User:Corveroth/Sanctum Arcanum

Sources

A Planeswalker's Guide to Alara

online source, page 53

The Sanctum Arcanum is the glass-and-steel vedalken temple that houses the Filigree Texts. The atmosphere above it is enchanted so that it’s never overcast; there's a kind of “hole in the clouds” that enables light to shine directly down into the structure. Many small academies have cropped up around the sanctum dedicated to studying the texts in specific contexts.

Shards of Alara Player's Guide

online source, page 23

A shaft of light cuts through a permanent hole in Esper's cloudy sky, forever illuminating the Sanctum Arcanum, a shining temple sacred to the vedalken. The surprisingly spiritual vedalken enshrine all their learning in the Filigree Texts, twenty-three priceless grimoires made of delicate pages intricately crafted from etherium. Sages and scholars from across Esper travel to the Sanctum Arcanum to behold the enigmatic poetry of logic and observation spelled out in the Filigree Texts.

The Filigree Texts

DailyMTG archive

All Esper knowledge is encoded in twenty-three tomes called "The Filigree Texts", kept at the Sanctum Arcanum. The texts can be seen in the art for Brilliant Ultimatum, but unfortunately we don't have a filigree-to-English dictionary handy.

Writing

The above text is all that we have to work from: no other sources are listed on the page. Every claim made in the text of the page should be supported by those sources. It's not always necessary to provide inline citations in the lead, provided that the claims made there are not controversial or facts about living persons. Some facts might be obvious enough that they don't need citations, but an opposing perspective argues that you should cite anyways, at least in some contexts.

When writing, always strive for a neutral point of view and impartial tone. Be cautious about using words such as those on the Words To Watch list, particularly those listed under puffery and editorializing, and avoid poetic prose.

Note that the sources themselves, like many Magic sources, are very heavy on puffery and poetry! That shouldn't be surprising, because Wizards' purpose in writing those sources is different. They want to excite an audience into buying into their fiction and buying their products. While we as editors might have a general desire to see more people playing the game, the encyclopedia does not have that kind of relationship to the subjects of its articles: it exists to document them, not sell them. Wikis are not advertising sites. When we work from sources, especially primary sources, we have an obligation to filter all of that fluff out and use just the facts.

Applying it

This is a heavily annotated pass over this revision of the Sanctum Arcanum page.

• The Sanctum Arcanum, also known as the Arcane Sanctum,
  • Not supported by one of the three inline sources, but an inference from the linked card. Debatable whether the Sanctum Arcanum is actually known as such on Alara, or if the card name is merely a prosaic choice to allow for reprints in other settings. I would hope for an in-universe citation.
• is a renowned temple and scholarly center on the shard of Esper in the plane of Alara.
  • "renowned" is pushing a little bit into puffery, but can be inferred from the Player's Guide, which states that vedalken come from across the shard to visit it. If the description was challenged, this sentence would need an inline citation.
• Suspended atop a floating cliff and bathed in perpetual sunlight, the Sanctum is a place of study, worship, and arcane philosophy.
  • "Floating cliff" is inferred from the art. The bit about sunlight is given in an inline source. The first two sources are fair grounds for claiming that the Sanctum is a place of study, but no source states that worship takes place here (it is "sacred", but that does not quite imply that vedalken engage in worship rituals or that they take place here) and there is no mention of philosophy anywhere in the sources.
• It is most famous for housing the Filigree Texts, a sacred set of poetic grimoires written in etherium,
  • "most famous" is editorializing, strike that. "It houses the Filigree Texts." The only mention of something being sacred refers to the temple itself, not the Texts, so remove that word as well.
• which the vedalken believe contain all knowledge worth knowing about Esper.
  • The third source states that the texts contain "all Esper knowledge", and the second source states that the vedalken "enshrine all their learning" in them. Those don't sum up to the narrower, qualified "all knowledge worth knowing".
• The Sanctum draws scholars and sages from across the shard, and serves as a spiritual and intellectual heart for Esper's magical community.
  • "spiritual and intellectual heart" is editorializing. Sages and scholars may arrive from across the shard, but the sources do not establish that the Sanctum is singular in its importance, merely that it is one destination for academic pursuits, and that it is held to be sacred. There is also no mention in the sources that it serves that role only for the "magical community". The cited materials leave the possibility that those visitors might be mundane academics.

• The Sanctum Arcanum is an architectural marvel: a soaring temple of crystal, alloy, and filigree set upon a levitating mesa, suspended by invisible aetheric forces.
  • This is almost entirely invented by the editor. "glass-and-steel" is the only description of its composition in the sources. It is visibly suspended in the artwork, but no description is given about what is holding it up, and without a source to clarify, the claim that "aetheric forces" are responsible is unwarrranted speculation.
• The skies above it are permanently parted by magic, allowing a single beam of uninterrupted sunlight to shine down through the clouds and illuminate the Sanctum at all hours.
  • "at all hours" is already implied by "permanently", this is just being verbose for its own sake. Strike that.
• This visual symbolism reflects the vedalken's view of the Sanctum as a beacon of clarity, logic, and higher understanding.
  • Pure editorializing, strike this entire sentence.

• Within its vaults and galleries, the vedalken have preserved many of Esper’s most prized arcane works. Chief among them are the Filigree Texts — twenty-three grimoires, each associated with one of Esper’s named winds.
  • No source mentions any "prized arcane works" other than the Filigree Texts. There is no mention of "vaults and galleries". This is mostly fanfiction, not scholarship. Needs a citation for the claim that the grimoires are associated with the winds, which have not been mentioned up until this point and are not present in any cited source.
• These grimoires are written in an intricate, poetic form that the vedalken regard as a fusion of art, logic, and revelation. Their pages, crafted from etherium, feature inscriptions spelled out in the negative spaces between filigree patterns.
  • Citation needed. Is this taken from a source about filigree that wasn't cited here?

• Unlike the secretive and ultimately fraudulent Codex Etherium kept under guard in the Vault of the Seekers of Carmot in Vectis City,
  • Claiming that something is fraudulent absolutely demands an inline citation. Separately, is this claim doing work to establish the notability of the Sanctum in the first place? See the next point.
• the Filigree Texts are publicly accessible within the Sanctum’s central chambers.
  • The Texts are here, yes, but the sources do not say where they are within the Sanctum, and we also don't know how public they are. They are known to be "delicate" and "intricate": perhaps some access control protocol exists. We just don't know.
• Their presence has made the Sanctum not only a center for research and spiritual reflection, but also a site of pilgrimage for Esper's sages and artificers.
  • A center for research, yes. Spiritual reflection is a stretch. Pilgrimage is a very specific action and is unwarranted speculation in this context. There is also no mention of artificers in the text, only sages and scholars, and there is no cause within the given sources to assume that "artificer" is a synonym for either.