False public histories

  • Future plans

  • Undiscovered locations

  • Hidden encounters

  • Quest solutions

  • Private NPC loyalties

  • Secret alternate-history consequences

A page may contain both types of information when they are clearly separated.

Player-facing sections should not accidentally reveal GM-only material.

When a secret becomes public during play, the related entry and Campaign Records should be updated.

Cross-References

Every page or structured entry should identify its strongest relationships.

Useful cross-references include:

  • Related Areas

  • Related POIs

  • Related Factions

  • Related Characters

  • Related Items

  • Related Monsters

  • Related Quests

  • Related lore pages

Cross-references should direct Franz toward useful information without repeating full descriptions.

Only directly relevant entries should be listed. Excessive references make retrieval harder.

Faction Information

Areas and POIs may be assigned a faction when control or influence is meaningful.

The main faction field should normally identify the faction with the greatest practical control over the location.

Written sections should separately identify:

  • Controlling faction

  • Occupying faction

  • Contested factions

  • Publicly recognized authority

  • Hidden faction influence

  • Stability of control

Locations that are truly independent, neutral, abandoned, or uncontrolled should not receive a faction merely to fill the field.

Every faction must use its approved hexadecimal map color consistently.

Keeping Lore Current

The campaign will change through play.

When the players alter an important location, faction, relationship, or historical event, the relevant entry should be updated.

Examples include:

  • A settlement changes control

  • A faction leader dies

  • A POI is destroyed

  • A secret cult is exposed

  • A new alliance forms

  • A relic changes ownership

  • Cadia’s expected fate changes

  • A player-created organization gains territory

Campaign history should take priority over unchanged canon once a difference has been established.

Outdated information should be revised or marked as historical rather than silently left in place.

How Franz Should Use the Library

Franz should retrieve the most specific relevant entry first.

For example:

  • Use a POI entry to run a scene inside that location.

  • Use an Area entry to describe travel and regional conditions.

  • Use a Faction entry to determine goals, authority, and reactions.

  • Use a Character entry to portray an NPC.

  • Use an Item entry for equipment rules.

  • Use a Monster entry for combat statistics.

  • Use a Quest entry for objectives and consequences.

  • Use lore pages when broader historical or cultural context is needed.

Franz should not invent details that directly contradict approved entries.

When information is missing, Franz may improvise details that fit the established setting and record important additions afterward.

Adding New Material

New content should build upon established lore rather than replace it without explanation.

Before creating a new entry:

  1. Check whether a related entry already exists.

  2. Identify where the new information belongs.

  3. Review relevant faction colors and location control.

  4. Separate public information from secrets.

  5. Confirm that the new material fits the campaign timeline.

  6. Check whether mechanics match D&D 5e expectations.

  7. Add cross-references.

  8. Create the correct thumbnail prompt.

  9. Record deliberate homebrew or alternate-history changes.

  10. Note any contradictions requiring approval.

New material should make the world easier to run, not harder to search.

The lore library provides context.

The structured entries provide the pieces used during play.

Together, they allow Franz to portray one connected, changing galaxy.