Afterverse/Canon

Canon is, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "A sanctioned or accepted group or body of related works." In terms of fiction, particularly fanfiction, it refers to the official story in regards to fan creations or potentially less-than-accurate offshoots such as video games or movies. In terms of the Afterverse, canon is the official storyline as it aligns with the timeline. For the sake of avoiding confusion, this guide has been created to keep the canon consistent and easy to resolve issues as to what is canon and what is not.

Timeline Canon
The timeline is the highest level of Afterverse canon. Anything that contradicts the timeline is invalid, at least on that particular point. In addition, on almost the same level of the timeline is the list of inhabitants of the Afterverse, which is updated in regards to the farthest chronological point in time according to Afterverse canon. The Afterverse page itself is also considered timeline canon.

First-Tier
First-tier canon is the slightly lower level of canon. It trumps all other levels of canon in the case of a discrepancy, with the exception of the timeline. No piece of first-tier canon can be completely invalidated by the timeline, only small bits and pieces. Any serial written by is immediately considered canon upon completion unless otherwise stated. Articles written by DeltaStriker about characters, locations, objects or concepts within the Afterverse are also considered first-tier canon.

Second-Tier
Second-tier canon is an even lower level of canon, and can also be referred to as psuedo-canon. These are sources that mostly fit with the Afterverse, with a few discrepancies that prevent them from being fully canon. If a piece of second-tier canon conflicts with a first-tier canon, the first-tier canon takes precedence. Examples of this could be outdated articles, stories written by DeltaStriker that have been labeled as "second-tier canon" or "psuedo-canon," stories written by others in the Afterverse that have not been approved by DeltaStriker, or MOCs and MOC/Story blogs. Unfinished story serials also fall into this category.

Third-Tier
Third-Tier canon is anything that might closely resemble the Afterverse but does not align enough to be second-tier. Such instances might directly contradict the timeline or first-tier canon on multiple points, generally of a very significant nature. However, it is still close enough to be considered canon on the points where discrepancies do not exist. The biggest example of third-tier canon would be the Prime Reality. Many of the Prime Reality's events align well enough with the early timeline of the Afterverse that they can be considered canon whenever they do not directly contradict any higher level of canon within the Afterverse.

Non-Canon
Everything else that does not fit into the four above categories is non-canon in regards to the Afterverse. Unless linked via dimension hopping or something of that nature, all alternate fanon BIONICLE universes are Afterverse non-canon. In addition, anything related to the BIONICLE Generation 2 reboot is considered non-canon as it does not align whatsoever with the Afterverse timeline. Everything not related to BIONICLE is obviously non-canon.