# Source

OpenSRD vendors one public snapshot of the Cepheus Engine System Reference Document. It does not transcribe `SystemReferenceDocument/` from this repository, and it does not import text from `334-cepheus/`.

## Upstream

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Work | Cepheus Engine System Reference Document, including the Vehicle Design System chapters carried in the same snapshot |
| Copyright | Cepheus Engine System Reference Document, Copyright © 2016 Samardan Press; Author Jason "Flynn" Kemp |
| Designation | All text in that document is Open Game Content except the titles of products published by Samardan Press and the trademarks "Cepheus Engine" and "Samardan Press" |
| Repository | <https://github.com/orffen/cepheus-srd> |
| Branch | `mdbook` |
| Tag | `v9.1` |
| Commit | `0839018902355215fb8148f0b4ce1b1f8e011080` |
| Commit date | 2025-07-06 |
| Hosted reading copy named by that repository | <https://www.orffenspace.com/cepheus-srd/> |
| Publisher download named by that repository | Cepheus Engine SRD and Vehicle Design System PDF and DOCX from Samardan Press on DriveThruRPG |

The Markdown conversion credits in the upstream about page name Steve Simenic. Proofreading credits there name Jeff Hopper for the SRD, and Richard Hazlewood, Omer G. Joel, Michael Johnson, Donavan Lambertus, and Ian Stead for the Vehicle Design System. Those credits are kept in [src/about.md](src/about.md).

Upstream states that the source code which displays the SRD is released under the Unlicense, and that the rules text is Open Game Content under the Open Game License. This packaging follows that split. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).

The upstream legal chapter says the text is derived from the Traveller System Reference Document and other Open Game Content, and that it does not contain closed content from products published by Mongoose Publishing or Far Future Enterprises. That notice is kept in [src/about.md](src/about.md) and [src/legal.md](src/legal.md). OpenSRD does not add setting names, ship stats, or table rows from commercial books.

## What was copied

These paths were copied from `src/` at the commit above:

- `about.md`
- `introduction.md`
- `SUMMARY.md`
- `legal.md`
- `book1/` (character creation, skills, psionics, equipment, personal combat)
- `book2/` (off-world travel, trade, ship design, common vessels, space combat)
- `book3/` (hazards, worlds, encounters, refereeing, adventures)
- `vds/` (vehicle design system)

Rules sentences, tables, and examples in those files are unchanged.

## Mechanical edits

Two edits were made so the Markdown can be read in this repository. Neither edit changes a rule, a number, or a table cell.

1. In `src/introduction.md`, seven links that pointed at `.html` files were pointed at the matching `.md` files. The HTML build points those links back at `.html`.
2. The "Tools" entries were removed from `src/SUMMARY.md` because those two pages were not copied. See Deferred.
3. Two links pointed at a file name that does not exist in that chapter's folder. They were pointed at the chapter the sentence already names: trade's Starport link now targets `book3/worlds.md`, and space combat's Personal Combat link now targets `book1/personal-combat.md`. The visible link text is unchanged.

Other in-text anchors that do not match a heading were left as published. Examples include links to `#draft`, `#mishap-table`, `#gun-combat`, `#medic`, `#aircraft`, and `#jack-of-all-trades`.

`src/about.md` still mentions mdBook and js-markov. That paragraph is upstream front matter. The generators that used js-markov were not copied.

## Deferred

Not copied from the upstream repository:

- `src/tools/sector-generator.md`
- `src/tools/space-encounter-generator.md`
- `src/tools/*.js`

Those pages are interactive generators. They load `js-markov` from a third-party CDN and refer to Traveller Map file formats. The world-generation and encounter procedures themselves are in the copied Book 3 chapters.

Also not fetched, and not rewritten from memory:

- The DriveThruRPG PDF and DOCX, and the print edition's artwork and layout
- Commercial Cepheus Engine core books and other publishers' closed text
- `SystemReferenceDocument/` in this repository
- `334-cepheus/` in this repository

## HTML build

`build.mjs` renders `src/**/*.md` except `SUMMARY.md` into `html/`. `SUMMARY.md` remains the Markdown contents page. `html/index.html` is a generated contents page in the same chapter order. The script adds a packaging banner, navigation, heading ids, and a copyright line. It does not rewrite rules text.

Heading ids follow a GitHub-style slug of the heading text. A handful of in-text anchors in the upstream Markdown point at headings that are named differently, or at a relative path that does not match the folder layout. Those links were left as published.