Zolas (Conquest)

River Zora
Main Colour	Aqua
Religion	Lesser Deity Worship
Culture	Barbaric
Battle Themes	noicon

The River Zora, commonly known as Zola, are a playable faction in Hyrule: Total War.

Description

Nicknamed Zola by many in Hyrule, the River Zora are believed to be the ancient ancestors of the modern and civilized Zora. The Zora often consider this claim a hostile insult, though there may be truth in the matter. River Zora may not be civilized and may appear monstrous, though their predatory nature betrays their cunning and tactical skill. River Zora are infamous for hit and run attacks against superior forces, usually by springing from bodies of water, dealing a blow, and then quickly retreating into the water only to surface elsewhere. While they do have their own language and are able to communicate, they seem to have no interests outside of pillaging, raping, and destroying the inhabitants of villages they come across.

History

Prehistory

The River Zora originated from a world outside Hyrule. In the past, they came to worship the Druthulidi Bellum and became one of its most favoured servant races, second only to the Parella.

The River Zora arrived in Hyrule at the same time as Bellum and the other Druthulidi. They and their allies largely kept a low profile during the Druthulidi conflicts.

In Hyrule, Bellum and the Parella created an offshot of the River Zora that would eventually come to be called the Zora Dominion. They were considered Bellum's favourites until they betrayed their master to worship the Goddesses.

When the Goddesses purged Hyrule, the River Zora were mostly unaffected in the ocean depths.

Ancient Age

Around 5000 BG Bellum summoned the Parella and River Zora through portals from other worlds and instigated a confict between three advanced empires in the Great Sea: the Lokomo, the Oshus Empire, and the Cobble Kingdom. It provided all three sides with military and economic aid, until both the Lokomo and Oshus Empire rejected any further help. The Cobble Kingdom took full advantage of Bellum's aid and dominated most of the land and sea north of Hyrule. Eventually King Oshus unleashed the robotic Phantom Army, in the process driving away Bellum's forces and destroying all three empires. The River Zora headed south to the rivers of continental Hyrule, making their living as bandits and pillagers. One group, later known as the Storm Zora, emigrated further to the Sea of Storms in the far southeast, settled on the seabed and isolated themselves from the rest of the world.

Gerudo Wars

In 100 AG, the Zola Princess Sokuuf receives signals from the Parella Jelyf of her incoming arrival on Hyrule. Sokuuf gathers a River Zora army and plants a mole inside the Zora Dominion to prepare for the arrival.

Jelyf and her Twili exit the Mirror of Twilight and rendezvous with the River Zora on the bank of the Zora River, near Domain Prime. Jelyf explains to Sokuuf her plan: she only wants the Twili to serve as a distraction so the River Zora could plant Sols all over the Zora's Domain and detonate them to defeat the traitors to their dark god. Events later pass exactly according to the plan, and after the Zora kill General Onox the River Zora detonate the Sols, demolishing Domain Prime, and abandon their Twili allies.

Features

Playstyle

Raiding

Army Focus

Spearmen/Siege

Strengths, Weaknesses, and Abilities

• Nomadic River-goers: River Zora do not have cities, they will spawn their soldiers at random locations along Hyrule's rivers.
• Aquatic: The River Zora are able to travel over any body of water.
• Vulnerable to Ice: The River Zora are unable to survive in sub zero temperatures, and tire very quickly in snow.

Campaign Info

• Faction Leader: Princess Sokuuf
• Settlements: 0
• Goals:
  • Short Campaign: hold 25 regions
  • Long Campaign: hold 35 regions

Gameplay

The River Zora boast a gameplay style radically different from other races.

They do not start out with any settlements: these feral beasts do not build cities. River Zora pillage cities and steal their wealth. Starting a campaign as the River Zora will give you a handful of units spread across the various waterways of Hyrule.

With such a weak spread out force, you'll want to get your soldiers together and pillage your first city. Once you've captured a city, you'll notice that there's no buildings you can build except simple supply lines to rivers.

This is because the River Zora do not build. They pillage, steal, loot, and take what they need. When you capture a city, you feed off of its resources and send the extra back to the Zola leaders that dwell in Hyrule's rivers. This is reflected in how new units are recruited.

The River Zora cannot pick and choose what units they summon, instead they have a generalised 'Summon Reinforcements' ability in each city they capture after they establish a Supply Line to a nearby river.

Depending on factors such as City size, buildings that exist in the city, and the climate of a region, the units that the various River Zora organisations lend you can be different. Here is a list of what you can expect:

• Village/Town (total 2):
  • 1 - 2 Manhunters
  • 1 - 2 Raiders
  • 1 Cannibal (Desert Region required)
• Large Town (total 3):
  • 1 - 2 Manhunters
  • 1 - 2 Raiders
  • 1 - 2 Outrunners
  • 1 Cannibal (Desert Region required)
  • 1 Swampmen (Swamp Region required)
• City (total 4):
  • 1 - 2 Manhunters
  • 1 - 2 Raiders
  • 1 - 2 Outrunners
  • 1 - 2 Geozards
  • 1 Cannibal (Desert Region required)
  • 1 Swampmen (Swamp Region required)
  • 1 Cueball Dragoon (Nearby Lake required)
• Large City (total 5):
  • 1 - 2 Manhunters
  • 1 - 2 Raiders
  • 1 - 2 Outrunners
  • 1 - 2 Geozards
  • 1 - 2 Cyclops Ku
  • 1 Cannibal (Desert Region required)
  • 1 Swampmen (Swamp Region required)
  • 1 Cueball Dragoon (Nearby Lake required)
  • 1 Catapult (Siege Works required)
• Huge City (total 5):
  • 1 - 2 Manhunters
  • 1 - 2 Raiders
  • 1 - 2 Outrunners
  • 1 - 2 Geozards
  • 1 - 2 Cyclops Ku
  • 1 River Knights
  • 1 Cannibal (Desert Region required)
  • 1 Swampmen (Swamp Region required)
  • 1 Cueball Dragoon (Animal Ranch required)
  • 1 Catapult (Siege Works required)

Any and every city can call for reinforcements, but they will spawn at the nearest river instead of inside the city. As such, cities really far away from rivers might not have great tactical advantage, unless the river in question they arrive from is near a territory you want to invade.

Units

Standard

• Manhunters
• Outrunners
• Raiders
• Geozards
• Cannibals
• Cueball Dragoons
• Cyclops Ku
• Swampmen
• River Knights
• Octozora
• Bigocto Broodmother

Siege Weaponry

• Zola Catapults

Command

• Geozard Chief
• Geozard Master

Heroes

• King Zarosef
• Princess Sokuuf
• Baruuda Kan
• Archduke Neighleth

Bugs and Glitches

• The River Zora are the source of an infamous bug in the Freeform Campaign known as the "Turn 15 Crash." Due to the large amount of spawns for the River Zora faction when controlled by the computer, it will often lead to a crash to desktop for many players, particularly on older computers. This crash was somewhat resolved by temporarily removing the River Zora's spawns, though it still persists for some players.