Schema

"Name a thing properly and it stays where you put it. Name it twice and it walks off."

The data dictionary for the Cadwallon vault. This is the authoritative spec for YAML frontmatter (Obsidian Properties) and the Dataview queries built on top of it. Cadwallon/00 Reference/Reference governs prose and house style; this file governs metadata. Conversion Notes governs Daggerheart mechanics. Keep the three concerns in their three files.

Every populated note carries frontmatter that conforms to exactly one type below. Conform to the schema; don't invent fields. If a note genuinely needs a field that doesn't exist here, add it to this file first, then use it — so it stays queryable.

---

Conventions (apply to all frontmatter)

• Field names are kebab-case — ruling-house, faction-type, never rulingHouse or Ruling House.
• Links are unquoted wikilinks — write fief: [The Rampart](<../02 City/Fiefs/The Rampart.md>), not fief: "[The Rampart](<../02 City/Fiefs/The Rampart.md>)". Unquoted, Obsidian stores it as a real Link property (clickable, rename-aware) and Dataview reads it as a Link object you can filter and group on. Quoting turns it into a plain string.
• Multi-value link fields are YAML lists, one link per line:
  

  faction:
    - [Court of Shadows](<../04 Factions/Other Organizations/Court of Shadows.md>)
    - [Acheron](<../01 World/Nations/Acheron.md>)
  

  
  Never cram several links into one value (faction: "[[A]] / [[B]] (origin)" is unqueryable).
• Values are atomic — one fact per field, no parenthetical annotations. Put nuance in the body, not the property. If a character's allegiance "depends," that's a body sentence, not a frontmatter value.
• Dates are bare integer years AF — date: 900, not "900" or 900 AF. This lets Dataview sort and compare numerically. (See Calendar for the dating system.)
• Enums are lowercase — exposure: secret, tier: lower, completeness: stub.
• Prose strings get quotes only when YAML needs them (a value containing : or starting with [). Plain words don't.

---

Universal fields

Every note may carry these. type is required; the rest default as noted.

Field	Values	Default	Meaning
type	one of the controlled vocabulary below	— (required)	What kind of note this is. Drives every FROM/WHERE.
title	free text	—	Display name, written only by the web editor (/admin/) when it creates a new page; it becomes the file name. Existing notes don't need it — the H1 and file name carry the name. Optional.
exposure	public | rumored | secret	public	In-world knowledge tier. secret = GM-only; the GM-index queries key off this.
canon	core | homebrew	core	Source of truth. core = drawn from PHB / Secrets / Marine Ruins. homebrew = our table's invention or override (authoritative per Cadwallon/00 Reference/Reference#Canon Hierarchy).
completeness	stub | draft | complete	draft	Build state of the note itself. Lets us query "what still needs writing."
tags	list	—	Cross-cutting facets that aren't a type (e.g. rag-narok, desire-waking, arcana). Optional.
aliases	list	—	Alternate names so wikilinks and search resolve. Optional but encouraged for anything with in-world variant names.

status vs completeness vs canon

These three were all crammed into status historically. They are now distinct:
canon = where it came from · completeness = how finished the note is · status = the thing's in-world condition (only on types that have one — see below).

---

The type vocabulary

Seventeen types across the eight content folders plus reference and campaign. Each section gives the type's extra fields and a paste-ready template (universal fields included).

Meta & reference

moc — map of content / directory note

Index notes that orient and link out (Nations.md, Districts.md, Fiefs.md, Factions.md, Cultures.md, People.md, Underground.md, Cosmology.md, all Homebrew.md indexes, Houses of Peers.md, Campaign.md).

---
type: moc
exposure: public
---

reference — style / meta / conversion docs

The 00 Reference/ working docs: Cadwallon/00 Reference/Reference, Glossary, Calendar, Conversion Notes, and this file.

---
type: reference
exposure: public
---

01 World

nation — foreign powers of Aarklash

Field	Values	Meaning
alliance	Ways of Light | Meanders of Darkness | Paths of Destiny | neutral	Bloc membership (The Three Alliances). Proper-case — it's a named entity.
culture	totem name (e.g. Stag, Lion, Rat)	The nation's totem-culture.
race	free text	Dominant people.
embassy	[[District]] link | none	Where (if anywhere) it keeps an embassy in Cadwallon.

---
type: nation
alliance: Meanders of Darkness
culture: Stag
race: human (living-dead)
embassy: none
exposure: public
canon: core
completeness: complete
aliases: ["Acheron", "The living-dead of Acheron"]
---

place — geography & physical locations (not fiefs/districts/delve-sites)

The continent, harbors, forts, edge-features, city-overview pieces (Aarklash, The Outskirts, Kraken Harbor, Shipwreck Bay, Fort Griffin, The Watching Tower, Immobilis, Tractor, Wall of Earth, etc.).

Field	Values	Meaning
region	free text or [[link]]	Where it sits (continent, fief, beyond the walls). Optional.
controlled-by	[[faction]] / [[character]]	Who holds it, if anyone. Optional.

---
type: place
region: Aarklash
exposure: public
canon: core
completeness: complete
---

concept — lore & metaphysical abstractions

Non-physical, non-divine ideas: The Three Alliances, The Rag'narok, Cadwë Dream, The 22 Arcana, Mana & Magic, Incarnates, the mechanics of Desire's dreaming, etc.

---
type: concept
exposure: secret
canon: core
completeness: complete
---

deity — gods

Desire, Conscience, Maloth, Vile-Tis, Vortiris, Yllia.

Field	Values	Meaning
alliance	as nation | none	Cosmic alignment, where one applies. Optional.
domain	free text	What the god is of (desire, conscience, the moon, slaughter). Optional.

---
type: deity
domain: desire
exposure: secret
canon: core
completeness: complete
---

02 City

fief — the eleven fiefdoms

Field	Values	Meaning
tier	lower | upper	Lower or upper city.
ruling-house	[[faction]] link	The house note (type faction, faction-type: house).
peer	[[character]] link (or list, for joint peerages)	The ruling Peer(s).

---
type: fief
tier: lower
ruling-house: [Houses of Peers](<../04 Factions/Houses of Peers.md>)
peer: [Bismuth von Kraken of Odazzur](<../05 People/Bismuth von Kraken of Odazzur.md>)
exposure: public
canon: core
completeness: complete
---

district — districts within fiefs

Field	Values	Meaning
fief	[[Fief]] link	Parent fief (authoritative).
tier	lower | upper	Inherited from the fief, stored for direct query.
attitude	Style | Subtlety | Opportunism | Pugnacity | ...	The PHB "dominant attitude" of the district, where one is given. Optional.

---
type: district
fief: [The Rampart](<../02 City/Fiefs/The Rampart.md>)
tier: lower
attitude: Pugnacity
exposure: public
canon: core
completeness: stub
---

03 Cultures

culture — peoples & ancestries

All of 03 Cultures/, canonical and homebrew alike. The old type: people is retired; homebrew ancestries are type: culture + canon: homebrew.

Field	Values	Meaning
origin	native | immigrant | created | ancient	How they came to be on the peninsula. Optional.
size	small | medium | large	If a Daggerheart ancestry size has been assigned. Optional; mechanics live in Conversion Notes.
alliance	as nation	If the people maps to a totem-culture bloc. Optional.

---
type: culture
origin: native
size: large
exposure: public
canon: homebrew
completeness: complete
aliases: ["Firbolg", "Firbolgs", "The Quiet Folk", "Grove-keepers"]
---

04 Factions

faction — every organized body

Guilds, free leagues, noble houses, the Militia, and other orders/networks. The old guild / faction / organization types collapse into this one, distinguished by faction-type.

Field	Values	Meaning
faction-type	guild | free-league | house | militia | order | network	The kind of organization.
hq	[[District]] / [[site]] link	Seat of operations. Optional.
sphere	list	What they do/control (theft, smuggling, law-enforcement). Optional.
leader	[[character]] link	Current head, where known. Optional.
status	active | ascendant | declining | defunct | hidden	In-world condition. Optional.

---
type: faction
faction-type: guild
hq: [Morgue Street](<../02 City/Districts/Soma/Morgue Street.md>)
sphere:
  - theft
  - smuggling
  - black-market
leader: 
status: active
exposure: public
canon: core
completeness: complete
---

05 People

character — NPCs

Field	Values	Meaning
faction	[[faction]] link or list	Allegiance(s). List if more than one.
location	[[fief]] / [[district]] / [[site]] link	Where they're usually found (single link — no prose).
ancestry	[[culture]] link	Their people. Optional.
role	free text	Title or function (Peer, Constable, King of Ashes). Optional.
status	alive | dead | undead | missing | cursed	In-world life-state.

---
type: character
faction:
  - [Court of Shadows](<../04 Factions/Other Organizations/Court of Shadows.md>)
  - [Acheron](<../01 World/Nations/Acheron.md>)
location: [Court of Ashes](<../08 Underground/Court of Ashes.md>)
ancestry: 
role: King of Ashes
status: cursed
exposure: secret
canon: core
completeness: complete
---

06 History

history — historical events

Field	Values	Meaning
date	integer year AF	When it happened. Sortable. Use the earliest year for multi-year events.
era	elder | lost-city | free-city	Which era (Cadwallon/06 History/Timeline's three buckets).

---
type: history
date: 900
era: free-city
exposure: public
canon: core
completeness: complete
---

timeline — the chronology index

Just Cadwallon/06 History/Timeline itself. Behaves like a moc but kept distinct so it never sweeps into moc directory queries.

---
type: timeline
exposure: public
---

07 Cosmology & Magic

Uses concept and deity (above). No folder-specific type.

08 Underground

site — delve locations & underground features

The Sewers, Court of Ashes, The Labyrinth, Marine Ruins, the vestiges, etc. Distinct from surface place because these are the dungeon-crawl layer.

Field	Values	Meaning
layer	surface | shallow | deep | labyrinth	Depth band of the underground stack.
access	[[district]] / [[place]] link or list	Where you get in from. Optional.

---
type: site
layer: shallow
access:
  - [Gamehead](<../02 City/Fiefs/Gamehead.md>)
  - [Drakaër](<../02 City/Fiefs/Drakaër.md>)
exposure: public
canon: core
completeness: complete
---

09 Campaign

pc — player characters

A mechanics-light identity note, distinct from character (NPC) so the party never mixes into NPC rosters. It captures the durable build — who they are and what they play. Live state (current HP, Stress, Hope, gold, trait scores) is not stored here; that stays on the app or paper sheet. Narrative lives in the body — see the Player Character template in Cadwallon/00 Reference/Reference#Templates.

Heritage in Daggerheart is ancestry + community. This table splits community into the Cadwallon belonging (community, a link into the vault) and the core archetype it maps onto (community-archetype).

Field	Values	Meaning
player	free text	Who plays them.
pronouns	free text	—
ancestry	[[culture]] link; a list of two for mixed ancestry	Their people, linked to the culture notes (core or homebrew). Daggerheart mixed-ancestry characters list both.
community	[[fief]] / [[culture]] / [[faction]] link	The Cadwallon community they belong to (per Conversion Notes' community mapping).
community-archetype	Highborne | Loreborne | Orderborne | Ridgeborne | Seaborne | Slyborne | Underborne | Wanderborne | Wildborne (or homebrew)	The core Daggerheart community the Cadwallon one maps onto.
class	any class in Daggerheart Content — the 9 core plus the Void classes (Assassin, Bloodhunter, Brawler, Warlock, Witch)	DH class. Free-text so playtest/homebrew classes fit.
subclass	free text (see Daggerheart Content for each class's options)	The chosen subclass.
domains	list of two, from the eleven in Daggerheart Content: the nine core (Arcana…Valor) plus the Void Blood and Dread	The class's two domains; usually fixed by the class. Lets you query who can reach a given domain.
level	integer 1–10	Current level. Tier is derived (1 → T1, 2–4 → T2, 5–7 → T3, 8–10 → T4), so query on level — tier stays reserved for fiefs/districts.
status	active | retired | dead | guest	In-play state.
transformation	Vampire | Werewolf | Reanimated | Shapeshifter | Ghost | Demigod	A Void Transformation augmenting the character, if any. Optional.
image	[[Portrait.png]] link	Character portrait, stored in 09 Campaign/Characters/Portraits/. Embed it in the body with ![[Portrait.png]]. Optional.

Conventions for this type

Proper-noun values (class, domains, community-archetype, and totem culture on nations) keep their capitalization; only the lowercase-style enums (status, exposure) are lowercased. canon is omitted for PCs — a player creation isn't core-vs-homebrew lore. Numeric build stats (traits, Evasion, thresholds, Proficiency) are deliberately absent: this is the identity note, not the play sheet.

---
type: pc
player: 
pronouns: 
ancestry: [Drakona](<../03 Cultures/Homebrew/Drakona.md>)
community: [Drakaër](<../02 City/Fiefs/Drakaër.md>)
community-archetype: Highborne
class: Sorcerer
subclass: 
domains:
  - Arcana
  - Midnight
level: 1
status: active
image: 
exposure: public
aliases: []
---

thread — plot threads

Field	Values	Meaning
status	open | active | resolved | dormant	Where the thread stands.
stakes	free text	One line: what's at risk. Optional.
related	list of [[links]]	NPCs/fiefs/sites the thread touches. Optional.

---
type: thread
status: active
stakes: Desire is waking and the city doesn't know
related:
  - [Desire](<../07 Cosmology & Magic/Desire.md>)
  - [Coiling Emissaries](<../07 Cosmology & Magic/Coiling Emissaries.md>)
exposure: secret
---

session — session logs

Field	Values	Meaning
date	real-world date YYYY-MM-DD	When you played.
session-number	integer	Sequence.
present	list	Who attended. Optional.

---
type: session
date: 2026-06-02
session-number: 1
exposure: public
---

---

Dataview cookbook

Paste these into any note (inside a ```dataview fence). They run in Obsidian's reader view — they can't be executed from outside Obsidian. this.file.link refers to the note the query lives in, which is how the per-fief and per-faction blocks self-populate.

Folder filters are vault-root-relative

This vault's root is the TTRPG folder, with Cadwallon/ as a subfolder — so every folder path takes the prefix: FROM "Cadwallon/05 People", not FROM "05 People". A missing prefix returns an empty table, not an error. (If the Cadwallon wiki ever becomes its own vault, drop the Cadwallon/ prefix everywhere.)

Everything still to write (build backlog):

```dataview
TABLE type, completeness, file.folder AS "Folder"
FROM "Cadwallon"
WHERE completeness = "stub" OR completeness = "draft"
SORT file.folder ASC
```

The GM index — every secret in the vault:

```dataview
TABLE type, exposure
FROM "Cadwallon"
WHERE exposure = "secret" OR exposure = "rumored"
SORT type ASC
```

All homebrew (the authoritative overrides):

```dataview
TABLE type, file.folder AS "Folder"
FROM "Cadwallon"
WHERE canon = "homebrew"
SORT type ASC, file.name ASC
```

Nations grouped by alliance:

```dataview
TABLE culture, race, embassy
FROM "Cadwallon/01 World/Nations"
WHERE type = "nation"
GROUP BY alliance
```

Districts of this fief (paste into each fief note — self-filters):

```dataview
TABLE tier, attitude, completeness
FROM "Cadwallon"
WHERE type = "district" AND fief = this.file.link
SORT attitude ASC
```

Everyone who belongs to this faction (paste into each faction note):

```dataview
TABLE role, location, status
FROM "Cadwallon"
WHERE type = "character" AND contains(faction, this.file.link)
SORT file.name ASC
```

NPCs by fief (a master roster):

```dataview
TABLE location AS "Found in", faction AS "Allegiance", status
FROM "Cadwallon/05 People"
WHERE type = "character"
SORT location ASC
```

The history timeline, sorted:

```dataview
TABLE date AS "Year AF", era
FROM "Cadwallon/06 History"
WHERE type = "history"
SORT date ASC
```

Open plot threads:

```dataview
TABLE status, stakes
FROM "Cadwallon/09 Campaign"
WHERE type = "thread" AND status != "resolved"
SORT status ASC
```

The party roster (paste into Cadwallon/09 Campaign/Party):

```dataview
TABLE ancestry AS "Ancestry", community AS "Of", row["community-archetype"] AS "Archetype", class, level, status
FROM "Cadwallon/09 Campaign"
WHERE type = "pc"
SORT level DESC, file.name ASC
```

Hyphenated field names in DQL

Dataview reads a bare community-archetype as subtraction (community minus archetype). Any kebab-case field must be accessed as row["community-archetype"] in a TABLE/WHERE/SORT expression — same for ruling-house, faction-type, etc. Plain non-hyphenated fields (class, level, status, fief) need no brackets.

Underground by depth:

```dataview
TABLE layer, access
FROM "Cadwallon/08 Underground"
WHERE type = "site"
SORT layer ASC
```

Orphans — notes nothing links to (find the disconnected):

```dataview
LIST
FROM "Cadwallon"
WHERE length(file.inlinks) = 0 AND type != "moc" AND type != "reference"
SORT file.name ASC
```

Schema drift detector — notes missing a type:

```dataview
LIST
FROM "Cadwallon"
WHERE !type
```

dataviewjs for the harder questions

Anything needing computed columns, multi-hop link-walking, or custom grouping (e.g. "NPCs whose faction is declining") wants a dataviewjs block instead of plain DQL. Ask and one can be written for the specific view.

---

Where existing notes deviate (migration targets)

The vault predates this schema, so most notes need normalizing. The recurring fixes:

• type: people → type: culture (canonical cultures)
• type: guild / type: organization → type: faction + a faction-type
• type: concept on gods → type: deity; on geography (e.g. Aarklash) → type: place
• status: stub → completeness: stub; status: homebrew → canon: homebrew; status: alive stays as status (in-world)
• quoted links "[[X]]" → unquoted [[X]]
• compound link strings (faction: "[[A]] / [[B]] (origin)", location: "... beneath [[X]]") → atomic lists / single links
• missing type on Houses of Peers.md, Reference.md, Conversion Notes.md, the Homebrew.md indexes, and the 09 Campaign files → add moc/reference
• the Bismuth von Kraken note is missing its # H1 title (see Cadwallon/00 Reference/Reference#File Structure)

This is a mechanical pass and can be done folder-by-folder on request.

See Also

• Cadwallon/00 Reference/Reference — prose style, canon hierarchy, note templates, and the AI operating guide
• Conversion Notes — Daggerheart mechanical mappings (kept out of frontmatter)
• Glossary · Calendar — the other reference docs