narniaexchange | Tagset Glossary (Reply)

Below is a glossary outlining in broad (and subjective!) terms what each tag means, so that people are generally on the same page about requesting and offering them. There will definitely be grey areas, so please comment below if you are unsure which one your request falls under. That said, please note that freeform tags are optional. If you don't see one here for what you want, or if your prompt straddles different tags, you don't actually need to worry about it.

The tags will be listed alphabetically in the sign-up form, but I broke them out into groups for the purpose of the glossary. I can also edit this post based on any discussion so that by the time sign-ups open, it's final.

Places/Settings
—Archenland: stories set in Archenland or predominantly starring Archenlandian characters, at any time (Aravis counts)
—Calormen: stories set in Calormen or predominantly starring Calormene characters, at any time (Aravis counts)
—Life Underground: anything set below the Sunlit Lands and/or about its inhabitants
—Telmar: anything set in Telmar (could include stories about why they left to invade Narnia); for matching purposes can also include stories about what happened to the Telmarines who left after Prince Caspian, or even how they originally got to Telmar from the South Seas
—Setting: England: stories set anywhere and at any time in our world (doesn’t necessarily need to be England); can include ‘Everybody Lives’ scenarios in which the train crash never happened

Narnian World Time Periods
We used the breakouts on the Narnia Wiki. While the periods are defined by what happened in the country of Narnia, stories for these tags can take place anywhere in that world.
—Age of Conquest: Birth of Narnia through right before White Witch seizes power
—Age of Winter: White Witch’s reign
—Golden Age: Pevensies’ reign
—Dark Age: Narnia in anarchy
—Telmarine Age: Telmarine conquest through right before Caspian X’s coronation
—Age of Exploration: Caspian X’s reign (ie. through the last pages of Silver Chair)
—Later Ages: Rilian’s reign onwards

Themes
—Non-Canon Dimension Travel: stories that play around with the mechanics of inter-dimensional travel (ex. further exploration of the Wood; how or why things like the rings, painting and horn work) or that send characters on world-hopping adventures not covered by the books
—The Problem of Susan: defined as you wish
—Time Shenanigans: stories that play around with the mechanics of the time lapse/aging issues associated with dimension travel
—Narnians In England: stories about Narnian-world natives visiting our world (doesn’t necessarily have to be England)

Genres
—Alternate Universe – Canon Divergence: Characters exist in the canon world(s), but something goes differently; someone made a different decision, the villain won, someone was evil, summer never came, etc. This could mean a story about the moment of divergence itself, or anything set after that point/in that "universe." Use the details/prompt to explain the kinds of divergences you’re interested in seeing explored.
—Alternate Universe – Different Setting: Characters have always existed in a different scenario (various historical eras, various professions, etc.), but it doesn’t necessarily have to be a mundane, single-world scenario. Use the details/prompts to explain what you’re looking for.
—Backstory: Could be for a character or place or concept, to be explained in the details/prompt
—Missing Scene: Filling in an episode potentially implied but not made explicit by canon
—Worldbuilding: Open-ended, to cover places, eras, concepts, little-known characters, etc. not covered by other tags