For the land of Hyrule, it was the calm after the storm.
Leaving seven years' worth of death and destruction in his wake, the Devil King Ganondorf was finally vanquished, brought low by the Hero of Time and the Seven Sages described by legend. For those left behind, the days ahead would not be easy; the land had been scarred forever by Ganondorf's dark ambition, a mere semblance of its former glory. For many, it was a time of mourning, a loss that could never be forgotten.
And yet, for many it was a time of renewal. Under the rule of their beloved Princess Zelda, bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom, the Hylian people began to rebuild their shattered kingdom; old prejudices forced aside by necessity, the races began to unite, each one finding a new respect for its neighbours. New treaties were signed, new allegiances forged; it seemed that from Ganondorf's shadow Hyrule would be born anew, stronger than ever through its suffering. Briefly, a hard-won peace could reign.
All cannot remain well, however. With Ganondorf sealed in the Sacred Realm and the Hero of Time vanished after his final battle, the Triforce remains out of balance, threatening to become more than Princess Zelda can bear. There are those who follow the Devil King still, seeking through forbidden magic to grasp the power that the Sages could not destroy. Elders of the races squabble for power, finding their leaders called away to become Sages. And some fear that the Hero of Time has deserted Hyrule completely, the Triforce of Courage with him...
Seven years on, our story begins.
Shadow of the Ages is a story based on the Nintendo64 game, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - or, rather, it is primarily based on Akira Himekawa's official manga version of Ocarina, since it makes a better narrative than the game. If you haven't played the game, I advise you to do so as soon as possible, even if you're not interested in this RPG - it really is a fantastic piece of work, and there's little wonder that people were willing to buy the N64 system purely for this game. As for the manga, allow me to refer you all to Zelda Infinite, where a wonderful group have translated the whole thing into English for the fans. Majora's Mask, the sequel to Ocarina, serves as an inspiration, but isn't directly included.
I must admit, I'm not sure what format the story will take yet - it began life as a fanfic, then quickly became a pen-and-paper RPG, then graduated to a freeform play-by-e-mail RPG, and its latest incarnation is as a Console RPG. After joining the Zelda OC club on deviantArt, I'm considering making it a PBeM again if I get the interest (though it will still be a CRPG too, because I've done a lot of sprite work). But whatever it winds up being, the story and characters are still fairly constant. This page exists to give you an idea of "my" Hyrule, and the characters of SotA. I only left the "rules" section up in case it becomes a PBeM again, so just ignore them otherwise.
Anyway, our story begins seven years after Ganondorf's defeat at the end of the Ocarina storyline, working on the principle that Zelda would not have been able to turn back time after these events without causing a paradox - suffice to say, Link has mysteriously vanished from Hyrule, to the best of anybody's understanding. All of the events in Ocarina's storyline have come to pass, and the focal characters of this story will be those who have lived through those events. Most of our heroes will not be chosen by destiny, but simply people who get caught up in things along the way, whether they intend to or not.
BTW, if you have problems with my development of canonical races/histories/characters... please just relax and get over it. You have your continuity, I have mine ^_^