NPC Faction - Zuna

[UndyingNephalim]

Zuna



Main Color: Light Brown
Religion: Lesser Deity Worship
Culture: Barbaric
Rival Factions: None
Cordial Factions: Darknut Legion

Strengths, Weaknesses, and Abilities:
- Master Weapon-smiths: The Zuna craft the finest weapons in all of Hyrule. As such they are outfitted with better weapons then most empires at an earlier period of time.
- Monumental Builders: The Zuna are also well known for their stoic pyramids that dot the western Gerudo Desert. They are able to build structures much quicker then any empire in the campaign.

How to make them appear in the Campaign: The Zuna spawn at the start of any campaign.

Perhaps one of the oldest races native to the Gerudo Desert, the Zuna are an isolated culture of reptilian builders and weapon crafters. Though they seem fairly cordial with the Darknut Legion, the Zuna will rarely make contact with any other empire or race outside of weapon dealings. The skill with which the Zuna make their weapons is legendary, so legendary that the Darknut Legion employs them to create incredibly ornate swords for their soldiers. Despite their famous profession, the Zuna rarely ever engage in warfare and their public army usually only operates out of defense.

Zuna Unit Roster

Standard Units
Merchantmen
Crossbowmen
Pyramid Guards

Defensive Emplacements
Ziggurat

Siege Weaponry
Triballista

Command Units
Zuna Lord

Agents
Zuna Weapon Trader
Zuna Negotiator

Special/Other Units:
None

Heroes/Bosses:
Vorday



Details and pictures of units coming soon.

[VGF254]

any horses? since the gerudo have them or are they like the Darknuts and only use certain weapons?

[Duke Serkol]

If they are cacti, they'd probably be unable to sit on the poor horses without them going crazy and if they are lizardmen, the horses would probably be instinctively afraid of them.

I wonder if there's any dsert monsters in the series that can fill that role. Something with an thick/armored hide that can be controlled and does not burrow under the sand.

Side note... I just realized that being cacti people (in FSA at least, here they are lizards, but bear with me) it could make sense for them to train Leevers.

[Avatar of the Ice Wolf]

Side note... I just realized that being cacti people (in FSA at least, here they are lizards, but bear with me) it could make sense for them to train Leevers.

Now that is a good idea. I would like to see Leevers in a dedicated faction's army; or atleast as a merc unit.

[quenya]

cool idea. leevers definately should be in the game, and who better to have them than the Zuna?

[VGF254]

there we go a cavalry unit, leevers need to be in the game

[Duke Serkol]

Does it count as a cavalry unit if no one's riding them?

Mh, I guess so long as they are fast and deal damage from charging that's all that matters.

[Mjolnr839]

Does it count as a cavalry unit if no one's riding them?

Mh, I guess so long as they are fast and deal damage from charging that's all that matters.

gohma have/are riderless cavalry. though i'd just call them monster calavry.

[Duke Serkol]

Yeah okay, I'll just go ahead and take credit for coming up with Zuna cavalry if you insist

[Avatar of the Ice Wolf]

gohma have/are riderless cavalry. though i'd just call them monster calavry.

Unfortunately this causes Gohma captains (units acting as generals in the absence of a family member) that are connected to a mounted unit to be stuck inside the Pincergohma/Gohma Long Legs/Armogohma if those units are the acting captain units. It is still funny to see a Gohma Queen fall out of an Armogohma upon death though.

[The Holy Pilgrim]

Unfortunately this causes Gohma captains (units acting as generals in the absence of a family member) that are connected to a mounted unit to be stuck inside the Pincergohma/Gohma Long Legs/Armogohma if those units are the acting captain units. It is still funny to see a Gohma Queen fall out of an Armogohma upon death though.

Perhaps Gohma captains and generals could be orbs of synaptic energy?

[Mjolnr839]

or maybe something like a "Will of Sulkaris deal?

[Avatar of the Ice Wolf]

Both seem like excellent suggestions. Unfortunately, these things will have to appear as killable units on the battlefield. I think it would be quite odd to see a soldier swinging his sword at an abstract concept or a ball of energy which, by definition, is not corporeal.

[Mjolnr839]

will-o-wisps in Oblivion aren't corporeal yet they still managed to kill me repeatedly and give me nightmares.


ugh...... i hate those little bastards.

[The Holy Pilgrim]

Both seem like excellent suggestions. Unfortunately, these things will have to appear as killable units on the battlefield. I think it would be quite odd to see a soldier swinging his sword at an abstract concept or a ball of energy which, by definition, is not corporeal.

Better than having a Gohma Queen impregnated in every single large Gohma

[Avatar of the Ice Wolf]

Better than having a Gohma Queen impregnated in every single large Gohma

True, true.

[thisdude]

like to see some charcter models for these guys. This is just a suggestion but i would like to see a swift stealthy like unit with long bladed double ended spears or something along those lines, sorry for the bad description if you could understand that than i'm proud of you

[GoldenGohma]

Personally, I would like to discuss the Mercenary mechanic a bit more.

Now, concerning mercenaries in general. A certain faction can be kept from recruiting mercenaries. So, in other words, different areas have mercenary spawns, some of which can only be accessed by specific factions-for example, rouge Hylian soldiers appear in native Hyrule areas yet Hyrule cannot recruit them.

Now, relating to Darknuts, would it be possible to emphasize their whole mercenary-Lord race trait by taking most mercenary spawns and giving them an additional spawn that only Darknuts can recruit from?

I.E. The northern parts of the Gerudo desert (in this example) spawns, every 5.5 turns, 1 Diara with no xp, one Diara with one chevron. Most any faction can recruit the Diara and it all depends on who gets there first.

Except, assuming the Darknut get there at all, we could have a third Diara spawn (With or without xp chevrons) which ONLY Darknuts can recruit from, possibly spawning at a slower interval to avoid having too many, both bolstering their recruiting amounts and making sure they have mercenaries to recruit at all. If you wanted to push it further, these unique mercenary spawns could come with 2 bronze chevrons of experience, making them fairly valuable. Comparatively. The Darknuts, after all, are probably looking for the best of the best.

Now, in regards to the Zuna, I'd think some people would rather like working for the Zuna. They're good craftsmen, correct? But they don't have their own standing army-they'd have to rely on Darknuts... the same Darknuts who do NOTHING during campaign. (Unless the player controls the Darknuts. I'm very protective of my Zuna.) They could easily need their own mercenaries. Now, why no offer to be their bodyguards if they give you their finely crafted well forged weapons? If we used a similar concept as above, Zuna may have an occasional mercenary spawn that they can recruit from that starts with an upgraded weapon or, when this is finally fixed again, armor upgrade.

Just a nice little tidbit to think about when it comes to expanding these two factions tactically.

[Nergali]

Since several people have suggested leevers for these guys, perhaps they could be worked in with a unit such as Zune Herdsmen or Zuna Shepherds, bearing parallels to those of Ordona Province, though instead of raising goats they raise leevers. The justification is that leevers could be a source of both food and water, resources that would be invaluable in a desert environment. This could be visualized in game with a Zuna holding a crook while leading a "herd" of leevers.

Not sure which version of the leever should be used, however:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Another unit could be Hrok Riders. Bearing some similarities to the Loftwing Cavaliers (and possibly with an implication that Hrok are desert-dwelling relatives of loftwings), they would also be a similar avian mount as opposed to the horses/dodongos used by other factions. Could be intended for use as scouts or herders of leevers, they could be repurposed for defense against invaders now that war is consuming the lands of Hyrule.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Would shamans be a possible unit for the Zuna, perhaps utilizing either the sand rod or the sand wand? Could be used as a justification for utilizing geldman and gerunes in manner similar to the Anouki utilizing spirits.

[Nergali]

With the release of Tri Force Heroes, one of the outfits that caught my attention was the Serpent's Toga:



The outfit allows the wearer to turn to impenetrable stone statue when standing still (as well as altering their eye color). What interested me was the fact that this outfit resembles that of the statue housed within the Spirit Temple (Goddess of the Sands in OoT, Kovaloo in HTW). Given the fact that the HTW lore states that the Zuna also worshipped at the Spirit Temple in the past, had even helped in its construction, wear clothing not that different from a toga (could definitely be redesigned to fit the overall theme of the Zuna), and are reptilian in nature (the suit representing the reptilian/serpent aspect of Kovaloo?), perhaps a unit wearing this could be utilized? A priest or some other manner of religious religious figure, with the Lesser Deity Worship being implied to be worship of Kovaloo?