Vengir

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> Frowned upon by the other tribes and pushed into the unpleasant wastelands. Will they tolerate this injustice or rise to fight back?
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>
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> –Tribe description
>

**Vengir** is the eighth tribe in Polytopia. Vengir is a regular tribe that starts with the Smithery technology and a Swordsman unit.

Vengir has heavily reduced spawn rates for tier one resources (e.g. Fruit, Animals), resulting in a dreadfully weak economy in the crucial early-game. However, Vengir can quickly overwhelm other tribes with Swordsmen early-game. Vengir players will thus benefit most from having a neighbour with a strong city that they can quickly conquer with their powerful starting units. This makes Vengir very strong on early on in smaller or crowded games. However, Vengir has comparatively high rates for crop and metal, meaning they can develop a respectable economic base by the very late game if they are left on their own for long enough.

## Resources

Vengir has 0.1x fruit, 0.1x fish, 0.1x wild animal, and 2x metal.

## Lore

>
> Pushed into the wastes by their peers, the Vengir have been festering on their rage, pain, and hate for many years, waiting for the time to strike back! Armed with swords, savage Rhino-Pigs, and their fanatic adoration of combat, the Vengir have called together their war bands to take back what they deem to be theirs.
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>
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> –Zoythrus on Steam
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### Tribe Celebrations

* 2019 Tribe Day: Celebrations in Vengir cities aren’t much like the other tribes. Instead of parties and parades, the Vengir see it as a time to mourn by singing dirges, adorning their faces with sorrow paint, and performing elaborate tragic plays.
* 2020 Tribe Moon: Where do Polytopians go when they die? No one knows, but the Vengir believe that souls of the dead pass through the Gate of Power to Hirkthr, the Underworld. In remembrance, the Vengir celebrate the "Skull Party" here, where they pray, send offerings, and wear the skull of their favorite relative.
* 2021 Tribe Moon: When Vengir families aren’t pillaging some city or sharpening their swords, they like to spend time vacationing. A common tourist attraction is the misty Kithkga Boneyards, a Rhino-Pig preserve where Vengirian citizens can feed the animals and learn more about the history of the mighty Rhino-Pig.
* 2022 Tribe Moon: While most would see the banishment of the Vengir as a bleak tragedy, the hunt for retribution did push them into becoming master metallurgists. The highest role in Vengir society below “Monarch” is “Blacksmith,” and that tends to happen when you need a steady stream of swords and armor.
* 2023 Tribe Moon: War is a way of life for the Vengir. From the moment they're hatched, Vengir children are trained in the arts of combat, ready to fight the Vengir's many foes. Some, like R'Xoc, have shrugged off their indoctrination and fled mid-battle, but sadly, the Vengir don't treat deserters well...

### Webshop

* Enjoy a cup of Ashtree brandy made from the precious purple leaves of the Vengir woods. A mug will do justice to its acrid and intense flavors, but beware, do not drink and ride!
* Few Polytopians that encountered a Rhino-pig in the wild ever encounter anything else again. And ending your life in the sewers of these smelly beasts is not a recommendable way to go. For some odd reason they do to love to carry around fearless Vengir soldiers on their backs, both during wartime and festivals.
* When Rhino-Pigs are born, they are grey as ash, but since they are fed with vast amounts of Thxando-shrooms from birth, they turn purple over time. Sadly, the Thxando-shrooms are poisonous, and very few Rhino-Pigs reach adulthood.

### Pinky Day

The Vengir tribe held Midjiwan, the developer of Polytopia, hostage because they were "forgotten" and "ignored" by the other tribes. Midjiwan was eventually freed, but the Vengir cut off his pinky and fed it to rhino-pigs. This incident is commemorated by Pinky Day, which is celebrated on July 1st.

## Strategy

The Vengir start off with one Swordsman, and can create a second one on Turn 0. The Swordsman gives a huge advantage over other tribes during the early rounds if you spawn near tribes. In 1v1 domination games, the Vengir can win games without losing a single unit.

However, the Vengir can easily lose momentum as their native territory has very few resources apart from farms. This means you must quickly capture neutral and enemy villages to get more income. Be careful though, as more villages captured means higher tech prices, as well as more enemies that will find you.

### Strategies Against Vengir

In the early rounds, a neighboring Vengir can pose a huge threat due to their superior troops. However, there are ways to survive an early Vengir attack:

* Train defenders: The Defender is a strong defensive unit that can be trained for 3 stars, which makes it more accessible in the early rounds. Thanks to their health and defence points, defenders can resist Vengir swordsmen and prevent them from taking over your cities

* City walls: By increasing your city defence with a wall, you may be able to buy yourself some time before Vengir is able to siege your city, or eventually stall them until you have better units to fight them with. Paired with Defenders, your city can become very difficult for even mid-game units to besiege.
* Don't go on the offensive: Sending a group of warriors to fight Vengir is usually a bad idea. Swordsmen outclass Warriors and will easily destroy them. This will serve only to make their units stronger as Veterans and waste your resources.

## Design

The Vengir tribe are inspired by Mordor from The Lord of the Rings. Their buildings contain elements of Gothic architecture from the late Middle Ages. Their helmets loosely resemble stylized Slavic helmets; otherwise, they have very little similarity to real-life culture.

## Appearance

* Fruit: Thxando-shrooms (purple mushrooms)
* Animal: Rhino-pigs
* Field: Black soil
* Forest: Ashtrees (trees with white bark and purple leaves)
* Mountain: Black, spiky mountains
* City: Dark grey buildings with pointed purple roofs
* Helmet: Silver helmets with spikes

### City Naming Syllables

ar, bu, ck, cth, dis, gor, he, im, na, nt, pe, rot, rz, st, th, tu, xas

### Music

Links to Vengir's music are included below.

* Theme
* Nature Sounds
* Polytopia Music song: "Vengir Arrzck" by Nikazm Bzkkan
* Cultist Theme

## Skins

### Cultist Skin

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> Fanatical Vengir Cultists devoted to Burzgor shrug off their flesh in the harrowing Thdkrkr Ritual to show their dedication to revenge.
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>
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> –Cultist skin description
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    The Cultist skin was added in the first skin pack for Polytopia. The Cultist skin replaces the body of every unit with a skeleton with spiked bony epaulets, with the head identical to that of the "Vengir Skull Party" Vengir heads during the Halloween event.

* The Vengir Rhino-Pigs are replaced with skeletal versions.
* The purple elements in the city buildings are replaced with grey tiled versions.
* The Defenders have irregular, somewhat circular shields with bosses.
* The Cloaks and Dinghies are "white-sheet" ghosts.

### History

When it was first introduced in beta, the splash for the Cultist skin was referred to as Skeleton instead of Cultist. This was changed with the skin's public release.

## Trivia

* Vengir's terrain has similar elements to Mordor, the evil, mountainous land of Sauron in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth.
* The name "Vengir" may be a play on the words “revenge” or "vengeance," since the Vengir were pushed into the wastelands and are preparing to fight back.
	+ The name "Vengir" means "justice" in their language.
* In the ambience playing throughout Vengir lands, a continuous, echoing static sound can be heard.
* Vengir is the only tribe to start with a tier three technology.
* The **Vengir Skull Party** is an in-game event that changes the Vengir head to a skull version once the Gate of Power was built. The event lasts from October 29 to November 30.
* The Vengir head underwent many iterations.

The banner for the Vengir Skull PartyThe original Vengir headThe Vengir head in Adobe AIR as of April 2020The third iteration of the Vengir headThe skull Vengir headThe current Vengir head
## References

1. ↑ Vengir Mug
2. ↑ Vengir Tee
3. ↑ Rhino-Pig Phone Case
4. ↑ Midjiwan on Instagram
5. ↑ Midjiwan on Instagram
6. ↑ Zoythrus on Discord.
7. ↑ Steam