A proposed first taxonomy
A multi-faceted taxonomy
The limitations of a purely hierarchical taxonomy model have been recognised for many years in academic and information science circles. Consequently, there has been considerable interest in taxonomy structures that offer a more flexible view of how information can be categorised for general use: these alternative approaches are often referred to as faceted, multidimensional or relational taxonomies. The MediaWiki concept is the best tool at our disposal to meet such requirements.
Multi-faceted taxonomies enable the user to navigate through a number of facets of a taxonomy (for example, by culture, shape, element author or creator). They also allow the different facets to be cross-referenced to narrow or widen a search as the user browses the categories (for example, it will be possible to browse and select monsters by a combination of shape, culture and age on Monstropedia).
The following categories reflect the state of the art and can be rearranged if needed . Any testing or refining stages during the project need to include feedback from editors and users. This will avoid the danger of users having a different perspective on what should belong in which category and therefore not being able to find information.
On top of the below-listed creatures’ categories, there will be cross-categories as follows: Mythology, Element/Symbolism, Places, Magic and Art
The categories
Fabulous beasts, legendary creatures and mythology deities
- Creatures and monsters from mythology and folklore.
- Fairy is a subcategory of creatures mainly drawn from the scoto-celtic culture or humanoid races that may exist on our plan but hidden or extinct (subterraneans, ... ).
- Animen, humans morphing into animals and monstrous totemic animals.
Spirits
- Ghosts, spirits from deceased, spectral entities, paranormal infection and other hauntings.
- Demons that are supposed to be summoned on Earth as well as (guardian) angels from the world mythologies and religions.
Crypto creatures
- Animal species that are supposed to exist but remain elusive.
- Dinosaurs.
- Monstrous animals.
Aliens
Extraterrestrial humanoid races that may exist but remain elusive.
Classic monsters
- Archetypal popular monsters: vampire, werewolf, zombie, mummy, ....
- Man-created monsters immortalized by litterature or cinema : Godzilla, Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, Dracula, ....
These categories will be visible later
Artificial creatures
- Man-made monsters of mechanical or alchemical origins. Related to magic, witchcraft, art and sciences.
- Robots and mechanoids
- Genetically-engineered monsters
Monsters from modern mythologies
All that do not fit in the other categories: Star Wars, Dungeons and dragons, Magic, Harry Potter, .....
It is also a good means to correct some big mistakes carried by those authors/firms about the true monsters archetypes !
Human monsters
Abnormal and abmoral human beings
- Freaks, mutants.
- People having ESP powers.
- Serial killers.
- Witches
Planning
not all the section will be opened from the beginning, we shall concentrate our work on the following categories :
Mythology and legends, spirits because it is the base of everything else.