Zaratha

"*Living amongst the hidden treasures of the desert, the Zaratha thrive by trickery, deception, and the powerful morphing magic of the benevolent Genni. With their mystical powers and knack for managing booty, the Genni have stopped the relentless infighting between the different Great Tents and brought the factions of the Zaratha together under one common interest; their love of treasure.*

*The event of the Moonrise has brought knowledge of new wealth to the Genni, who give great promises of ever-expanding treasure hoards as they equip the Zarathans to fight a new way of war.*

-Tribe Description

The **Zaratha** tribe are the third of the fan tribes made by StressedKingMonolith, and specialize in "magic morphing" and wealth management. The Zaratha possess two unique technologies (**Desert Riches, Accounting**), six (seven) unique units (**Brigand**, **Hassah**, **Juggler**, **Galley**, **Galleass**, **Bomb Cart/Bomb Ship**), one unique building (**Treasury**), one unique tile (**Hoard**),and one unique Giant (**Genni**).

Zaratha start with **Desert Riches**, a technology that enables Hunting, Hoards, and the Genni's [**Morph**] ability.

## Resources

Zaratha have a bonus (+) on all Mountain spawns, and a disadvantage (-) on Forest or Fruit spawns.

## Appearance

Fruit: Oasis Olive (Olive)

Land: Vanilla-Tan Plains

Forest: Shadewood (Persian Silk Tree), near a source of water.

Animal: Dune Cat (Large Sand Cat)

Mountain: A large desert natural arch connected to a potential cave, marking the spot for a potential **Hoard**.

City: Persian-domed dwellings sit among elaborately arched entryways (like this palace interior) and columned domiciles.

Helmet: Round cap, similar to the Pakol hat.

## New Skills

Skills are what give all Polytopia units special abilities. For more on skills, see Unit Skills on the main Wiki page.

### Morph

**Morph** makes a unit's attack do no damage, but instead degrades a unit to its previous tier iteration. For example, a Swordsman attacked by a unit with [**Morph**] would become a Warrior, and a Warrior attacked by [**Morph**] would become the animal of the tile it was on (ie, a Warrior morphed on a Ai-Mo tile would become a Alpaca). The same applies to naval units (ie, Ship to Boat, Boat to Fish) and other non-conventional units (ie, unique Giants would become Giants, then be degraded to Swordsman).

### Swift

**Swift** allows a unit to ignore a portion of damage inflicted from a unit without Persist.

### Careful Aim

**Careful Aim** lets a unit do more damage against a target with more health than itself.

### Raid

**Raid** enables half a target unit's gold value, rounded down, to be earned after a successful (unit destroying) attack.

### Blockade

**Blockade** enables a unit to, as an action, stop an adjacent enemy Gold-producing building/City from yielding Gold output for one game turn.

### Pillage

**Pillage** enables a unit to, as an action, steal a portion of an adjacent enemy Gold producing building/City's output for one game turn.

### Blast

**Blast** forces a unit to self-destruct after completing an attack action. This causes the attack action to double its damage.

## Special Technology

### Desert Riches

Desert Riches replaces Climbing, and enables mountain tile travel, ore deposit discovery, and the construction of **Hoards**. Starts Researched.

### Accounting

Accounting replaces Trade, and enables the Wealth task, the Customs House, and **Treasury**.

## Special Tile

### Hoard

The Hoard (Mountain) tile populates randomly near the Zaratha spawnpoint, indicated via its skin of a natural arch standing over a pile of treasure, and can be exploited for a random Gold yield (between 5-25 Gold) in the same manner as a Ruin. Once inside tribal borders, the player can also interact with (ie, add to, take from) the Hoard via the **Treasury**. The Hoard appears as a natural arch sitting over a pile of treasure. Any Mine built on a Hoard-Mountain tile produces +1 Gold.

### Excavated Hoard

The Excavated Hoard is a Hoard devoid of Gold, and can only be rebuilt via the disbanding of a **Brigand** on its tile (giving the new **Hoard** a yield of 5 Gold) or via interaction via the **Treasury**. An Excavated Hoard appears as a natural arch sitting over open treasure chests. An Excavated Hoard with a Mine produces no Gold.

## Special Building

### Treasury

The Treasury is available after *Accounting* is researched, replaces the Customs House, and can be built for 8 Gold. The Treasury permits greater interaction with Hoards via three changes;

* The Treasury allows players to add or subtract Gold in increments of 5 from any number of Hoards per turn.
* The Treasury produces +4 Gold per Hoard and +1 Gold per Excavated Hoard in the empire.
* The Treasury allows an Excavated Hoard to become a Hoard again for 10 Gold.

The Treasury appears as a semi-free standing Al-Khazneh, with a measuring scale hanging over the building, and increases in size with each level it reaches (with 2 Hoards upgrading the Treasury to 1 level), up to 3 levels. Only one Treasury may be built.

## Special Rules

### Gold

Zaratha start with 2 Gold at the beginning of the game.

### Cities

Cities start gold production at 3 Gold per turn, and take twice as many upgrades to boost production.

## Special Units

### Brigand

The Brigand replaces the Warrior, has [**Blockade**] and [**Pillage**], and can be trained for 3 Gold. The Brigand can be disbanded on an **Excavated Hoard** to replenish it into a **Hoard** (with 5 Gold).The Brigand has less health than the Warrior (5 Health), and carries a Bindle instead of a club.

### Hassah

The Hassah replaces the Swordsman, has [**Careful Aim**], [**Raid**], and [**Swift**], and can be trained for 7 Gold. The Hassah is deadly in offense, but has less health (10 Health) than the Swordsman.The Hassah wields a Scimitar style sword and uses a veil to cover their face.

### Juggler

The Juggler replaces the Archer, has [**Careful Aim**] and Fortify, and can be trained for 5 Gold. The Juggler has more defense, but has less health, than the Archer. The Juggler wields an assortment of juggling weapons, including a knife and axe.

### Galley

The Galley replaces the Ship, and has [**Pillage**], and Escape, and can be upgraded from a Boat for 7 Gold. The Galley has a defensive bonus in Shallow water tiles, but has less movement in Ocean tiles. The Galley appears as a vessel with a sail and a row of oars on both its starboard and port sides.

### Galleass

The Galleass replaces the Battleship, and has [**Blockade**] and [**Pillage**], and can be upgraded from a Ship for 17 Gold. The Galleass does more damage at close range than the Battleship, but has less overall sight than the Battleship. The Galleass appears very similarly to a historical Galleass, with the forward section containing a turret with Battleship-like guns and the sides populated by large oars.

\*\*Note: The naval ship's abilities supersede that of the former land unit. This is so abilities like [**Raid**] do not stack.

### Bomb Cart/Bomb Ship

The Bomb Cart replaces the Catapult, has [**Blast**] and [**Swift**] and can be trained for 6 Gold. The Bomb Cart does the same damage as the Catapult, but has a range of 1. The Bomb Cart embarks in a unique ship, the **Bomb Ship**, which has all the same abilities and stats as the Bomb Cart. The Bomb Cart appears as a hand-pushed cart filled with fireworks, and the Bomb Ship appears as a standard ship packed with fireworks.

### Rider (rule change)

The Rider for the Zaratha now has [**Raid**].

## Special Giant

### Genni

The Genni has [**Morph**] and [**Blockade**], and is the Zaratha's unique Giant. The Genni cannot damage enemy units, and thus its attack always triggers [**Morph**]. The Genni's choice icon differs from the Giant's, replacing the dueling sword icon with a Aladdin-style oil lamp. The Genni appears as a meditating Giant, riding upon a cushion or carpet.

## Music

The Music of the Zaratha is inspired by soft Iranian music, best symbolized by this track. Something soft with long background notes, and not too intense.

## City Names & Language

After the Genni have checked and re-checked the accounting books to ensure the Zaratha can afford to expand their numbers, a new city is named after the best treasure found near that city, such as **Quanam**, **Saiz**, and **Tabyr**, each meaning "quarter of coin", "saddle of copper", and "rusted gold".

## Tribe Lore

*A traveling Genni once encountered two merchants, who were openly feuding about an item found on the road. The item was a necklace of priceless pearl, and each of the men claimed that they had first found it in the desert sands. The Genni settled the dispute by claiming the pearl necklace, and declared that in time both merchants would be rewarded for safeguarding the Genni's lost item. The honest merchant who had found it first agreed to the Genni's wisdom, but the dishonest merchant drew a blade and declared that only the master of might had the right to arbitrate. The Genni agreed, much to the armed merchant's surprise, and morphed the armed merchant into a worm. "What is might?", asked the Genni to the remaining merchant, "to a man? What is might to a worm?"*

*When a Hoard's treasury has been depleted, its accountants often retire to the cool, but plain, recesses of caves where the most minimal of expenses for living are spared. When a fleet filled with plunder or a caravan packed with booty arrive to refill the Hoard, the accountants return to their elaborate Genni-approved dwellings and simply mark the period of poverty off as a tax expense.*

## Gameplay Example

So because I cannot code nor animate to save my life, I have decided to do a text-based scenario to showcase just how elements of this tribe could actually function inside the game. I do this to explore the tribe's "real-world" feasibility, as well as test how fun the tribe is to actually "play". Below are some examples of tribe mechanics and units in (hypothetical) action;

### Example One (Combat)

* Setting, Zaratha vs Tribe A: *A Genni (Giant) is produced in a city, and faces two enemy Swordsmen. A friendly Hassah (Unique Swordsman) is adjacent.*
* Turn 1 (Tribe A): *Both swordsmen attack the Genni. The Genni takes damage, but survives.*
* Turn 2 (Zaratha): *The Genni uses its [**Morph**] ability on one enemy Swordsmen, turning the target into a Warrior. The adjacent Hassah attacks the remaining Swordsman, doing bonus damage with [**Careful Aim**].*
* Turn 3: (Tribe A): *The Swordsman and Warrior attack the Genni. The Genni survives due to reduced total damage taken from a now-demoted unit.*
* Turn 4 (Zaratha): *The Genni uses [**Morph**] and the remaining Swordsman becomes a Warrior. The first Warrior is attacked and destroyed by the Hassah, which does not do bonus damage with [**Careful Aim**] because both units are the same or lower health.*
* Turn 5 (Tribe A): *The remaining Warrior retreats from the Genni and Hassah.*
* Turn 6 (Zaratha): *The Genni heals, and the Hassah pursues and attacks the last Warrior*. Zaratha Win.

### Example Two (Hoards)

* Setting, Zaratha: *The Zaratha have three mid-tier cities, and two Hoards within their tribal borders. Two other tribes have been discovered, but have not attacked.*
* Turn 1: *The Zaratha send a Brigand to investigate the first Hoard. Roads is researched.*
* Turn 2: *The Zarathan Brigand investigates the first Hoard, and finds 10 Gold. Trade is researched with the Hoard money. The first Hoard becomes an Excavated Hoard*
* Turn 3: *The Treasury is constructed by the Zaratha capital. The Brigand is sent exploring.*
* Turn 4: *The Treasury produces +4 Gold for the second Hoard and +1 Gold for the excavated Hoard, adding to general income. A Rider is created, and 5 Gold is taken out of the second Hoard to pay for two Roads to connect the Capital with another city.*
* Turn 5: *The Treasury produces +4 Gold for the second Hoard and +1 Gold for the excavated Hoard, adding to general income. The Rider and Brigand encounter Imperius and Omaji units. No combat ensues. All three cities are connected via roads, and the capital grows. The player chooses the Expand Borders option, which envelops a third Hoard tile. Another Rider and Brigand are produced.*
* Turn 6: *The Treasury produces +8 Gold for the two Hoards and +1 Gold for the excavated Hoard, adding to general income. An Omaji Rider investigates the third Hoard, and gains the yield of gold. The new Zaratha Brigand and Rider eliminate the Omaji intruder, and the Zaratha pay 10 Gold to refill the third Hoard.* Zaratha income is boosted.

## Tribe Explanation

### Overall Idea & Concept Exploration

So the Zaratha emerged from a desire to create a tribe with a semi-Persian culture that had a "morph" ability with its Giant *and* that really, really was focused on Gold/Star management. The units are costlier, and although Hoards can provide great sources of long-term income, the temptation to immediately utilize their "cash reserves" can work to paralyze the player in the long run. Then again, perhaps a short-term wealth boost is what will win the game, as the player senses that the match might be pretty short. Add to this short vs long term wealth tension the fact that *any unit from any tribe* can take the wealth of a Hoard right out from under the Zaratha's nose (that is, if the Hoards are underguarded), and you've got quite the tense gameplay over wealth on your hands. At least, that's the hope.

The absence of often-rich coastal income further highlights the central concept of wealth management with this tribe, in that there will likely be large periods of immense wealth growth, followed by drastic wealth decline (ie the Hoards are Excavated and income from the Treasury plummets), then followed by potentially more wealth growth in the future. I think this would make the gameplay of this tribe fairly interesting, in that you could be drowning in money but utterly worried as to your future standing in the match due to the fine line you have to ride in order to make a decent income. Anyway, that's the idea.

The other side of this tribe comes in the form of the low-health, high-cost and high-attack unique units, which aside from serving as borderline "hit and run" units introduce a low-grade form of economic warfare into the game. Being able to mess with your enemy's income helps to externalize the income struggles the Zaratha (probably) have onto their opponents, and gives the tribe as more "asymmetric" playstyle than other tribes have.

And, of course, the Morph ability is really cool. Not only can the Zaratha endlessly mess with their opponent's income, but they can degrade the unit quality of an entire army, further flushing opponent Gold/Star points down the drain. Of course, this can be countered in a variety of ways, but I think the whole approach of indirect or subtle-er warfare helps make the Zaratha a more unique concept-tribe to fiddle around with.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this tribe, and if you'd like to see more of my stuff, you should check out the Jurasa!, a dinosaur-Giant themed tribe, or the Gaelyc, a forest-magic economy tribe! OR the Sumar, a Mesopotamian tribe with useful temples!

 Other Tribes by Me

* The Jurasa, a prehistoric-based tribe focused on dino-Giant breeding.
* The Gaelyc, a Druid-based tribe focused on forest management and unit-producing Giants.
* The Sumar, a Mesopotamian-based tribe focused on Disbanding, Temples, and Siege Towers.
* The Qin-Sija, a Eastern-based tribe focused on science, ranged weapons, and conversion Giants.
* The Vasca, a Iberian-based tribe focused on pay-to-fire weapons, exploration, and trade.