Diplomat (Unit type)

Diplomats are a kind of agent in Hyrule: Total War.

Acquisition
A diplomat costs 500 rupees and require an embassy to recruit. All factions can recruit diplomats except for the Stalfos, River Zora, and Gohma.

Function
The main statistic of diplomats is Influence. Successful diplomatic engagements will give your diplomats more Influence, making subsequent negotiations more likely to succeed. Diplomats can also gain Influence by standing in foreign regions, regions which do not share your religion or without a religion that has a significant majority. Conversely, failed negotiations and staying in relatively religiously homogenous regions can reduce Influence.

The most important factor for diplomacy is your reputation. Bad reputations, like 'Despicable' or 'Dubious', don't expect much success. A good reputation, like 'Very Trustworthy', will make make diplomacy easier. The next most important thing is relations - this is perhaps equally important to reputation, but this varies from faction to faction, while reputation is universal.

During diplomatic negotiations, the player will be has a number of diplomatic options.

Alliance - An allied faction is far less likely to attack a player, as attacking an allied faction results in a severe reputation loss, and more likely to enter war with a power that declares war on their allies.

Military Access - Gaining military access to an allied power will allow your armies to move through their territory without damaging relations with them.

Trade Rights - Trade rights open up that faction's trade routes to the player's caravans, increasing income and relations with that faction. Note that this not affect the ability of merchants to enter a faction's territory.

Funds - A player can either request or offer a single payment or continuous tribute of rupees over several turn to another faction.

Map Information - The player can offer their current map information or request that of another faction- this can be useful in military campaigns but can work against a player who bilthely offers their information to their neighbors.

Regions - The player can either offer or request a particular region or number of regions controlled by them and the other party, not including capital territories.

Attack - The player can offer or request and attack on a faction or factions. Note that this does not immediately declare war on said factions, but creates a "contract" that the agreeing party will provide military aid for a set amount of turns.

Ceasefire - The player can offer or request an end to hostilities between themselves and a faction they are at war with.