Conflict rules

How conflicts work

Scan canon on Conflicts runs the checks below over accepted canon. Each hit is a conflict candidate: a possible problem for a person to judge, not a verdict. Six rules run in code and are marked Rule-based. The world-rule check uses the AI and is marked AI-suggested. Deciding a conflict never edits canon; to fix one, propose a change.

Same person, two places, overlapping exact times

One character is placed at two different places at clock times that overlap, and both times are exact. Example: Mara is at the harbour D3 14:00–D3 15:00 and at the lighthouse D3 14:30. Hard by default.

Same person, two places, overlapping approximate times

The same clash, but at least one of the times is approximate (marked Roughly). Often a false alarm, so it is soft by default.

Not enough time to travel between places

Canon says how long a trip takes, and a character is placed at both ends with less time between than that. Example: the ride from the mill to the port takes 90 minutes, but Mara leaves the mill at D2 09:00 and is at the port at D2 09:30. Hard by default; a trip close to the limit (at least half the travel time) is soft unless the project changes the rule.

Relationship used after it ended

A relationship has an end time, and a later fact uses the same relationship as still active. Example: an apprenticeship ended on D10, but a fact on D12 still calls them master and apprentice. Hard by default.

Acts after death

Canon says a character dies (or is dead, or is killed) at a story time, and a fact timed later has them doing something. Example: Varek dies on D3, but on D5 he greets the party. Being buried, mourned, remembered or mentioned is not acting. Both facts need a time; a day-only death counts as the whole day, so only a later day is flagged. Hard by default.

Same detail, two answers

One subject has a single-valued detail, such as eye colour or where a wound is, with two answers that disagree at the same time. Example: the wound is in the shoulder in one source and in the leg in another. An answer that only adds words ("left shoulder" for "shoulder") agrees; a "not" on one side never does. Hard by default.

Fact breaks a world rule

The AI reads your world rules in canon (how magic works, what the bell does) against the facts they touch and suggests where a fact may break one. It is labelled AI-suggested and kept apart from the rule-based checks. Soft by default.

Times the rules can read

• Story time is a day and an optional clock time: D3 14:00, or day-only D3. Days may be 0 or negative (D0, D-3650) for backstory.
• Day-only means "some time that day". The two-places and travel rules skip any pair where either fact is day-only, because they need clock times on both sides.
• A day-only time still counts as the whole day for the timeline, for relationships after they ended and for acts after death.

Hard and soft

• Hard · breaks canon: the facts can't both be true as written.
• Soft · worth a look: may be fine, read it.
• Editors can switch one conflict with Change severity and a reason. Owners and admins set each rule's default for new scans under Conflict severity by rule in the project's settings; existing conflicts keep theirs.

Deciding

Write a rationale, then pick one. The decision and its reason are saved to the audit log.

• Confirm conflict: it is a real problem. Fix it with a change proposal.
• False alarm: the facts don't clash.
• Uncertain: you can't tell yet.
• Resolved by merge: closed automatically when a merge removed the reason for the conflict. See Merges and identity.