Linking Multimedia, Library, Codex and Assets
Last updated: August 21, 2026
One work can legitimately appear on four surfaces. A book exists as a work in the Grand Library, as a presented item in the Multimedia Archives, as subject matter in the Codex, and as downloadable material in the Asset Vault. None of these is a duplicate of the others — they are four different claims about the same thing — but choosing the wrong one to link is the most common citation error in this Universe.
Which surface for which purpose
| You want to… | Link to… |
|---|---|
| Let someone read or experience the work | the Grand Library |
| Show how it is presented, with its media context | the Multimedia Archives |
| State what something in it is, canonically | the Xdripian Codex |
| Let someone download or embed a file | the Xdripian Asset Vault |
Why it matters
A link is a promise about what the reader will find. Sending someone to a showcase page when they need the file wastes their time; sending them to the Vault when they wanted to read gives them an asset and no context. The surfaces are specialised, and using that specialisation is the whole benefit of the structure.
Embedding
Only the Asset Vault is built for embedding. Its files may be hot-linked directly, need no account and carry their own terms. Deep-linking an image out of a viewer page is unsupported and breaks when presentation changes.
When in doubt, link the surface that owns the claim you are making, and let the reader travel from there. Every one of these surfaces links onward to the others.
Official source
Canonical source for this subject: the Multimedia Archives. Checked 21 August 2026 — where this guide and the live service disagree, the service is right.
Related reading
- Hotlinking and Embedding Assets — How to reference Vault files directly from your own pages and code.
- Books and Comics — The literary archive of sagas, illustrated chronicles and published works.
- How to Browse and Search the Codex — Route patterns, indexes and search, and how to choose between them.
- Citations, Crosslinks and Canonical Reading — Citing the Universe accurately, and linking the surface that owns the claim.