Knowledge Category

This article is Meta, and is not Canon.

Craedock's World Anvil site is undergoing a recategorization of all its articles. This is intended to help serve as a guide to RPG players and Gamemasters to determine what knowledge is or is not available to the Player Characters. Each article will fall into a knowledge category, based of the overall rarity of the knowledge and the geographic range of the knowledge. Information contained in any given article with a knowledge category listed should be limited in scope to PCs who would reasonably have access to lore of that rarity and from that region. It can also help GMs set the difficulty for skill checks related to knowledge contained within the article.
The Rarity categories from the least rare to the most rare are:

• Common
• Uncommon
• Limited
• Obscure
• Hidden
• Secret

The Range categories from the widest range to the smallest range are:

• Global
• Continental
• Regional
• Local
• Organizational
• Individual

An article and the lore it pertains to may have more than one category, the most common combination involving having different rarities for different ranges: a bit of lore may be Common Regional, but Obscure Global, or may be Uncommon Organizational, but Secret Global. If knowledge has no category of a particular range, then it is usually not known in that range except in highly unusual circumstances.
Additionally, knowledge categories may have tags. Tags can be anything, and give additional information on how the knowledge can be accessed.

Knowledge Rarity

Common

Common knowledge is just that, highly proliferated within the Range (see below). Knowledge of the Duotheism, for example, is Common Global: it is known to almost every sentient individual in Craedock unless that person has some reason not to know it, and should be introductory knowledge to any new players and their characters.
Knowledge can be Common, but limited in Range. Something that is Common Local might be known to everyone is a given town, but unknown to almost anyone who has never been to or spoken with anyone from that town.

Uncommon

Uncommon knowledge has no reason to be kept secret, is proliferated, but just isn't as important or interesting to most people, or just hasn't gotten around as much as Common knowledge. Anyone from its Range may be aware, but simply not everyone is. For example, knowledge of a small blacksmith's shop may be Uncommon Local, many people in that one city are aware of it, but maybe not a majority, or there's no reason that everyone would know about it. Knowledge of a particular religious text may be Uncommon Global, it's all over Craedock, but only somewhat more religious people tend to give it any attention.

Limited

Limited knowledge has some reason it is not wide spread. It may be technical, relating to distant history, mathematics, the arcane, or a particular craft, art, or trade. It may be a religious scripture that only those initiated into that faith would care to know about. Or it may simply be held in a library or museum.
An important note on Limited knowledge is that anyone can learn it. If the knowledge is held in a library, it is a public library. It might be a trade secret in a craftsmen's or artists' guild, one that anyone can join if they successfully apply or pay. Limited Global knowledge is found in many locations throughout the world, if you know how to get it. Limited Local knowledge is accessible only to those in the area who seek it out. Low level spells are typically Limited.

Obscure

Obscure knowledge is difficult to find. It might be highly specific or technical information, or simply just very, very rare. It might be that one key clue in a single book in a great library, taking hours, days, or weeks to uncover. Knowledge of a certain smelting process known only to master blacksmiths may be Obscure. How to cast a high level spell is typically Obscure.
Obscure is the last category of what could be considered 'public' knowledge, or knowledge that can be accessed without a great amount of effort, study, or priviledge.

Hidden

Hidden knowledge is removed from the world in some way. It might be found in the private collection of an art curator, locked behind the doors of a library's section of unlisted material, or unintentionally held within a dragon's horde. Lost knowledge also falls into this category: it may be found on the engravings of an ancient ruin, buried underneath desert sands, or only ever written in a journal locked deep in a treacherous dungeon. Uncovering Hidden knowledge should usually entail some sort of quest, mission, or sacrifice of time or resources.

Secret

Secret knowledge is actively, if not violently, protected by someone or something. While a book of Hidden lore might be a part of a dragon's horde, it becomes Secret when the dragon actively takes measures to protect that particular book. A new spell with great power may be kept in a lich's tome, guarded from all mortal eyes, and would be Secret. A Secret artifact could be held in a vault or citadel.
Global Secret knowledge might be discoverable from anywhere, such as a demon's hidden plan to create a portal on the moon might be uncoverable by an oracle or arcanist anywhere on Craedock via intense cosmological study or by invoking the demon's truename. Individual Secret knowledge might by the mayor's love affair. Local Secret knowledge might pertain to a trading village that is actually an Alienist cult but keeps it hidden from merchants and travellers.
The key difference between Hidden knowledge and Secret knowledge is that Secret knowledge is protected in some way, whereas Hidden knowledge is only lost in time or space or placed in a difficult to access location.

Knowledge Range

Global

Global knowledge is accessible from almost anywhere, but not necessarily everywhere, in Craedock. Lore may be Common Global, such as knowledge of the god and goddess, or of gravity. Global Obscure would be knowledge of Arcanosynthesis. Global Hidden knowledge might be a secret message encoded in a popular religious text. Regardless of rarity, Global knowledge can be found almost anywhere.

Continental

Continental knowledge pertains to a very wide area of land, specifically to the continents: Acronia, Poslool, Entrophion, Unitia, and Nevvalair. Knowledge of this range and below may be of one Rarity in its given region and a different Rarity outside of it.

Regional

Regional knowledge is limited to countries, territories, states, archipelagoes, or groups of settlements.

Local

Local knowledge is typically limited a single settlement, such as a city, village, town, or hamlet.

Organizational

Organizational knowledge is limited to a single, exclusive group. Societal groups such as tribes or clans may by Local or Organizational, depending on the size. Privileged groups, ones that require some sort of membership or initiation, such as guilds, academies, noble houses, cults, or churches, however, may keep Organizational knowledge.

Individual

Individual knowledge is limited to a single person or a very small handful of people, such as a couple, a group of close friends, a king with his advisors, or an adventuring party.

© Dylan Eugene Wheeler 2018
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