Sumar

"*Special temples, known as Altars, measure the cycles of Sumar life; whether to see when to plant crops, wed and bed, wage war, or sail the seas, the Sumar look to the powers of their Altars to guide them. The Altars will also occasionally directly intervene in Sumar affairs, such as granting favors during the famous chariot races based on who presents what kind of sacrifice.*

*The Moonrise has imbued the Altars with great power, a power that kindles within the Sumar a deep desire for the conquest of the square.*"

-Tribe Description.

The **Sumar** tribe are the fourth of the fan tribes made by StressedKingMonolith, and specialize in unique temples with unique unit upgrades. The Sumar possess one unique technology (**Great Altars**), two unique units (**Chariot, Ramship**), four unique buildings (**Altar of Sun, Altar of Moon, Altar of Sky, Altar of Primordial**), and one unique Giant (**Siegapult**).

Sumar starts with **Great Altars**, a technology that enables Disbanding and the building of the **Altar of Sun**.

## Resources

Sumar have an evenly distributed spawn, with no particular favoritism towards any unit.

## Appearance

Fruit: River Fig (Fig)

Land: Dulled, Orange-Stone like color

Forest: Tallpalm (Date Palm)

Animal: Trample (Water Buffalo)

Mountain: A few small hills.

City: Mini-shrines, Babylonian style homes, and glazed brick buildings with Ishtar-gate style roofs.

Helmet: A pointed war helmet, and (on the face) an illustrious Babylonian-style beard.

## New Skills

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

### Bestowal

**Bestowal** enables a temple to buff units with a specific bonus when they disband themselves on a specific temple tile. The unit then reappears the next game turn on the temple, with the new buff and an "aurora" to signify the buff has been granted. Bestowal has four different variants;

* **Bestowal Sun**, unit self-heals at a high rate whenever damaged. Aurora is White Gold.
* **Bestowal Moon**, unit gains extra movement and defense on water tiles. Aurora is Dark Blue.
* **Bestowal Primordial**, unit can sacrifice health to greatly increase attack. Aurora is Black.
* **Bestowal Sky**, unit can see and travel farther over any land terrain. Aurora is Silver.

A unit can only receive one buff.

### Scythes

**Scythes** enables a unit to damage any enemy units it moves by as an action.

### Dual Wield

**Dual Wield** enables a unit to attack with either a ranged or melee attack during a turn.

## Special Technology

### Great Altars

Great Altars replaces Free Spirit, and enables **Bestowal**, disbanding, and the building of the **Altar of Sun**.

## Special Buildings

### Altar of Sun

Altar of Sun replaces the Temple, and can be built on any Field tile for 20 Stars. Altar of Sun has [**Bestowal Sun**], provides points and 1 Population when built, and levels up over time just like a Temple. Appears like a Ziggurat, with a golden altar shaped like a sun at the very top. Worth +50 points more than the Temple of a unit is Bestowed at it.

### Altar of Moon

Altar of Moon replaces the Water Temple, and can be built on any Ocean tile for 20 Stars. Altar of Moon has [**Bestowal Moon**], provides points and 1 Population when built, and levels up over time just like a Temple. Appears like a Ziggurat, with a golden altar shaped like a crescent moon at the very top. Worth +50 points more than the Temple of a unit is Bestowed at it.

\*\*Note; the naval unit that disbands and becomes Buffed re-appears in the city production queue and becomes upgraded to the state it was buffed too for free.

### Altar of Primordial

Altar of Moon replaces the Forest Temple, and can be built on any Forest tile for 15 Stars. Altar of Primal has [**Bestowal Primal**], provides points and 1 Population when built, and levels up over time just like a Temple. Appears like a Ziggurat, with a golden altar shaped like a golden bull at the very top. Worth +50 points more than the Temple of a unit is Bestowed at it.

### Altar of Sky

Altar of Sky replaces the Mountain Temple, and can be built on any Mountain tile for 20 Stars. Altar of Sky has [**Bestowal Sky**], provides points and 1 Population when built, and levels up over time just like a Temple. Appears like a Ziggurat, with a golden altar shaped like a winged creature at the very top. Worth +50 points more than the Temple of a unit is Bestowed at it.

## Special Units

### Chariot

The Chariot replaces the Knight, has [**Dual Wield**] and [**Scythe**], and costs 8 Gold to build. The Chariot's ranged attack is stronger than its melee attack. The Chariot appears as a wheeled war carriage pulled by two Trample, with a Sumar armed with a spear & bow sitting in the carriage.

### Ramship

The Ramship replaces the Battleship, has [**Dual Wield**] and [**Scythe**], and costs 15 Gold to upgrade from a Ship. The Ramship's melee attack is stronger than its ranged attack. The Ramship appears as a trireme with a sturdy ram, save the oars are replaced by Battleship cannons.

## Special Giant

### Siegapult

The Siegapult has [**Dual Wield**], and is the Sumar's unique Giant. The Siegapult's melee attack is much stronger than the ranged attack, but both attacks gain a small bonus against Fortified units. Yields +1 Gold per 2 Population in an annexed city after capturing an enemy city. Appears as a variant of the famous Assyrian siege catapult-ram. Cannot be buffed or bestowed.

## Music

The music of the Sumar combines a sense of ritualistic harmony with a stringent beat of battle. Probably something along the lines of this Persian "battle" music.

## City Names & Language

Sumar cities are typically named either in honor of the Four Currents of the World that the Altars are dedicated to, or in recognition of a particularly powerful sacrifice to an Altar. City names include **Urduk**, **Niveh*,*** and **Balyo**.

## Tribe Lore

*It is said that for every prayer said to an Altar at sunrise, seventeen more are made by ambitious charioteers before a competitive race.*

*The Siegapult, the magnificent culmination of Sumar mathematical finesse, is a magnificent roofing ladder in peacetime. Really helps clear off the grime from the tall Altars of Sun.*

*It is said that once, a Sumar admiral attempted to widen the path of a channel by repeatedly applying his Ramships to ram the cliffsides. Ever since, it is stated as a clear fact in the Ramship's owner's papyrus that the front ram is unsuitable for impromptu landscaping.*

## Gameplay Example

Below are some examples of tribe mechanics and units in (hypothetical) action;

### Example One (Combat)

* Setting, Sumar vs Tribe B: *A Sumar Chariot and Buffed (Primordial) Archer face down two enemy Defenders and one enemy Swordsman from Tribe B.*
* Turn 1 (Tribe B): *The Swordsman advances to attack the Sumar Chariot, and the two Defenders flank the Swordsman. Tribe B does not appear aware of the Buffed (Primordial) Archer*.
* Turn 2 (Sumar): *The Buffed (Primordial) Archer lowers its health to increase its attack, and targets the Swordsman. The Chariot utilizes its ranged attack on the Swordsman following the Archer's attack. The Swordsman is severely weakened.*
* Turn 3 (Tribe B): *The Swordsman retreats, and the two Defenders move to block the Chariot from following.*
* Turn 4 (Sumer): *The Buffed (Primordial) Archer attacks as normal, targeting one of the Defenders. The Chariot chooses its melee attack and finishes off the Swordsman; en route to the Swordsman, the Chariot passed adjacent to a Defender. The Chariot has [**Scythe**], and so the Defender takes damage. The Defender cannot retaliate as it was not a direct attack. After destroying the Swordsman, the Chariot discovers an adjacent Tribe B Catapult.*
* Turn 5 (Tribe B): *The Catapult fires on and destroys the Buffed (Primordial) Archer. The Scythed Defender attacks the Chariot, doing little damage, and the other Defender moves to protect the Catapult.*
* Turn 6 (Sumer): *The Chariot moves out of Catapult range, and disengages from the fight*. Sumar draw.

### Example Two (Bestowal)

* Setting: The Sumar tribe has five cities, and has just erected an Altar of Sun. The Sumar are at war with the Imperius tribe, and are evenly matched.
* Turn 1: *The Sumar capital and second largest city each create a Swordsman.*
* Turn 2: *The capital's Sumar Swordsman enters the tile with the Altar of Sun, and disbands. Three Imperius Knights enter Sumar territory.*
* Turn 3: *The second Swordsman and a nearby Sumar Defender move to counter the three Knights. The disbanded Swordsman has returned on the Altar of Sun with a White-Gold like Aurora. It cannot take an action this turn.*
* Turn 4: *Three Imperius Knights siege the Sumar city that contains the Altar of Sun. The Buffed (Sun) Swordsman and second Swordsman move to attack. They destroy one Knight, but do not dislodge the sieging Knight unit.*
* Turn 5: *The Sumar city with the Altar of Sun is captured. The Sumar Buffed (Sun) Swordsman heals from its fight with the Knights and works with the second Swordsman to re-siege the city. With the Altar of Sun now in Imperius hands, an Imperius Knight enters the Altar of Sun tile, and disbands.*
* Turn 6: *The city with the Altar of Sun is recaptured, and the Imperius Knight returns with a White-Gold Aurora, indicating it "has made the sacrifice" and now has the Sun Bestowal Buff. The Sumar Swordsmen and Defender box the Buffed (Sun) Imperius Knight in.* Sumar Draw.

## Tribe Explanation

### Overall Idea & Concept Exploration

I really wanted to make a Mesopotamian (ie. Sumerian, Assyrian, and Babylonian) themed tribe, *and* I wanted to explore concepts surrounding two very underutilized aspects of the game-Disbanding *and* Temples! Aside from a Points-based match, Temples serve very little purpose, and absent a suspiciously casualty-free army of Warriors Disbanding is almost irrelevant to most matches. So, I decided to include both in a fresh take on a possible new Special tribe.

With the Bestow system, I thought it would be neat to "sacrifice" a unit by sending it on some kind of "sacred" journey via the temple system, and have it come back with some kind of special power. The Bestowal system also adds alot more value to temples and their location/type than is regularly the case in a game; as ownership of the city is required to Bestow a unit at a temple, I imagine quite some fights could ensue over temple-laden territories for the privilege of giving units a small edge in combat!

The units, I think, fit in well with the overall theme of a Sumerian/Babylonian and Assyrian style tribe, with Chariots that possess the strength of attack flexibility and (minor) area damage (based on mobility) but have the weakness of not having Persist, and Ramships that bear hallmarks of the warships of Antiquity, but with a (albeit weaker) cannon-based twist. And, I think the "Siegapult" is an excellent Giant to have, as it drives home the flavor of a Mesopotamian-style tribe and makes attacking cities very, very fun.

I hope you enjoyed reading about this concept tribe!

## 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 Zaratha, a Persian-based tribe with a focus on wealth management and indirect warfare.
* 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.