History Main / UniverseCompendium

* ''The Literature/{{Discworld}} Companion'' has been around long enough to have had three new and expanded editions. The most recent version has the title ''Turtle Recall''.

* Numerous detailed technical books have also been released concerning the ''StarWars'' universe -- from ''Vehicles of Star Wars'' to in-depth manuals on the construction and maintenance of lightsabers.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' has ''Hyrule Historia'', which is part a compilation of development info and part a Universe Compendium, mostly because it discusses the official ''Zelda'' timeline.[[note]]Or, more correctly, its ''three'' timelines.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has several of these. Interestingly, most of them are presented through different formats and are written as if they are written by the characters themselves. As such, these compendiums also exist InUniverse.

* ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog has ''The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia''. While there are minor flaws, the book is dense with information on various aspects of the series. Despite missing both "Endangered Species" and "Chaotix Quest", this is pretty much ''the'' definitive book for the series before its ContinuityReboot.

* ''[[http://themechanicalmaniacs.com/articles/officialGuide.php The Official Guide to]] VideoGame/MegaMan'' straddles the line in that it was pretty much made from the ground up by Capcom ''U.S.A.'' instead of actually using the Japanese source material, detailing things such as the government, the millitary, and how Mega Man himself can't speak under normal circumstances.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' has the ''Guide to the Crystal Gems''.

* Generally speaking, any anime and/or manga that gain some modicum of mainstream popularity will get a databook published for it that allows fans to gather clear details on their favorite productions.

* Unlike anime, most Western productions up until relatively recently never really got books of this nature published (collected art books that feature pre-production work notwithstanding) even if their popularity was off the charts. It wouldn't be until around the 2000's that the sale of these kind of guidebooks started to take off Stateside.

* ''The World of Robert Jordan's Literature/TheWheelOfTime''.

* A few of the game-worlds released for ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' - Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, the Known World - started off as a UniverseCompendium-style repackaging of settings in which their original creators had been running home games for years. Others were built up from premise to Universe Bible to UniverseCompendium by D&D's design teams, and the Eberron setting had its Bible submitted to a world-building contest, then expanded upon into a full Compendium.

** ''[[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Symposium_of_Post-mysticism Touhou Gumonkuju ~ Symposium of Post-mysticism]]'' is a sequel of sorts to ''Perfect Memento''. Following the religion arc, [[Characters/TouhouFuujinrokuMountainOfFaith Kanako Yasaka]], [[Characters/TouhouSeirensenUndefinedFantasticObject Byakuren Hijiri]], and [[Characters/TouhouShinreibyouTenDesires Toyosatomimi no Miko]], held a debate regarding faith, religions, and how they affect Gensokyo, moderated by the series deuteragonist Marisa Kirisame and recorded by Hieda no Akyuu. In-between the symposium sessions, encyclopedic profiles of characters between ''Mountain of Faith' and ''Ten Desires'' are included.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has ''[[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Bohemian_Archive_in_Japanese_Red Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red]]'', ''[[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Memento_in_Strict_Sense Perfect Memento in Strict Sense]]'', and ''[[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Symposium_of_Post-mysticism Symposium of Post-mysticism]]'', in-universe documents that provide background detail to many of the characters, locations, events, and in ''Perfect Memento'' even the species of Gensokyo. ''Symposium'' also features four of the characters discussing the relationship between humans and youkai.

** In 2017, a sequel book, titled ''The Elements of Harmony: Volume II'', was released. It covers all the settings, major characters and events of Season 4 up util Season 6.

* The ones for ''ShinMegamiTensei'' are particularly notable, as, in addition to the usual content, they have pages and pages of bibliography for the games. You can accuse them of being inaccurate to mythology, but you can't say it's because they didn't know better.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has ''Elements of Harmony: The Official Guidebook'', a book styled after the book Twilight reads in the very first episode that covers the whole settings, all the characters, and all the episodes up to the end of Season 3.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' spawned a plethora of these. For each series, a "Compendium" documents the official storyline and major characters, while there are several "Technical Manuals" and other more specific guides which document the technology and standard props found in the series. One of the earliest of these was the ''Star Trek Medical Handbook'', an official guide to medical science in the 23rd century. The all-encompassing ''Star Trek Chronology'' and ''Star Trek Encyclopedia'' contain more or less every known fact about the TrekVerse, the former organized historically; the latter, alphabetically. Of course (cynicism hat on) these were never quite up to date while the shows and movies were running: fans were obliged to pick up new editions periodically. And the partwork version (2 pounds per week for six years...) turned into an impenetrable mess of supplements, addenums, and stick-on corrections.

* The ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft: Chronicle'' series, so far, has been well received for tidying up the ContinuitySnarl that the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' franchise had accumulated over the years of evolutin and retcons, and for turning it into a single coherent picture at the cost of establishing much of the continuity from the earlier games to only have happened in BroadStrokes. Two volumes were released in 2016 and 2017, covering events from the distant past up until ''VideoGame/WarcraftII'', and the third volume to be released in 2018 is supposed to cover the events of ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' and beyond.

A UniverseBible is something created for the writers and production team of a series or franchise. While many of these have made their way into the public arena, they are really not intended for public consumption. As a result, they often contain material which is apocryphal, confusing, or outright wrong.

Any details in a compendium which have not been established within the work are subject to revision, and cannot be assumed to be {{Canon}}, though it's still considered bad form for fanfic writers to contradict them. Canon writers get more of a pass because they presumably had [[FiveYearPlan plans]] for the series's future long before the compendium was published, and the compendium authors or may not have consulted with them to avoid contradicting those plans. Sometimes, once such a book is compiled, writers will begin referring to it rather than the UniverseBible. While the Bible retains primacy, the ad hoc manner in which the Bible is maintained often makes it harder to use.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' has ''Hyrule Historia'', which is part a compilation of development info and part a Universe Compendium, mostly because it discusses the official ''Zelda'' timeline.
* ''[[http://themechanicalmaniacs.com/articles/officialGuide.php The Official Guide to]] VideoGame/MegaMan'' is an interesting example in that it was pretty much made from the ground up instead of actually using the Japanese source material, detailing things such as the government, the millitary, and how Mega Man himself can't speak under normal circumstances.

* The ''WorldOfWarcraft: Chronicle'' series, so far, has been well received for tidying up the ContinuitySnarl that the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' franchise had accumulated over the years of evolutin and retcons, and for turning it into a single coherent picture at the cost of establishing much of the continuity from the earlier games to only have happened in BroadStrokes. Two volumes were released in 2016 and 2017, covering events from the distant past up until ''VideoGame/WarcraftII'', and the third volume to be released in 2018 is supposed to cover the events of ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' and beyond.