Malacca: The Golden Age — Transmedia IP Bible
v1.0 — Confidential — March 2026
“The West had its Renaissance. This is ours.”
Document Index
| File | Contents |
|---|---|
| 01-franchise-vision.md | Why this IP matters, the franchise promise, core commitments |
| 02-canon-events.md | Primordial canon, Malaccan canon, Hang Tuah’s disappearance, canon rules for creators |
| 03-genre-flexibility.md | Genre spectrum (political thriller → folklore), flexibility principle, tonal constants |
| 04-world-bible.md | Setting, geography, political structure, cultural ecosystem, trade & economy, martial tradition, supernatural landscape |
| 05-themes-and-pillars.md | Loyalty vs. justice, trade as power, plural identity, institutional decay, survival without recognition |
| 06-character-bible.md | Protagonists (Shadow of the Straits, Black Tide), Hang Tuah, Hang Jebat, Tun Perak, Albuquerque |
| 07-story-architecture.md | Master arc (four eras), parallel narrative structure |
| 08-master-timeline.md | Chronological spine c. 1400–1530+, sultan reigns, Bendahara tenures, Five Companions life arc, open territory windows |
| 09-media-expressions.md | Video games, film & television, print & publishing, experiential |
| 10-visual-guidelines.md | Colour palette, design tokens, architecture, costume, tone, violence, music & sound |
| 11-market-positioning.md | Opportunity, competitive landscape, audience strategy, cultural argument |
| 12-franchise-roadmap.md | Phase I–IV: foundation → expansion → screen → legacy |
| 13-glossary.md | Spelling, capitalisation, pronunciation, and usage rules for all franchise terms |
| 14-faction-bible.md | Sultan’s court, Bendahara network, merchant guilds, military, religious authorities, external powers, faction dynamics |
| 15-supernatural.md | Semangat, daulat, bomoh, spirit taxonomy, pantang, cursed objects, canon ambiguity, creator design rules |
| 16-character-relationships.md | Character relationship map — visual web, prose treatment of key relationships, timeline shifts |
| 17-daily-life.md | Daily life & sensory worldbuilding — smells, sounds, light, food, market, dress, ritual calendar, day-in-the-life |
| 18-legal-governance.md | Legal & governance system — Undang-Undang Melaka, Shahbandar system, Bendahara’s court, maritime law, Portuguese subversion |
| 19-dialogue-linguistics.md | Dialogue & linguistic guidelines — speech registers, code-switching, untranslatable terms, localisation, voice direction |
| 20-comparable-properties.md | Comparable properties & tonal references — games, film, TV, literature, music/sound design references |
| 21-ip-governance.md | IP governance & canon tiers — four-tier system, governance structure, conflict resolution, Open Questions Register |
Bible status: v1.0 — 10/10 backlog priorities complete. All sections drafted. See BACKLOG.md for history.
Frontmatter & Version History
The YAML frontmatter and full version history are preserved in malacca_ip_bible.md (the original monolithic file, retained as reference).
Usage
- When editing a specific topic, read only the relevant file(s).
- When cross-checking or doing a full review, read this README first, then load files as needed.
- Glob pattern for all bible content:
bible/[0-9]*.md(excludes README.md and the original monolith). - The original
malacca_ip_bible.mdis retained for reference but the split files are now the working source.
Sync Rule
The IP Bible is the canonical lore authority. The GDD (gdd/) must not contradict it. The pitch (pitch/concept-pitch.md) follows the GDD.