Main Page

First of all, welcome to Hyrule Castle! As you likely already know, this wiki itself functions as the Library for the Hyrule Castle forums. These forums primarily contains a continuous play-by-post role-play set in a universe based on The Legend of Zelda. The forums are also a place for friendly discussion, and a hub for other role-play settings. If you're new to HC, this guide should serve as a comprehensive introduction to familiarize yourself with this site, help you get to know its version of Hyrule, and teach you how to use our treasure/quest system. For brevity, this guide assumes you've posted on a forums-based website before.

After reading this Guide, another important read is the Guide to Character Creation. Two other guide threads cover optional areas of the site, namely Classic Dungeons and the Battle Arena.

This Library itself provides a complete index of significant treasures, comprehensive description of player-character races, and summaries of all major locations in this interpretation of Hyrule, among other pertinent information.

Site Navigation

From this page, as well as any other in the Library, you can return to the proper Hyrule Castle forums just by clicking the "Forums" link in the left panel.

Near the top of every page of the Hyrule Castle forums, you'll find a navigation bar with several round buttons. It's easy to navigate the site when you use these buttons, labeled as follows:

• Guide will bring you right back to this guide in the Library.
• Map brings you to a page with an overall map of the Hyrulean Continent and the Great Sea, useful for reference.
• Library leads you back to this guide, too.
• Shoutbox brings you to a chatroom embedded in the site you post can in as long as you're signed in. (You can also see a smaller version of it on the main forums page.)
• Timeline brings you to a Library page that describes our version of Hyrule, its history, and a year-by-year timeline of recent events.
• About leads you to a page which briefly describes this site, and lists current and former Staff members.
• Finally, the blue banner to the right of all these circular buttons will lead you back to HC's main page, the forum index. Needless to say, the forums are what you'll be browsing and posting in.

Hyrule

History of Hyrule

For the full version, see "A History of Dawn to Darkness," available on the Hyrule page.

For centuries, Hyrule as existed as a kingdom on a continent ruled primarily by the Hylian race centered in Castle-Town. They, the Gorons of Death Mountain, and the Zora of Zora's Domain lived in an honorable alliance. More elusive races, like Kokiri and Deku Scrubs, were viewed with suspicion. Yet, the known world was in a period of prosperous peace.

Yet, one day, approximately 15 years ago, a great evil army of monsters and undead began ransacking the southern half of Hyrule. Hylian villages were invaded, massacred, and razed. The wise and the unfortunate knew this monstrous army to belong to the mysterious King of Evil--Ganon himself, a man or a beast foretold in ancient legends...

Over the course of three years, civilization in Southern Hyrule was all but destroyed, and the hardiest people Hyrule had ever known--the Gorons--were driven out from the most well-fortified construction in the land, a natural formation which became known as Death Mountain. It was here where Ganon's sweep across Hyrule quietly and bizarrely ceased. The mountain remains impenetrable and heavily guarded. Disorganized soldiers of Ganon's army and bandits alike now roam the perilous south, making almost all reconstruction efforts next to impossible.

For reasons unknown, Ganon's forces have since remained stagnant for 12 years. Any attempts to retake Death Mountain have resulted in total failure. With their resources and population nearly halved, the Hylians and displaced Gorons have yet to fully recover--while the Evil King's status remains unknown to even his own followers, as mysterious as his motives and origins. Thus, the stalemate continues in a continent torn apart by war...

In this world, remnants of battlefields, destroyed temples, and underground dungeons remain filled with both mindless monsters and the treasures of the fallen. As such, adventurers, looters, and their kin have become commonplace among the more mundane workers of the civilized world. Heroes always have someone to rescue, and sages always have research to be done.

Important Places

Because the world of Hyrule is so vast, it is assumed that any player can freely invent minor locations on random points of the map--such as a dungeon entrance, or a small outpost. It's assumed these minor locations will only be used in one or two adventures. By contrast, an "important place" is a known city or locale plotted on the official map of Hyrule Castle. Important places have their own documented history, and are intended for use in many adventures.

The following table contains all major places. Clicking one will bring you to a Library page which offers further detail.

Ranks

Main article: Rank

There are three "ranks" members are assigned on Hyrule Castle: Newcomer (or "Newbie"), Regular, and Veteran. A member with a higher rank generally has been a member of Hyrule Castle longer--and is more active--than a member of a lower rank. A member of higher rank gains additional privileges when it comes to creating characters, and when gaining certain treasures.

When you join HC, you are a Newcomer. After 30 days of continuous activity without causing major problems, you should be promoted to Regular. Most members will not become Veterans, as this rank is reserved for long-time members who are skilled and trusted enough to perform actions otherwise reserved for Staff members. Consequently, it is assumed that all current Staff members are honorary Veterans.

Character Creation

See also: The Guide to Character Creation

Before you can begin your adventures on Hyrule Castle, you must first create a character--an avatar for yourself in the world of Hyrule. Consult the Guide to Character Creation, above.

As a general rule of thumb, you are allowed to introduce temporary "non-player characters" in the middle of your adventures. Enemies and allies alike can become temporary NPCs. Remember, your character is the protagonist, and NPCs are intended to fill supporting roles. If you want to make a NPC a lead character in your adventures, you can turn the NPC into a full and proper character through character creation (assuming the NPC suits the rules for character creation).

Rupees & Treasures

Hyrule Castle makes use of a unique Treasure system. Basically, your character gains rupees from completing Quests or other activities; he can either gain Treasures in place of those rupees, or later expend those rupees to gain treasures. How costly a given Treasure is for your character usually depends on his Power, Wisdom, and Courage (PWC) scores. Rupees and PWC are described in more detail below.

As a general rule of thumb, a Treasure is an extraordinary item which uses unexplained phenomena, advanced knowledge, magic, or mechanics beyond the norm for Hyrule. Treasures must be earned. Common items, by contrast, can be gained for free.

Treasures can range from a Bomb Bag, to the Spin Attack technique, to smithing abilities. Indeed, they can be either something you possess, or something extraordinary you are able to do. The Library lists and categorizes all established treasures. When deciding on treasures for your character, refer to the Hero's Choice page. Hero's Choice is a list of popular and easy-to-understand treasures.

You can request for a new Treasure to be established by posting in the Treasure Creation forum.

Common items (or "free items") include almost anything which was available in real-life Europe in the middle ages, to exclude any contraptions which used gunpowder, and any items which didn't cost a small fortune. As such, swords, trained horses, and small houses are all perfectly acceptable common items which can be gained by any character for free. Be careful not to gain an unreasonable amount of common items, however--horses don't grow on trees.

Rupees

As explained above, rupees are used to gain treasures, and are the common currency in Hyrule. Players are not only allowed, but encouraged to use artistic license to dictate how wealthy their characters actually are. For instance, a high-society nobleman probably has a trust fund with thousands of rupees, far more than can be earned in quests or dungeons.

Every character begins with at least 100 rupees, as explained in the Guide to Character Creation. Otherwise, a character gain gain rupees by completing a Quest or a Dungeon, by winning in the Battle Arena, by trading rupees with other characters, or sometimes through special events announced by the Staff. Finally, any player can gain 10 rupees for one of his characters by introducing a new member to Hyrule Castle.

Whenever a character gains rupees, she may instead immediately exchange some of those rupees for a treasure, as her PWC allows. For example, if she would gain 50 rupees, she could instead gain a 35-rupee treasure and 15 rupees. Alternatively, she could gain two 25-rupee treasures.

A character can later exchange rupees for a treasure as well. Gaining the treasure (but not necessarily losing the rupees) must be done in-character, even if gaining the treasure only constitutes a single-post thread.

Whenever a character gains or loses rupees, or gains or loses a treasure, that character's profile must be edited accordingly. Ideally, the character's profile will link to any such transactions.

PWC

PWC is similarly explained in the Guide to Character Creation.

PWC is an abbreviation of Power / Wisdom / Courage. PWC is the way we determine how apt a character is at acquiring treasures--extraordinary items and abilities. For example, a character with high Wisdom is better at learning spells; a character with high Power has an easier time mastering weaponry like bombs or a hookshot. It can be interpreted to portray actual attributes like strength or intelligence, but the intention of PWC is solely to represent aptitude for gaining different treasures.

A given character has a number representing each of the three aspects of PWC. Each number is a whole number on a scale between 1 and 5, with 5 being the height of proficiency in that area. Essentially, the higher the score, the easier it will be for a character to obtain a treasure associated with that aspect. Each treasure has five prices, one for each level of its aspect.

For example, the Spin Attack technique has the the following costs:

• P5: 40 rupees
• P4: 50 rupees
• P3: 60 rupees
• P2: 70 rupees
• P1: 80 rupees

You can see the importance of having a high score in Power when acquiring this treasure. It is advised that you consider what treasures fit your character most before setting his or her PWC. Note, some treasures always have the same cost, regardless of PWC.

• Power-based treasures usually involve brute force or martial techniques, such as those learned through practice and repetition. Explosives, armor, melee weapons, and combat maneuvers are usually associated with Power.
• Wisdom-based treasures usually involve intelligence, complexity, and intricate spells. Canes and many other magical items are associated with Wisdom.
• Courage-based treasures usually involve charisma, intuition, agility, and willpower. Many songs, mind-controlling abilities, tricky tools, and skills involving stealth or theft are associated with Courage.

Every character starts with one point in each of the three aspects of PWC. Depending on a character's race and origin, extra points will be awarded in specific attributes. For example, a Kokiri has an automatic racial bonus to Courage, so any Kokiri character will have a starting PWC score of 1/1/2. (It's always in order: 1 Power, 1 Wisdom, 2 Courage.)

After race and origin have been chosen, the character-creator may distribute the extra points between the virtues however she wishes. Know, however, that no virtue can go above 5. The amount of extra points the character-creator has to distribute depends on her rank.

A Newcomer has four additional PWC points, and a Regular also has four, but a Veteran has five. Upon promotion to a higher rank, a player can give an extra point to all her pre-existing characters. An individual character can also increase his PWC through the costly Permanent Increase treasure. In any case, you are never required to add any or all of the points above the minimum for your race.

So, for example, Ben wants to create a grizzled old soldier character. He decides that the Power treasures will be best for him, so he wants to invest his points mostly in Power. His character is Hylian, and a Hylian can have a starting PWC of 2/1/1. As Ben is a Regular, he gets 4 more PWC points to distribute. He chooses to crank Power up to 4 and uses the last couple points in Courage, since he wants his soldier to have some of the Courage-based treasures. His character is left with a PWC of 4/1/3. Several months later, Ben is promoted to Veteran; hooray! He decides to give that final nudge to his character's Power score, leaving him with a final PWC of 5/1/3.

Major Treasures

Certain powerful treasures are designated as "Major Treasures." A Major treasure is unusually powerful, to the point where it is considered character-defining. As such, any character may normally only have one Major treasure. Once a Major treasure is gained, it can never be lost, stolen, traded, or otherwise permanently removed from the character's ownership.

If a character wishes to gain another Major treasure, he must first gain the costly Major Gain trait, and must do so for every Major treasure he gains beyond the first.

Trading Between Characters

Different players are allowed to trade rupees and certain treasures with other players' characters. Treasures with a physical form (magical items, mechanical items, and organic items) can be traded. Treasures without a physical form (techniques, spells, songs, and traits) cannot be traded without special means. Major Treasures can never be traded.

One player cannot trade rupees among his own characters. One player may temporarily trade item treasures between his characters, but cannot do so permanently.

Abuse of trading treasures (such as creating new characters solely to trade away treasures) will result in disciplinary measures and/or a ban. Trade responsibly, use common sense.

Renting Treasures

See also: Glossary:Rent

Characters are allowed to "rent" treasures for a single role-play thread, single Quest, single Dungeon, or single fight in the Battle Arena. The character loses an amount of rupees based on the treasure's price, and is able to use it in the corresponding thread (and only that thread). After a character has rented a treasure, she can later gain that treasure at a reduced cost. The cost becomes its full cost minus its rent cost. (If she rents the same treasure multiple times, the cost does not decrease further.)

The rent cost depends not on the Treasure's PWC, but on its cost category, as follows:

• Lowest or Lower Cost: 5 rupees
• Low or Normal Cost: 10 rupees
• High or Higher Cost: 15 rupees
• Highest Cost: 20 rupees
• Set Cost: 20% of the treasure's full cost

Adventuring & Role-Playing

Once you have an approved character, you are free to begin role-playing in the Hyrule forums. The world is divided up into three forums--Northern Hyrule, Southern Hyrule, and the Eastern Sea--which represent adventures taking place in those varying regions. The other forums--Events, Classic Dungeons, and Battle Arena--represent areas which can be accessed from anywhere.

You can start a solo thread if you like, or look for someone else to role-play with you in the shoutbox, or the Role-Play Discussion forum.

You're generally allowed to role-play anything you like, so long as you adhere to this guide, use a character that has been approved, use realistic logic appropriate to Hyrule, and adhere to the limits of the Treasure system. If you role-play in the Battle Arena, more specific rules and limitations apply.

Try to use proper English grammar and spelling. Some players prefer to write in third-person as if creating a novel, while others prefer writing in first-person as if explaining their own experiences. Regardless, it's better to avoid writing in an abbreviated "script" format.

Notably, it's frowned upon to involve major characters such as Ganon, the Deku Tree, or Link without prior approval from Staff. Canonical characters essentially belong to all players, and as such usually aren't used by any one player.

Quests

You are allowed to role-play as much as you want, whether there's an end goal to your character's adventures or not. You don't need to go on a Quest, but most players choose to do so, as Questing grants your character rupees or treasures.

A Quest is a role-play involving at least your character, and possibly other players' characters, where a goal is met. For example, a group of mercenary characters might be killing off a troublesome monster, or a group of thieving characters might be robbing a tomb. A Quest could even be as docile as catching up with an old friend.

Depending on the number of players involved, a Quest should usually involve at least 20 posts of decently-sized replies. This is a very rough measurement. Players are discouraged from counting posts or rushing through posts to complete a Quest. Questing is about the journey, not the destination.

Once a Quest has been finished, one of the players involved can post a thread in the Quest Bureau. The QB thread should provide a summary of the quest's events in-character, provide a link to the thread(s) in which the role-play took place, and name the characters and players involved.

From this point, a Staff member will see the QB thread, and eventually look over the quest itself. So long as no rules are broken, the Staff member will then officially approve the quest. Once a quest is approved, the players each gain 40 rupees, plus an additional 10 rupees for each character that player used. (E.g., if one player used two characters, he gains 60 rupees to split between those two characters.)

Rupees can be immediately exchanged for treasures. It's even possible to gain a treasure in a Quest with the rupees you will later receive from finishing that Quest. In fact, most players do this. (Obviously, that treasure cannot be kept if the Quest is never finished.)

Notably, players can decide to divide their rupees up in uneven amounts. In this case, the QB thread should list how many rupees each character is receiving.

A Quest role-play is only different from a normal role-play in that (a) it has a Quest Bureau thread, and (b) the players are awarded rupees. As such, a normal role-play can be turned into a Quest at any time, even after the role-play is over.

Classic Dungeons

See the full article: The Guide to Classic Dungeons

Classic Dungeons function similarly to Quests, but specifically emulate one of the dungeons canonically present in one of the official Legend of Zelda games. Recently, original dungeons created on Hyrule Castle have been added as well. Prestigious dungeons with high rewards, known as "Super Dungeons," can be challenged if a player completes numerous normal dungeons.

Notably, one player in a Classic Dungeon can be designated as the "Dungeon Master." This DM can dictate the enemies, traps, rooms, and circumstances the other players' characters encounter in the dungeon.

Battle Arena

See the full article: Regulations of the Arena

The Battle Arena is overseen by a mysterious judge known as the Arena Lord. In his domain, players are freely encouraged to battle each other, waging their own trade-able prizes for victory. Gauntlets of overwhelming monsters are thrown down upon the lone players fierce enough to face them. Occasionally, tournaments are held to grant the ultimate victor grand prizes. Notably, the Battle Arena has stricter limitations on what is allowed in posts, which can be read in the Regulations.

Events

Occasionally, a Staff member will post a new event in the Events forum. An event can range from a free holiday gift, to a new dungeon, to a contest between all players. Events normally have time limitations, and thus do not remain open forever. Events are always available to all players, and are always completely optional.

Contact

If you have any questions or comments, you are more than welcome to post them in the Role-Play Discussion forum, or in the Shoutbox.

For any pertinent needs, the current head administrator of Hyrule Castle is Cloud.