Wikipedia:WikiProject Warhammer 40,000/Inclusion Guidelines

Because of the changing nature of the Warhammer 40,000 game and fictional universe, combined with the wide variety of aspects the series encompasses (the games, books, computer games, etc), there will be times when sources conflict in the nature of the information they provide on a subject. To this end, this rough list will hopefully provide a guideline as to what 'trumps' what in regards to sources.

It should be noted that if the information conflict is on a relatively important subject, information regarding this conflict should be incorporated into the relevant article.

Canon 'list'

In conjunction with the lists below, the most recent information should be assumed to be correct in the case of contradictions. Comparing the publishing dates of the two sources should reveal which is more recent, therefore more canonical.

Fictional information

The current (or most recent) edition of the Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook, Codexes, and Games Workshop-published rules supplements (such as Chapter Approved). This includes background material from the Codexes.
The current (or most recent) edition of non-Games Workshop rules and supplements...
- produced by Games Workshop's sub-companies, Forge World and Specialist Games (formerly Fanatic) for the Warhammer 40,000 game.
- for the spin off games maintained via the Specialist Games website.
Fiction (novels and comics) published by Black Library.
Background books and material published by Games Workshop, either in compilation or via the White Dwarf magazine. An example of this criterion would be the Index Astartes series.
Background books published by Black Library.
Previous editions...
- of the Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook, Codexes, and Games Workshop rules supplements (except when discussing the history and development of the game).
- of non-Games Workshop rules supplements for the Warhammer 40,000 game (eg: Forge World's original Imperial Armour series).
- of the rulebooks and rules supplements for Warhammer 40,000 spin off games.
Novels and stories published before the creation of Black Library. Some of these stories have been re-released as part of compilation books by Black Library.
The Horus Heresy card game, and any associated works such as the "Visions of..." artbook series.

The "Warhammer 40K Fluff Bible" (available through most file-sharing programs as a text document) should not be considered a valid source, as although a lot of the content originated from Rogue Trader-era and 2nd Edition-era materials, there is a significant amount of fancruft and fan speculation contained within the document. The ad-hoc structure of the document makes it difficult to tell 'fact' from fiction, and the original sources (when used) are not listed or mentioned.

Army/Character/Game analysis

Meta-information from the rulebooks and Codexes (eg: author's commentaries published within the rulebook, "Why Collect A Insert Army Here?" introductions from the various Codexes, etc).
"Designer's Notes" articles published in White Dwarf Magazine. These will most often be written at the same time a new Codex is published, and can be found either in the WD issue released at the same time as the Codex, or (in rare cases) in the subsequent month's issue. On occasion, these will later be made available on the Games Workshop website.
Information taken from external, sourced commentaries should be alright, providing references are made and the information is provided in addition to information taken from one or both of the above.

Main page

The "Notable figures" section on the main Warhammer 40,000 page should be limited to only The Emperor, Horus (the two characters who have done the most to influence the current state of the Galaxy), Abaddon the Despoiler and Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, the primary antagonists of the two most recent worldwide player campaigns, and Eldrad Ulthran, the most significant Eldar special character.

Army pages

In general, characters should be mentioned in a "Notable characters" (or equivalent) section of a Warhammer 40,000 army (Space Marine Chapter, Chaos Space Marine Legion or other army) page only if they meet one of the following criteria

They have their own official special rules (published in a rulebook or Codex) allowing their use as a 'special character' within the Warhammer 40,000 game.
Games Workshop have produced a special Warhammer 40,000 miniature for the character.
They are a major character in a major series (trilogy or greater) of Black Library novels (eg Ibram Gaunt from Gaunt's Ghosts). Characters from more minor novels should be mentioned in the article(s) on the novels themselves.
They are a major character in an official computer game (eg La'Kais). Again, minor characters from a game should be mentioned in the article(s) on the games themselves.
They are the current Chapter Master of a Space Marine chapter.

Location

The usual Wikipedia criteria for determining whether any article should have their own page or be a section in the army page should be applied: ie if there is sufficient reliably sourced material to produce a reasonable length standalone article, then create an article. If not, create a section within the army page for the character.

Notes and comments

Notes and comments should be placed on the talk page. Changes are welcomed, but any major changes should be accompanied with a reason provided on the talk page.