Sheikah Cadre (Conquest)

The Sheikah Cadre is a playable faction in Hyrule: Total War. They must be unlocked by completing a Short Campaign as Ordona Province or a Long Campaign as any faction.

Description
To the untrained eye, the average Sheikah may often be mistaken for a Hylian. This is partly due to the fact that they look exactly like the Hylians, save their notable red eyes. The origin of the Sheikah remain a closely guarded secret, though many believe they may be the last of the pure blooded ancient Hylians. The fact that Sheikah are religiously concerned with their bloodline and mating with other races is forbidden raises such beliefs. Other than this, virtually nothing is known of the Sheikah because they are a secretive people. From a young age they are indoctrinated into assassin training, and their bodies forced against their natural growth to instead allow maximum flexibility. Every Sheikah is a professional killer, and rightfully feared by all should one appear in public. Because of their secretive nature, the Sheikah don't have a large standing army, but rather prefer to kill enemy leaders before wars even start. Should the time come where war is the only option, the Sheikah can assemble their many assassins to murder an enemy army before they even have a chance to retaliate. Despite their unmatched skill at assassination, the Sheikah lack numbers and are prone to being killed off should they be surrounded by superior numbers. A Sheikah army would rather hide in the trees and fling needles at the throats of a marching army than show off in a bloody melee.

Strengths, Weaknesses and Abilities

 * Hide in Plain Sight: All Sheikah are able to hide from an enemy force in any condition.
 * Master Assassins: The Sheikah are highly skilled killers and can usually eliminate an opponent with one well placed blow.
 * Dying Race: Strict marriage rituals and pure blooded pairings have kept the Sheikah population fairly low, and as such their armies tend to be very small compared to other forces.
 * Master Manipulators: The Sheikah are usually influencing their neighbour empires, particularly the Kingdom of Hyrule. In the campaign they are able to leech income and resources from their neighbors.

Freeform Campaign

 * Faction Leader: Agahnim
 * Settlements: 0
 * Diplomacy:
 * Allies: Kingdom of Hyrule, Ordona Province, Order of the Wizzrobe
 * At war: Stalfos
 * Goals:
 * Short Campaign: hold 30 regions
 * Long Campaign: hold 40 regions

Gameplay
The Sheikah are essentially a secretive organisation run by the last pure blooded Ancient Hylians. They have tasked themselves with assuring that order and stability are maintained in Hyrule, preferably under the law of the Hylian Royal Family whom they can influence. The Sheikah under normal circumstances have no concern with managing the welfare of cities, the trivial disputes and requirements of civilians, or the economy needed to run a full scale empire. Their goal is simple: Keep everyone on a leash and eliminate any possible threat to that influence.

The Sheikah will have two "stances" they can switch between during a campaign: Shadow Stance and Death Stance.

Shadow Stance
The Shadow Stance is the default stance the Sheikah begin with. While operating under Shadow Stance the following effects are in place:
 * New Sheikah are constantly trained for free and will spawn under your command when they finish their lifelong training.
 * The Kingdom of Hyrule and Strict Goddess Worship factions are always considered your allies no matter the circumstance.
 * Sheikah cannot be defeated so long as the Kingdom of Hyrule controls Kakariko or Hyrule Prime.
 * All cities you take control of are given to the Kingdom of Hyrule at the start of their turn.
 * The following units are available: Spies, Monks, Truthbearers, Blood Wizards.

There are some really obvious advantages to operating under this stance. For one, you can't lose a game as long as the Kingdom of Hyrule controls Kakariko or Hyrule Prime. Eventually new Sheikah will finish their training in either city and spawn under your command in the instance that everything you own dies. This creates a new dynamic in that a Sheikah player no longer has to worry about managing cities or maintaining their armies, rather the Sheikah can then focus on what they do best: Influencing the direction of their puppets and killing off potential enemies before they grow too powerful. In Shadow Stance you'll be able to focus on completing missions and defending the Kingdom of Hyrule from enemy attacks while setting up forts and watchtowers on enemy borders. You'll be able to freely harass enemies attempting to expand to unowned settlements without having to worry about leaving a city undefended. If you want the Kingdom of Hyrule to expand to a particular location, take over a city there and give them the foothold they need.

The goal is to almost make it feel like the Kingdom of Hyrule and Sheikah are two parts of one whole: The Sheikah manage all the behind the scenes dirty business while the Kingdom directs and defends the cities. Likewise this also plays out if you are the Kingdom of Hyrule: You can expect the Sheikah to occasionally help you save one of your cities under attack, or find a city you did not mean to take over end up under your control.

Death Stance
The Death Stance can be initiated when things start taking a turn for the worse. While operating under Death Stance the following effects happen:
 * Kakariko falls under your control if the Kingdom of Hyrule possesses it.
 * All cities you take control of are not given to the Kingdom of Hyrule on their turn.
 * The Kingdom of Hyrule and Strict Goddess Worship Factions can potentially dislike and declare war on you.
 * Can be defeated if every city and unit you control is destroyed.
 * Sheikah do not undergo traditional training and instead must be recruited like normal soldiers.
 * The following units are available: Soldiers of Agahnim, Interrogators, Kingmakers.

When activating Death Stance, the Sheikah play a lot more like the traditional factions. Kakariko is immediately given over to the Sheikah if the Kingdom of Hyrule controls it.

In addition, any city you conquer is kept under the banner of the Sheikah and is not given to the Hylians. You'll be able to command and dictate what to build in your cities and what units you can produce, including none other than the infamous brainwashed Hylians.

While it may seem like this stance is superior to the Shadow Stance from a military perspective (and indeed it is), it is recommended only operating under this mode when things are falling apart and the Kingdom of Hyrule is near ruins. Going into Death Stance early on when there's no real reason can severely hurt relations with the Royal Family and ties to the Kingdom of Hyrule and cripple your economy. Loyalty is much harder to maintain when in this stance and many factions will not look too kindly on a new empire suddenly taking up real estate. The use of this stance is also present when you are playing as the Kingdom of Hyrule: you can expect the Sheikah to take over the keys of the Kingdom if you are doing a terrible job managing Hyrule.

Standard

 * Sheikah Spies
 * Sheikah Monks
 * Interrogators
 * Truthbearers
 * Sheikah Assassins
 * Kingmakers
 * Blood Wizards
 * Skull Knights
 * Soldiers of Agahnim
 * Archers of Agahnim

Siege Weaponry

 * Shadow Cannons
 * Needlestorm

Special

 * The Devoured

Command

 * Red Wizard
 * Shadow Lord

Agents

 * Sheikah Diplomat
 * Master Spy
 * Master Assassin
 * Goddess Priestess

Heroes

 * Impa
 * Agahnim
 * Iztam
 * Bongo-Bongo

Historia Only

 * Interloper Assassins
 * Interloper Wizard
 * Bongo

Tech Tree
With a few exceptions the Sheikah techtree is essentially the same as that of the Kingdom of Hyrule. Naturally the Sheikah are only capable of creating buildings while in Death Stance.

Hamlet Level Structures:

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Village Level Structures:


 * Brainwashing Center: Hylian soldiers are brought into local brainwashing centers in order to insure loyalty to Agahnim and the Cadre. Only the most resistant are sent to Agahnim himself to face the Eye of Truth.

Town Level Structures:


 * Torture Chamber: A small underground dungeon used to interrogate prisoners and enemies of the Sheikah.

Large Town Level Structures:


 * Wizard's Tower: Disguised as a simple farm tower, these buildings provide silence and solace for the few Sheikah left with the magic of Ancient Hylians.

City Level Structures:


 * Reliquary: Underground crypt from which the Sheikah store many forbidden artifacts and knowledge that they can draw power from in times of need. Allows units to train at their first Upgrade level.

Large City Level Structures:


 * Dark Reliquary: This underground crypt contains many dark secrets that some would consider potentially if not outright blasphemous to the Goddesses of Hyrule. Allows units to train at their second Upgrade level.