Content and AI Policy

"Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.." ~The Lady of Lorién

The worlds of Earthdawn and Shadowrun are amazing in their breadth, complexity, and mystery. The lore of both IPs is extensive, as its publishing history, filled with intentional murky references and retconned content. Consequently, its great for storytelling, running games, and just... reading. The purpose of this site is to unify that lore in a reasonably accessible way that also respects the creators and intellectual property.

For questions and feedback, please reach out to Stonedreamer.

Content Policy

Most of the core content on this site is authored by yours truly, and for all content I've tried to drilldown to the original source material to the best of my ability. References to books are from books I've purchased, licensed content, but sometimes just plain rumors/theorycrafting on the web. All content has been written by a human, and all images are provided with links to original sources or noted by the tool they were generated with.

Good Faith Content Policy

The source material of many TTRPGs in our lives is deeply tied to their web presence, and despite what many people think, the internet isn't forever. Intellectual property changes hands, platforms get turned off, online communities dissappear, and things that inspire are lost. Some content found on the Sextant will be reposts from blogs, fansites, or licensed material, and in the name of preservation the things that we enjoy, is reposted here in good faith usage to the original source material. For any reposted content, the best effort will be made to provide sourcing and reference documentation.

AI Policy

The policy of SextantofWorlds.net on AI is that unfortunately, most available generative AI (also known as GenAI) does has not yet met the standards of fair use in a clear enough statement from its creators or courts to be used on this wiki. The current court suit we are tracking, Andersen vs. Stability AI, has been filed against Stability AI, Midjourney, and Deviant Art. The case has been approved for discovery, and is set for trial in September, 2026.

That being said, ethical AI does exist, and any AI generated images that are used on this site that are used on this site come from them. Shuttershock has developed a promising "ethically sourced" text-to-image generative tool called Shuttershock Generate that you'll find in use here. According to Shuttershocks documentation, Shuttershock Generate creates images from licensed materials opted into the training model and compensates artists with a creator fund. Earthdawn, Shadowrun, and other games that have inspired the creation of the Sextant are works of art, and if the history of TTRPGs tells us anything, artists getting paid is important.

Shuttershock Standard Image License

All generated images found here using Shuttershock Generate are presented within the bounds of the Shuttershock Standard Image License, which grants licensee customers the right to limited usage in print, publishing, and packaging, but particularly unlimited web distribution. (External Link)

A Personal Note

I love AI, and think it is a really powerful tool. Shadowrun, in fact, was a deep inspiration for me in pursuing a career in emerging technologies. Generatie AI technologies like Stable Diffusion are awesome and can create some really amazing imagery, but the proverbial well it draws its creations from seems like its been tainted. Similarly, Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT have been targeted with similar concerns about its training database, and whether its output violates derivative work as defined in US copyright law.

Until there is further clarity on the legality of AI outputs and transparent/equitable use of material for training sets, the pages you'll find here are authored and posted by little old me.

~Stonedreamer