Community:Zelda Universe Community

This page is a collection of the miscellaneous content which has made itself a name throughout the community.

Distribution of Power in the Community
On the Zelda Universe forums, a group of members known as moderators (mods) possess power and responsibility greater than those of regular members. Their main purpose is to reinforce the rules and improve the community. They act as police officers, jury and, to an extend, judges in their respective areas.

The following positions are arranged based on ascending power. An up-to-date list can be seen here.

Forum Moderators
Each Forum Moderator (or "Forum Mod") takes care of one or more subforums from the wider spectrum of forums (Zelda, Community, Clans HQ, Escapists' Haven, and the Restricted Forums). They are last in the power command and have the most fundamental abilities, namely the ability to edit, delete, move, and lock any thread inside their specific forums and the ability to warn or ban any member based on actions in the forum.



Current Forum Mods

 * Ameera Mae Laramie (Zelda RPG)
 * AzraelBlack (Entertainment)
 * Bewbs (aka Zarah) (The Nayrulian Empire)
 * Bravo (Serious Discussion)
 * Breeze (aka Kasuto) (General Chit-Chat)
 * Calliope (General Chit Chat, The Farore Clan)
 * Crab Helmet (General Gaming)
 * Dog Dog 123 (Community Central, New Members Board, The Clan Arena)
 * Fairess (Creative Arena, Writing)
 * GKANG (Creative Arena, General Gaming, Graphic Design)
 * Hombre de Mundo (Future Zelda, Zelda Theorizing)
 * Jodd (General Gaming, The Din Clan)
 * Margar (Community Central, New Members Board)
 * Marten (General Chit Chat, The Clan Arena, The Temple of Light and Dark)
 * Mattocks (Community Central, Everything Trains!, New Members Board)
 * Pinecove (Zelda Theorizing)
 * SacredSturgeon (Feedback, Suggestions & Questions, General Chit-Chat, The Nayrulian Empire, The Clan Arena, The Temple of Light and Dark, ZU Awards)

Section Moderators
Section Moderators (or "Section Mods") possess the same powers as Forum Mods, but have power over complete sections, namely the Zelda, Community, Clans HQ, Escapists' Haven, or the Restricted Forums. Section Moderators may also moderate subforums in unrelated sections if given the power to do so.



Current Section Mods

 * Altamira (Battle Arena)
 * Ciroton (Battle Arena)
 * Drammor (Battle Arena)
 * Erikson (Zelda)
 * Florina (Artwork, Creative Arena, Zelda)
 * Gold (Creativity Corner, Zelda)
 * H.P. Lovecraft (Zelda)
 * Lex (Zelda)
 * Liah (Creative Arena, Graphics Design)
 * Maloe (Creativity Corner, General Chit Chat)
 * Notsil (Community)
 * Shrub (Battle Arena)
 * Quark (Battle Arena)
 * Veyrael (Creativity Corner, Zelda)

Super Moderators
Super Moderators (or "Super Mods") possess the same abilities as Section Mods, but exercise control over the entire forums, being able to modify any thread in the community.



Current Super Mods

 * Big Bro Davidia
 * deekay
 * Melpomene
 * Panique
 * Radek

Administrators
The Administrators (or "Admins") of are one of the most vital parts of the community. The administrators are those select few users who show their extreme dedication to the site and/or the forums and go that extra step to ensure the site is kept in order.

Administrators have the same powers as Super Mods, which are editing, deleting, moving, and locking threads, as well as warning and banning any members who break the Rules of ZU. They also have the ability to alter any aspect of the forums, including layout, user names, bandwidth settings, IP bans, etc.



Current Administrators

 * ɹɐǝqıɹǝ (aka. sea)
 * Debbie
 * Xeno

Code Wizards
Code Wizards have the exact same abilities as admins but are not responsible for forum-related tasks. Instead, they fix bugs, add new features and do general coding for the forum. This user group was created by Jason on July 29, 2010 and shares a similarly-schemed banner with administrators due to their equal powers. The group is loosely connected to the main site staff.



Current Code Wizards

 * Derek
 * Vero

Webmasters
The webmasters (or "webbies") of are the most vital part of entire website. The webmasters are those select few who have access to the Zelda Universe web site and are able to edit all content of the web site. They also post news items and articles relating to Zelda. Webmasters are the highest on the power command of ZU.

Webmasters have the same powers as Admins but can also change any user's name and user profiles, create/lock/delete the forums shown on ZU, as well more stricter forms of banning.



Current Webmasters

 * Cody
 * Piccolo Jr. (Owner of ZU)

Becoming a Moderator / Administrator / Webmaster
When the forum requires new staff, a discussion is carried out in the moderator boards to select members fit for the position. Members are usually recruited based on their activeness in a specific forum or section, as well as their leadership qualities and dedication displayed inside those forums or sections. Moderators can be promoted to higher ranks if they continue to show dedication and ability over the forums. Asking to become a staff member is frowned upon and will significantly lower any chances there were of becoming part of the staff.

Site Staff
Site Staff on are people who have been selected to write news articles on the main site, make decisions about the website and fulfill other tasks that may arise. In the forum, these people receive a golden banner with the Hylian Crest printed on the left. They are the driving force behind the ever-changing main website.

An up-to-date list can be viewed here or here.

News Correspondents
News Correspondents are mainly responsible for scouring the internet and posting news about Zelda and Nintendo’s other major franchises on the front page. They also participate in the comments system, fueling friendly discussions and moderating it.



Current News Correspondents

 * Hombre de Mundo
 * silver-hero

Content Writers
Content Writers are responsible for for much of the content on the website and perform tasks such as spotlighting fan music and creating and updating game guides and other information pages.



Current Content Writers

 * Phantom Majora
 * Melissa
 * Zorathan

Article Writers


Current Article Writers
</ul>
 * Hylian Dan
 * James
 * jwalraven
 * Power Shot
 * The Wolfess

Graphic Artists and Code Wizards
Graphic Artists help find the highest quality images and artwork to accompany the Content Writers’ guides and the News Correspondents’ posts. The also manage the image gallery and nearly all other artwork seen on the website.

Code Wizards create and modify scripts to implement new features and make existing code better, more stable and more compatible with multiple browsers. They have created everything from forum plugins to IRC bots to web layouts and work with the Graphic Artists to create web interfaces.



Current Graphic Artists and Code Wizards
</ul>
 * Derek
 * healy
 * Stεvε
 * Vero

Becoming a Site Staff Member
Anyone can become a staff member as they are not obligated to participate in the Zelda Universe Forums. These people are selected for their prominent qualities that make them suitable for the job. Currently, members are being recruited to fill staff openings.

Community Groups
Members of the Zelda Universe Community may be placed in special groups by the moderators. Though their forum powers are on par with regular members, each group has varying responsibilities, ranging from arranging special events to teaching members. Members usually work together on a larger project and sometimes have access to special boards. They also receive banners to distinguish them from other members.

Regular members cannot see a list of users in these groups. However, Super Mods and those with higher powers can. If you wish to update the following lists, please contact a super mod.

B.A. Council
The B.A. (The Battle Arena) and The Escapists' Haven on are run by the B.A. Council. The council decides all character approval guidelines and conducts approvals and runs BA-specific events, such as annual awards and tournaments. Some Councilors are also "teachers", working to improve members' writing abilities and role playing. They receive a gray banner with the Gerudo symbol.

On Tuesday, March 31, 2009, a decision was made by the Moderators of Zelda Universe to disband the BA council. All of the council related duties were taken over by the moderators of The Escapists' Haven, which were Ciroton and Altamira at the time. This caused much outrage and generated a good deal of spam in the Village section of the Escapists' Haven. That led to a few bans and the creation of a few "revolution" accounts. It was later revealed that this was an April Fool's joke, and all bans, infractions, and warnings were lifted.



Current B.A. Council Members
</ul>
 * Altamira
 * Ciroton
 * Drammor
 * Fairess
 * Puck
 * Lioness
 * Shrub
 * Tohopekaliga
 * Sabbo
 * Sakume
 * Stryder Aedernis
 * Quark

Additional Council members are elected by the current Councilors. Users are allowed to request to be councilors by contacting one of the current ones, but new Councilors are rare and must have shown lots of contributions to the Battle Arena.

Community Coordinators
Community Coordinators on are in charge of community events and projects within the community of Zelda Universe. They are given an orange banner with an encircled Triforce.



Current Community Coordinators
</ul>
 * Aniday
 * AzraelBlack
 * Black
 * Daz
 * Dog Dog 123
 * Felicks
 * Happy Mask Salesman
 * Mattocks
 * Saber
 * sage_of_fire
 * Slur
 * SteelSlasher
 * Vynrah
 * Xeno

If a member is running a big project or event for Zelda Universe, they may ask the webmaster for a Community Coordinator banner. This banner is lost once the community project is over.

Graphics Teachers
As of January 2010, the Graphics Teachers group has been disbanded. This may have been because the Graphics Schools teachers ran were rarely well-maintained and many teachers became inactive in their threads.

Graphics Teachers were a select few chosen to help teach members how to make sprites, signatures, avatars and any other form of computer graphic. Graphic Teachers usually had their own "Homerooms", where they made challenges for their "students" and helped them understand basic and complex graphic tools and programs. Graphics Teachers received a gray-green banner with the Sheikah symbol.

Patrons
Patrons are people on who donated money to the site. These generous donors receive a golden banner with a purple rupee.

These donations were first announced when Jason needed $2000 (USD) for the new "Temple" forum skin. Another way that people got the banner was when Jason needed money for a new server. Currently, money can be donated to the Bank of Hyrule, which runs contests for prizes such as Nintendo DSi units, copies of newly released Zelda games and video game accessories. So far, one contest for a DSi has been run with another contest for a pre-ordered, fully payed copy of SS undefined underway.

There are dozens of patrons at the moment, and as such, adding their names to one list would not be practical. However, we are grateful for their generous donations. To become a patron, a user must donate at least one American dollar's worth ($1) of cash to Jason by Paypal, then send a copy of the receipt that they received by email to Jason via private message (PM) on Zelda Universe.

Zelda Wiki Contributors
Zelda Wiki Contributors are people who have shown great dedication to the wiki and contributed to it. Contributors are given a light blue banner with an encircled Triforce.

The Zelda Wiki Contributor Banner was suggested to Jason by Melchizedek, who was given the idea by Axiomist. Jason needed a simple way to confirm that these users made as many edits as they claimed they did, so Matt suggested to have the Edit Count extension installed.



Current Contributors
</ul>
 * Ando
 * Axiomist
 * dany the dot
 * I Я (aka Zien)
 * jwalraven
 * Mandi
 * Μαtt
 * Melchizedek
 * Neo
 * Stεvε
 * The Goron Moron
 * Triforce of the Gods
 * Unknown Hero
 * Yusei

A member can become a Contributor if (s)he: <BR> This banner is handed out by the Zelda Universe staff under the supervision of the Zelda Wiki admins. Asking to become a Contributor will greatly reduce one's chances of receiving the banner and if the admins feel that a user will stop editing after receiving the banner, they will not hand it out. The banner is removed when the user stops contributing to the wiki.
 * Has shown great dedication to contributing to the wiki.
 * Has made a reasonable amount of edits.

Clans of the Goddesses
Members of may join groups called "Clans" where they can participate in games and discussions. Although it is not mandatory, joining a clan is a common practice among Zelda Universe's members, partly due to the laid back, less strict atmosphere of the Clan Forums. There are three clans, namely the <font color="#FF0000">Din, <font color="#4C8CbC">Nayru and <font color="#00FF00">Farore clans. Analogous to the Goddesses the Clans are named after, Din stands for Power, Nayru for Wisdom and Farore for Courage and are represented by the colors red, blue and green respectively.

Each clan has a separate forum for conversations between its members. A combined forum exists where every clan member can post and play games together. One of the popular events is the Clan Wars, a series of games, writing competitions and art competitions played by the clans in an attempt to control each others' "planets". Posts in the clan forums do not add to the user's post count due to the nature of the threads.

<font color="#FF0000">The Din Clan
Also known as the Clan of Power, the Din Clan has a reputation for pyromania and a love of blowing stuff up. The fact that several of its members have been known to loudly proclaim their apparent lack of sanity has added to this reputation, although there is some speculation that Nayrulian propaganda is at the heart of its harsher aspects. However, many members of the Clan itself - commonly referred to as Dinnies - would be quick to belittle any efforts made by the "jellyfish," otherwise known as Clan Nayru.

The second defining characteristic of Clan Din is its friendly rivalry with the jellyfish. This rivalry stretches back far enough that few, if any, can remember its origins, or even if there was any origin as such - as far as most members are concerned, the two Clans clash simply because it's what they do.

Din is ruled over by Lord Tiroth and Panique, while past moderators have included the Great Lioness and her predecessor, Tristann Velorei.

<font color="#4C8CbC">The Nayru Clan


The Nayrulian Empire, also known as the Nayru Clan, the Imperium of Nayru, or just Nayru for short, is known for its tight-knit yet welcoming community, friendly rivalry with Din, and megalomaniac Clan mod (Emperor SacredSturgeon of Nayru), as well as being the Clan that all three of ZU's Webmasters are from (thus, technically, making it more powerful than its rival Din, something the Emperor is fond of pointing out). Nayru was known for a long time as "The Clan of Pervyness" or "the Pervy Clan", because sexual topics would often pop up, and Nayru's moderation when it comes to such topics is more liberal than that of the other two Clans. Nayru has cut back significantly on such topics in more recent times however, following complaints from members, though Nayru's moderation stance towards these topics is still more lenient than that of the other Clans.

Nayru contains many members that have been with the Clan for ages, and several of them hardly (if ever) leave the blessed grounds of the Imperium because they love their Clan so much. Despite being closely knit, the Children of the Empire are generally welcoming to both new members and visiting members that aren't from Nayru. For example, the Nayrulians generally regretted it when Site Staff members could no longer access Clans, because they enjoyed visits from such members as Rew.

Nayru has a proud history, having grown from a small group of rag-tag members to a full-fledged Empire. In its early days, it was looked over by various mods, including Lozzie (Now known as James), Jason (now known as Jason), and Malony. Lady Miniblin the Great officially took over the reigns on August 28, 2005, and has been the beloved leader of the Clan for a long time, until finally stepping down on April 21, 2007, to the collective grief of the Clan. Her reign saw Nayru grow strong and proud and become an active and tight-knit community, and she will be remembered as a great mod and considered an awesome member by her former subjects. The next day heralded the announcement of who was to succeed her. Her legacy being impressive as it is, it was decided that she needed not one, but two successors, and these successors were SacredSturgeon and Awkin.

Nayru has, at various points, gone through rough spots, troubles, as well as periods of inactivity, but the dedication and spirit of its members have ensured that Nayru has always pulled through, and the Clan continues going strong to this very day. Nayru also seems to have the biggest variety and talent of digital artists.

<font color="#00FF00">The Farore Clan


The Farore Clan is known for holding popular/"cool" members. The Farore Clan has an environment of its own. It is not as different as Nayru, but also not as hot-headed as Din. Most of the members of this clan enjoy hanging out in the safety of the Utopia for many reasons, the main one being the many 'interesting' conversations that take place daily. Each year, the Farorians have been known to throw a party to celebrate Christmas, as well as many other occasions, such as this year, in which they threw a newbie party for all new Farore members. Of all the clans, you are most likely to find that Farore has the kindest members on ZU. They are a wonderful, friendly bunch, but do not be alarmed if you are greeted with something...well, alarming. Farorean/Farorians tend to be quite unpredictable. Of course, if you're a Dinnie visiting, you may not live long until you come face-to-face with Poe Black's flame thrower... Farore's moderator is DK.

Farore generally has Pepsi everyday and members of the clan are nice to each other, but if you try to invade Farore, watch your back. Farore is fun loving and always active, with its RPG thread and a thread dedicated to spam. It is full of love and kindness - in the Utopia, Farorians like to share what they've been through. Farore holds very talented people, amusing people, caring people and all other sorts.

Joining and Leaving a Clan
Before joining a clan, members must meet two requirements: <BR> Once the conditions have been met, a member may send a Private Message (PM) to a super mod requesting the Clan Test. The mod will then send them the Clan Test, a questionnaire comprising of five multiple-choice questions, five short answer questions and three long answer questions. Depending on the member's response, the Super Mod will place them into a clan, giving them access to the clan forums and new banner. If the Super Mod feels the score is even between two clans, the member may be asked which clan they'd prefer to be in.
 * The user must have been a member of Zelda Universe for at least one month
 * The user must have made a minimum of 50 posts in the forums

Members may request to be moved to another clan after spending at least one month in their current clan. Swapping is generally frowned upon and will only be permitted for good reasons, although the moderating team can deny any request. Members must retake the clan test before being moved to another clan. Only one switch is allowed per user.

A member may request to be removed from the clans entirely, but like switching clans, no second chances will be given.

IRC Chat Room
The chat room is an IRC room connected to the ZU community. It can be found on the Bored-IRC network as #zelda. It is sometimes known as #z among veterans. Along with the ZeldaInformer chat (whom #zelda folk are often intermingled with) the Zelda Universe chat room is one of the largest Zelda-related chat rooms on the internet.

Despite being connected to the ZU community, Zelda is actually very rarely discussed and ZU mods have little influence in the chat room. The topics will vary from anything, such as general gaming to music to forum drama to, well... whatever, really.

History
The Zelda Universe chatroom/IRC channel was created in July 2003 by Lozzie, originally residing on EFNet as #zuchat. At some point in time, Starship ZUChat, a loose trolling group, grew out of #zuchat. Eventually, #zuchat was moved to Gnug-IRC in 2004, where it was renamed to #zelda. In April 2009, when Gnug-IRC was shut down, #vgrc migrated to Bored-IRC, and #zelda followed suit.

Connecting
There are two main ways to access the room. The first is to simply use the IRC applet on ZU. The second requires the user to download an IRC Client. The staff at Zelda Universe recommend using mIRC for Windows, Colloquy for Mac OS X and other Apple OS and ZChat for Linux.

Once you'd downloaded your IRC client, follow these steps:
 * In the main window, click in the text box. Type "/server irc.lessthan3.net", without the quotes.
 * You'll get a flood of text. Sometimes, you may get a prompt showing channels. Type "#zelda". If not, type "/join #zelda".
 * If you haven't chosen a nickname/other details, type "/nick yournick", without the quotes. yournick would be the nickname you want.

Chat Staff
These selected members are like forum moderators, but for the IRC chat. Just like the forum, they come in varying levels of power indicated be a prefixed character. These members can change the subject of thier chat channel, or kick/ban a member from the chat. Chat Admins control who is a normal member, and who has staff powers. As the staff changes constantly, it is a bit impractical to add them to a list. However, commands can be used to identify current members. The following are arranged in decending powers.

Tips from Veterans

 * Occasionally, new members are treated badly by veterans, usually for bad grammar or behavior. This has led to many complaints on the forums over the years with little action being taken by the moderators. This is because the chat and forums are completely separate. Veterans believe that by treating new members this way, they will become stronger. Many of the people who pass this treatment improve and become strong, frequent visitors of the chat.
 * Flooding the chat with spam is looked down upon
 * Chat goers take users that use good grammar more seriously than those who don't. Good spelling and sentence structure is greatly appreciated.
 * It helps to have an original or creative name. Things like "Link231" or "ZeLdArOx", for example, should be avoided.
 * If you have any questions or concerns, ask a veteran. Most of them are happy to give answers and advice.

ZUChat, the person
When the Java-based webchat was introduced to ZU, the default name for anybody joining was named "ZUChat." As most of the channel regulars used a program such as mIRC or X-Chat to connect to the chat, anybody joining as a ZUChat was usually a noob. ZUChats almost always got picked on by the regular chat members and were usually run out of the chat room.

Example: [12:08]ZUChat has entered #zelda [12:09]Lars: OMFG, IT'S A ZUCHAT!! [12:09]*Phatman hugs the ZUChat [12:10]ZUChat has left #zelda

Sentiments of the name ZUChat: [12:58:11 AM] <AutoMatt> kwsn: Zuchat is another name for fail.

In February 2008, the infamous Java chat was replaced with a new Java applet integrated to the ZU forums. Anybody joining the chat would then automatically join as their forum name, with unregistered users and those not logged in joining as Unregistered, thus effectively limiting the fun of ZUChat to those old enough to remember it.

Zelda Universe Broadcasting Corporation (ZUBC)
The Zelda Universe Broadcasting Corporation (or "ZUBC" for short) is a group comprised of dedicated staff that handles all distributed media on. The group is directly responsible for making and producing the ZUCast, the semi-monthly podcast. It also creates, edits and uploads videos for ZeldaUniverseTV, ZU's official YouTube channel.

History
ZUBC was originally concentrated within the podcast, called the "ZCast", short for "ZeldaCast". The idea of a podcast was initially brought up by Nolan MacDonald on the Zelda Universe forum, and was quickly supported by user Anime_Queen. The idea was approved by Jason Rappaport, the current owner of the website, and a pilot podcast was ordered. Initial staffing problems pushed the pilot back two months, confusing listeners as the community news was out of date. This problem also affected the second podcast, as a large scale reorganization took place within the podcast staff forums that prohibited the podcast from timely reporting news.

The team continued to be known as the ZCast until staff member Domanic Calleja devised that the podcast should be part of a larger media group. He jokingly referred to it as the 'ZUBC' (in homage to the British Broadcasting Corporation) which, to his great amusement, was accepted by Jason and Asia, becoming the site-wide identity of the team dedicated to creating both podcasts and all other forms of ZU-related media.

Zelda Universe Podcast
The Zelda Universe Podcast (or "ZUCast") was originally a single podcast which, by popular demand, catered towards the community aspects of the site. It had many short segments occassionally interrupted by editor's notes and rather poor transitions. The podcast was quickly criticized by members for it's lack of Zelda-specific coverage and was eventually decided that the podcast would be split into two parts - "ZCast", the Zelda podcast, and "CCast", the community podcast. Both would be released simultaneously and downloadable separately to cater to listeners' preferences. Upon Anime_Queen's departure in early 2009, however, this idea was scrapped, and the ZUCast continues to be a single podcast to this day. At the same time the decision to continue a single ZUCast was made, it was also decided that, as a replacement compromise, the ZUCast would now be a lot more Zelda-related and a lot less community-related, about a 70-to-30 ratio.

Some of the recurring segments and their hosts are highlighted below:
 * Zelda News: Hosted by Cody, this segment covers recent news about the Legend of Zelda series.
 * Community News:: Rosco Rhodes covers recent happenings in the ZU community.
 * Cody's Rant: A segment in which Cody Davies rants about, well, just about anything he feels like!
 * ZU Spotlight: (sometimes called "Community Spotlight") The podcast's hosts highlight the creative side (art, poetry, contests, and more) of the ZU community, as well as established ZU members. This segment is the revived version of a segment that originally aired in the second and third podcasts called "Beneath the ZU Spotlight."
 * Zelda Theorizing: The ZUBC's resident Zelda Theorist, Hombre de Mundo, along with ZU Theorist humulos, discusses the deeper elements of the Zelda series, including the Zelda timeline.

Zelda Universe TV
On January 23, 2010, the ZUBC, along with ZU webmasters Jason Rappaport and Cody Davies, started ZU's official YouTube channel, Zelda Universe TV (or "ZUTV"). Some examples of videos posted on ZUTV are the all-new video mailbags, complete official ZU visual walkthroughs, special site announcements, and more.

Members of the ZUBC

 * Avalanchemike: ZUCast Host (October 2010 - Present)
 * Cody Davies (Cody): ZUCast Host/Zelda Newscaster/Segment Host "Cody Davies is Zelda Universe’s newest Webmaster, dabbling in a bit of everything. He has written content, provided news, coded code, found images, provided segments for the ZU Podcast and manages the site polls." (February 2008 - Present)
 * Daniel Åkerman (Hombre de Mundo): Segment Host/Former Producer (February 2008 - Present)
 * Domanic Calleja (Dom): Public Relations "'Knock knock, delivery!' Dom is in charge of the outer image of the podcast. His job includes getting the podcast to you, the listeners, by updating the Headquarters page and posting threads on the forums. He also does a lot of the visual work, providing graphics and images for use with the podcast."
 * Eric (EzloSpirit): Production Assistant/Segment Host "I get to write and host my own little segments! Plus, I offer ideas and just generally help out the rest of the team in making the ZUCast as best it can be for all of you listeners! Although, I guess I'm partially just along for the ride. Don't tell anyone!" (March 2010 - Present)
 * Jordan Burnett (Aniday): Head Editor "I edit the ZU Cast and, on behalf of the ZUBC, I edit other things when people beg me. I also perform the occasional epic-movie-voice cameo in the Podcast." (March/April 2008 - Present)
 * Malia Fa’auma (Liah): Producer/ZUCast Host/Graphic Artist "I pretend to do work so my name gets announced in the credits. It works." (March/April 2008 - Present)
 * Margaret Barile (Margar): Producer/ZUCast Host "Cracker of whips, bestower of knowledge, jack of all communications trades." (February 2008 - Present)
 * Matt Bowman (Mattocks): ZUCast Host "Awesome." (January 2010 - Present)
 * Rosco Rhodes (DIUM): Community Newscaster "To tell it like it is." (March/April 2008 - Present)

Former ZUBC Staff Members

 * Asia Alfasi (Anime_Queen): ZUBC Founder/Former Executive Producer "Content Manager, director, occasional base editor and slave driver - overseeing the whole production process from start to finish." (February 2008 - December 2008)
 * Bret Lockerbie (Asci): Former ZUCast Host "Speaks on behalf of the Zelda Universe Community so that others may hear it." (February 2008 - December 2008)
 * Connor Sullivan (Link/"Lunk"): Former ZUCast Host "I am that crazy guy with the microphone who does segments whenever they want me. I’m never paid, but so far, the pay is good." (February 2008 - March 2010)
 * Marten/Shikaino: Former Segment Host of "ZU Spotlight" (April 2010 - August 2010)
 * Nathanial Rumphol-Janc: Former Zelda Newscaster (May 2009 - July 2010)
 * Selah: Former Segment Host of "Beneath the ZU Spotlight" (March/April 2008 - May/June 2008)

Becoming involved with the ZUBC
Members may apply for permanent positions within the ZUBC. These members should possess several of the following skills: <BR> Members may also submit ideas and recordings for their own segments to the ZUBC for review and possible airing. Listeners of the podacast are encouraged to give feedback in order to improve the podcast. Both of these can be done by either contacting the ZUBC or by posting in the appropriate thread.
 * Proficiency with video editing software such as iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Sony Vegas, etc.
 * Proficiency with audio editing software such as Garageband, Logic Pro, Audacity, Sonar, ProTools, etc.
 * A great television and/or radio personality that can attract and engage listeners and viewers
 * The ability to work in one of the most tightly knit, productive teams on Zelda Universe
 * Knowledge of running YouTube channels (uploading, organizing, and tagging videos properly, etc.)

Zelda Universe Holiday Cards (ZUHC)


The ZUHC is short for Zelda Universe Holiday Cards. The project is leaded by manger, Zien, and was made to help spread multi-holiday cheer throughout the year. The cards are drawn by ZU's very own members, and the designs are based off of suggestions made by other members.

History
The ZUHC was based off of another project, called the Humulation Army Holiday Cards (or "HAHC" for short). The project was introduced by Zien to ZU in October, 2008. The project was shut down because it got little to no support from other Humulation Army members. In November, 2008, Zien tried again, but this time made the project focus of Zelda Universe. Again, the thread got little to no support, so the project was shut down. Zien, now almost hopeless, came across the Plaza thread in ZU. He read it, and noticed that he could get support if he was to post there first. Margar, a forum mod, came across the thread, and was the first to support the project. Zien made many advertisements of member profiles, but only five replied back with support. Afterwards, Zien made the new ZUHC project thread in the community section, and the ZUHC HQ thread in the hidden Community Coordinators section. Later, Steve arrived to give the project support, and was made a ZUHC card designer. A little later, the team discovered it needed one last person, someone to color the card by using computer programs. Zien the picked Ŧim to join the team, and become the final ZUHC staffer.

Members of the ZUHC Staff

 * Zien-Manager
 * Margar-Co Manager/Card Desinger
 * Steve-Card Designer
 * Ŧim-Logo Maker/Card Colorer

Newbie's Guide to the Universe
The Newbie's Guide to the Universe is an extensive guide to the rules and ways of the forums. The name is play on the famous novel and book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The guide was written by Scott, when he was still known as Kokiri Kid. The guide mentions all the rules of Zelda Universe in an easier to read manner. The guide is located in the New Members Board of Zelda Universe.

Adoption
's adoption system, originally started by Lioness and currently located in the Adoption Lodge thread in the New Members Board, gives new members the opportunity to have a personal mentor and friend. These "adopters" give advice when their "adoptees" make mistakes, help them feel more comfortable being in a large forum if need be, answer their adoptees' questions (this is great if an adoptee is too shy to ask someone else), as well as be one of their first friends on ZU.

Becoming an adopter
To become an approved adopter on ZU, a user must fit all of the following criteria:


 * The user have been a member of ZU for at least 3 months
 * The user must have a minimum of 150 posts
 * The user must have adequate conventions (spelling, punctuation, and grammar) throughout their posts
 * The user's posts must be detailed and not spammy as they must set a good example for new members

Once the user is qualified to become an adopter, they may send a Private Message to Mattocks or Dog Dog 123 stating why they believe they would make a good adopter.

Conditions for Adopting

 * Adopters are only able to adopt one newbie every two weeks. The exception to that is if there are many new members with no one offering adoption.
 * Adopters may have a maximum of 2 newbies each.
 * Adopters must help guide their adoptees and guard them from attacks.

A complete list of approved adopters can be found in the Adoption Lodge thread.

The Battle Arena
The Battle Arena, formerly known as the Amphitheater and then as the Escapists' Haven, and before that as the Battle Arena, is the role-playing section of. It often goes by "BA." It was revamped when the Temple skin was introduced to Zelda Universe on July 11, 2008. This revamp introduced the Village, which allowed for Out of Character threads to be made; something almost impossible to do before the revamp, with all the Out of Character threads being in the Battle Arena.

Characters
This is the forum where role-players make characters and submit them to the approval process. These characters will be used in all of the other forums in the Escapists' Haven excluding The Village. This forum includes the Character Fiction sub-forum, where role-players write stories about their characters without any interaction in the work with the readers.

The Crossroads
The role playing forums of the Escapists' Haven. This is where all role playing and battle threads are kept. For the longest time, battles and role playing threads were kept on separate forums. However, as part of an initiative to streamline and prune Zelda Universe of all unnecessary threads, the Battle Arena and the Crossroads were merged and bear the latter's name.

The Dome
In the continuity of the BA, the Dome is a sentient building that exists outside of space or time. In the context of the ZU forums, it serves as the community forums for the entire Battle Arena. Located within are all previous iterations of the Out of Character Thread, various member-developed initiatives, awards, tournaments, and all other community-oriented discussions. As well, the Dome is a place for BA members to submit their works for peer review, or engage in non-canonical (no effect on their characters) threads, including the In Character Thread.

The Box
It's a simple cardboard box that stores all material and discussions related to the BA Council and the running of the section itself. Of course, this is all academic as the Box does not exist. At all. It's simply a myth spread by the older members of the community.

The Village
The place where all the out of character discussion is held. The thread with the most activity in here is the "OOC thread". This used to be one of the very few non-Council created discussion threads (this incarnation was created by a Council member, although some past incarnations weren't).

This section no longer exists, as it was merged into The Dome following a site-wide campaign to eliminate unneeded forums.

The Out of Character Thread
The main thread of the Escapists' Haven is the Out of Character thread. This is one of the few non-council member created discussion threads, although most incarnations are made by council members. The oldest one found dates 08/23/2004 through 07/21/2005. The Out of Character thread is always in danger of having it's title changed, with one role player stating "It's part of the EH culture." Most of the Out of Character threads were posted in the Battle Arena before The Village was made. Now, since the Village is the only Escapists' Haven forum for out of character activity, it will be posted there.

Serious Discussion
The Serious Discussion (or "SD") board, sometimes referred to as INTERNET: Serious Business (or "I:SB"), is a section dedicated to discussing serious topics such as current world happenings, politics, religion, alternative life styles, morals and the like. This board is the most heavily moderated section of the forums due to the nature of the topics in it.

The Serious Discussion board has some rough history after being created around June 2004. Despite the moderating efforts of Big Bro Davidia, people began flaming other users for their opinions. This led to some preaching their religion, insulting whole groups of people and generally being stupid.

The forum was closed in April 2005 and went under total reconstruction. It reopened temporarily between May 5th and about late May in 2005 when it was closed again. The Serious Discussion Board was finally brought back on August 17, 2005.

According to Big Bro Davidia's 2008 podcast rant, threads follow this general pattern:
 * A question is asked or discussion of a topic begins (ex. Is atheism wrong?)
 * The question is redefined to make it clearer (ex. Members may ask if the original poster meant "immoral" or "incorrect")
 * People begin posting based on the topic's title rather than the content of the posts
 * If a well-respected member posts, people with similar opinions would begin ganging up on a group of members, possibly the original poster
 * A "councilor" tries to defuse the situation, usually by changing the topic or talking down the gang up members. At this point, the thread's topic may change to something else.

Battle of the Webmasters
On March 24th, 2008, ZeldaInformer's owner and webmaster Dennis Wyman (Captain Cornflake) posted a challenge on the forums, daring ZU owner and webmaster Jason Rappaport to face him in a game of Super Smash Bros. Brawl to settle their differences once and for all. The challenge was accepted and soon members from both sites started pouring into the thread posting various questions, rumors, propaganda and taking sides on the fight. Soon, the two began setting bets, starting at $100. The stakes quickly rose to $250, $450, $4750, Captain Cornflake's car and $10,000 until they finally agreed to bet the ownership of Zelda Informer and Zelda Universe.

Excitement was in the air as their debate progressed towards the final settlement date (March 29th) and the actual bet of both ZI and ZU. In the end, Captain Cornflake won, causing turmoil in the community. It was revealed two days later to be an April Fool's joke planned weeks ahead of time, so no transfer of ownership took place. In fact, Cap'n didn't even own a copy of the game, so Jason had to fake the match with a friend.

The initial challenge from Cap'n
"The time has come Jason. Your time has come.

I am absolutely sick and tired of your condescending additude towards ZeldaInformer and myself. I was hoping we could perhaps patch up ties after you took over ZU from Yusuf and put behind us this petty rivalry, but I think it's quite apparent by your behavior as of late that this will never be able to happen. I've now realized that the commercial priorities from the days of Yusuf are just as alive and well as ever under your management, Jason. And Zelda Universe will always remain a joke to the rest of the community because of that.

And you're afraid. Afraid an upstart is going to take your glory. Well, we don't need to wait for that to happen, I can solve that issue right now. It's time we settle this once and for all.

You. Me. 1 on 1. Smash Bros. Brawl. The only way we'll ever be able to settle who is the best webmaster and who has the better site is by me wiping your ass across the floor. I'll even let you pick the stage, I'm that confident I can take you."

Legacy
Many users dubbed this thread "the greatest in ZU history." In fact, it has won a place in Cody's House of Birthdays, an archive of threads deamed to be funny or otherwise interesting.

"THE BET - $10,000. Ten thousand dollars. A big bag of jewmoney."

- Jason

"I'm placing my bets. Capn's SO going to put this Jew in the oven!"

- Link

"I think, deep down all of us want Capn to take over ZU."

- Hazz

"Gah! My alliances are tied in this battle... Jewson, one who shares the pain of jewnoses! Or Captain Cornflake, the one who opened my eyes to the internets!"

- Kikz

"The Capn' will win. That's a no-brainer."

- Blizzaga

"If anyone even TRIES to run the 8ball command asking about this one, I will propagate through the internets and DESTROY EVERYTHING. I HATE YOU ALL"

- UB2R-B0T

Couples of ZU
Some of the most influential people in the community are no doubt the pairs of members who have fallen in love with each other. There are a number of active ZU couples today, and below is a list of the current pairs of ZU lovers. Read about them to find out how they met and how they fell in love. All are devoted Zelda fans and gamers as well.

Buzz and Sugarpoultry
More than likely the most well-known ZU couple, Buzz and Sugarpoultry are also notable for being the first ZU couple who actually have gotten married in real life. They met in their college years in band class and were friends for awhile. Although Buzz had a girlfriend at the time, he was slowly developing feelings for Sugarpoultry. Eventually, he broke up with his old girlfriend and Sugarpoultry became his. A nice note about this is that Buzz was Sugarpoultry's first and only boyfriend. Years went by and the two were eventually married! Now, they have a child, a lovely little girl named Kadree. They have shown pictures of both them and Kadree many times for us to see!

Darius Andreas and Lady Ranny
There's an interesting story behind what brought these two together. One of the Farore Clan's three couples (Kassi and Lex and Deku Queen and Shigeru being the other two), Darius Andreas and Lady Ranny had known one another for quite a long time until they officially became bf/gf. They did not meet in ZU, rather in another Zelda forum, around 2.75 years ago (this is just an estimate, as neither Darius nor Ranny remember exactly when they met). Over time they became best friends and continued as such for the past couple of years. When Ranny met another member, Raddy, she grew close to him and they began to fall in love just a couple months or so after meeting. As a result, Darius grew a bit...well, jealous, and proclaimed his love for Ranny. Prior to this, however, Ranny learned that another girl was in love with Raddy and that he also liked her quite a lot. Later, when Darius asked Ranny to be his girlfriend, Ranny realized she also loved him, and soon accepted. She has known Darius much longer than Raddy, and knew she loved him first; she simply didn't realize it until then. Ranny and Darius both continue to greatly thank Raddy for indirectly "playing cupid." The two now have a fanclub for all DariusxRanny supporters to join!

Lex and Kassi
Although Mr. Lexxi Aileron and Mrs. Kassi Aileron are a Farorian couple like Darius Andreas and Lady Ranny as well as Shigeru and Deku Queen, the story behind them is almost opposite. The two met only a month before Lex asked Kassi to marry him. The official date of their marriage is not yet known, but they're working on it! Like Darius Andreas and Lord Ranny, these two also have a fanclub for their supporters. Lex's favorite game series just so happens to be Zelda as well. The page creator will be editing this section.

Ja-kun and Liah
Hehe, these two are probably best known as ZU's graphics couple. Both are good sig makers who are active in Graphics Design. Liah and Ja-kun have known each other for quite some time, and they both met in person. The page creator will be editing this section.

Blind Swordsman and Sarah
These two have not been seen for awhile, but they're still a couple worth remembering. They met quite sometime ago (like Darius Andreas and Lord Ranny), and after falling in love, they eventually met in person for a good week. Sarah made a thread for the pictures they took. Not much more is known now that neither of these two members have been active lately.

Fox McCloud and Nenue
Fox McCloud and Nenue were the second couple to marry after Buzz and Sugarpoultry. They, however, had started as an on-off relationship. They met in ZU's chatroom in 03, where they quickly bonded. But, due to heavily interwined emotions and overlooking differences between themselves, the two broke and parted ways. After this, they were never talking for awhile and eventually Fox McCloud decided to leave ZU completely. Turns out that he wasn't gone for good, however, and returned in 07, though he was reluctant to do so. While he was back, he still did not speak to Nenue and she did not speak to him. When August came along, however, the two had met in person during one of ZU's meetups. During this time, it was then they realized they had changed, and they started feeling their connection again. Following these events, they began to speak for hours and hours and hours. They weren't sure why they were speaking again, but their desire to continue to do so only stuck. The feelings between Fox McCloud and Nenue only grew after this, and they decided they had to spend their lives together. They were then married in September of 08.

Shigeru and Deku Queen
Ah, the third of Farore's couples. Shigeru and Deku Queen are one heck of a couple to learn about. Not only have they met in person as well, but the Farore scrapbook has lots of their pictures. They've even shown after-shower images, unusually enough. These two have cracked up the Farorians for a long time and continue to do so today in the Farore Utopia (as well as the rest of the clan, of course).

Zelda Encyclopedia
Zelda Encyclopedia: This was the predecessor to the Wiki, contained a fine array of data, but was limited in the information offered. Its listing went from Aches to Zora, and was a useful tool to so many users, unfortunately its data was limited, and because of this the Zelda Wiki looks to be a major improvement as it will be constantly updated by site users.

1337 Admin Panel
The 1337 Admin Panel was made by KokiriKid for Peefy. It's an actual quote from the chat where Peefy pretended that he was one of the admins (as he often does due to his arrogant attitude). The page was mostly created for the joke, but was also suggested to be used if anyone else wanted access to the admin panel.

This page is not commonly known, although Peefy links to it in his signature and talks about it now and then. There is no reason it still exists outside of novelty purposes. Some members in the past have rumoured that Kokiri Kid is going to add some features to the panel in the future.

The functions of the panel are:
 * One can highlight words and/or sentences
 * One can copy the text into the clipboard
 * One can read it (both forwards, backwards and inbetween)
 * It contains a clock that is right two times a day
 * It also contains a quote from the chat

Failtality
A term used immediately after a member is kick-banned from the irc channel. The first time it was used was when KWSN decided to imitate this quote from bash.org when a ZUChat was kick-banned. Yami took it a step futher and declared the failtality.

* Remus sets mode: +b *!*@gnug-A0258050.client.mchsi.com <Remus> .. *pokes* <Remus> it didn't kick. o_o; FINISH HIM * user_name was kicked by Remus (Remus) FAILTALITY

Give me a sex
A long time ago, when #zelda was still on the EFnet IRC network, a member named Fox McCloud made what is considered the most famous typo in the chatroom's history.

<_McCloud_> Gimme a sex

Obviously he meant "Gimme a sec," but the typo, for some reason, has lived on and been referenced countless times. Most oldbies were around to see this, and it will probably be the most famous #zelda typo ever.

McCloud was briefly known as Focs due to his typo (an obvious pun), and some even still call him by that name.

Going Kedsy
A term that was coined by Nox in #Zangaroa. To say, 'going Kedsy' is to say that you will troll and belittle community members purely for the purpose of generating 'jollies' and to disrupt the alleged 'already ruined discussion'. This is the exact same thing Kedsy (Mr. Hands), who was a member of ZU, did and was banned for after he left.

NKA
What is the NKA, you ask? Well, it differs from D3PyroGS club, Newbie Kumquat Association as our general goal is to track down and kill n00bs (basicly, the club is an offshoot of the N00b Slaying Organization, or NSO), thus the name, N00b Killing Association. Vets and newbs alike are sick of the n00b invasion that has swept ZU in the past few months. Differing from the mod team, we generaly like to kill n00bs right on the spot, rather than try and change them as there are too many of them now to try and convert. The mod team is having trouble also and that is why we need you to join our organization. The only rules for our club is to follow ZU's rules (which the n00bs break) and to not be a n00b. If you were one, thats fine as it can help to know a n00b if you were one as to track them down easier.

The NKA was founded on May 1st, 2005, by used-to-be n00b, Nox.

Onebie
The term "Onebie" was coined by Nox in #zelda. A onebie is like an oldbie, only a onebie has been at ZU for a year or more. Onebies are a bit lower on the food chain, but still know ZU pretty well.

The term is met with contention from some, who consider the classification of members to this degree devisive and counterproductive.

Phaptastical
Phaptastical started in the ZU IRC Chatroom. Nox and Jason were having a discussion as to how awesome PhatMan (Gecko) was. Of course both had different opinions. Nox said he was the most awesome person, and that no one was more awesomely awesome. But, GC had a very different opinion. His thought was PhatMan was not that awesome, and some people were more awesomely awesome, such as Peefy for example. After a long debate, Jason coined the word Phaptastical for PhatMan's "awesome" ranking.

But wait! What does it mean? That is the question you are most likely asking. In fact. You are asking it. Phaptastical simply means, you are awesome enough to phap. But you are not awesome enough to do other things, for example: Be Peefy. Phaptastical has only been awarded to one person. Gecko. It is his current Custom Rank on the ZU forums.

You may be asking yourself, "How do I get this rank?". Well, you can't. It is only permitted to people who can Phap. And the only one that can do that is Gecko. So don't ask.