The Future plugin stands-in for a page about to be created. When one links to a page that can't be found, a temporary (ghost) page is created containing the Future plugin. The Future plugin creates new pages much like the Factory plugin creates new story items.
Templates
Template menu choices.
The Future plugin offers to make the temporary (ghost) page into a new real and blank page.
The Future plugin will offer to make a new page based on a template if any templates exist within the current site. A template is a page who's title ends with the word "Template".
Factory plugins can be configured with a "prompt" field in their json representation. Such prompts make a template serve the purpose of typical forms. Downstream form processing can look for items of a specific id to know that they contain answers to specific prompts.
Pointers
If the any of the expected places for the page are unreachable. The future plugin will offer direct links to those places that might help find a missing page.
If a page with the same name can be found in the current neighborhood, a link is provided.
See At The Edge for more details. If a twin is located, one can review the page and possibly fork it to avoid this choice in the future.