Gerudo (Conquest)

The Gerudo, formally known as the Gerudo Empire, are a playable faction in Hyrule Conquest.

Description
The Gerudo are an ancient people who at one point in history had a vast and powerful empire. Over time various warlords of their race began to quarrel amongst themselves to the point where their conflict spread to other races. Seeing the potential in the Gerudo, the Moblin King Ganon offered them a place in his dominion as servants. The selfish warlords rejected his offer and declared war on the Moblins. As a result, King Ganon poisoned the Gerudo bloodline by unknown means so that the Gerudo would never give birth to a male. After several decades the male population of the Gerudo died off, leaving only their females in a desperate situation to restore their race. The answer to their problems were the vast resources that the neighboring land of Hyrule provided, but unfortunately the Hylians were not so welcoming of the Gerudo. As a result of their incursion, the Gerudo and Hylians entered a long period of hostility. With only female Gerudo being born and no males, the fear that the Gerudo will become extinct grows among their people with each passing day. Being a culture from a harsh land, the Gerudo themselves are a harsh people in a fight. They prefer to fight on horseback and with bows, and as such they are superior in the field of archery when in a fight. Being raised in a desert however has left them with little need for armor, and most Gerudo wear simple outfits with little protection. Despite the lack of Gerudo durability, they are a very potent and mobile force that should never be underestimated.

User Guide
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Gerudo
The red-haired and amber-eyed Gerudo had long dominated much of the desert bearing the same name. A poison introduced by the Moblin King Ganon had eliminated the ability to give birth to male Gerudo: all children were born female. As such, the modern Gerudo were all amazonian women and had taken up the mantle of their long-dead kings and warriors. They were brutal and fierce, hardened by the ravaging winds of the Gerudo Desert and a land hostile against their very existence.

Language
The Gerudo language is descended from Ancient Hylian but exhibits a significant substratum from the indigenous languages of the Gerudo Desert, notably Darknut. Their written language is based on the Gerudo abugida, developed by deviantart user Sarinilli.

Civ Bonuses

 * Desert Raiders (Killing enemy workers gives Gerudo 50% of the resources they were carrying)
 * Battle Ready (All Gerudo Buildings are garrisonable and can fire arrows at enemy units)
 * Ransack (Loot drops for Gerudo are higher)

Civilians

 * Gerudo Artisan
 * Gerudo Trailblazer

Military

 * Glaive Grunt
 * Marauder
 * Sand Sniper
 * Gerudadorf
 * Vagrudanon
 * Dune Runner
 * Tomb Guard
 * Ice Archer
 * Master Thief
 * Wind Witch
 * Ashinon Captain
 * Arbiter
 * Sand Seal Plower

Siege Weaponry

 * Gerudo Catapult
 * Sandblaster

Hero Units

 * Iron Knuckle
 * Dust Sentinel
 * Golden Gladiator
 * Shieldbreaker

Heroes

 * Ganondorf
 * Nabooru
 * Urbosa
 * Riju

Legendary Figure

 * Twinrova

Wonder

 * Desert Colossus

Ancient Age
The ancestors of the Gerudo were Ancient Hylian colonists who settled the eastern Gerudo desert, slowly taking on the modern appearance of the Geruod in adaptation to their Desert environment. At an unknown point in the Ancient Age the desert peoples split off from their Hylian cousins as an independent political and cultural group. The ancient Gerudo became known as a "Garden in the Desert, " founding great cities and temples and constructing grand tombs and monuments to mighty kings, and were feared and respected even by the Darknut Legion. The Ancient Gerudo Kings pleaded with their goddess Kovaloo to allow them to contact the spirits of their ancestors in the afterlife. The Gerudo eventually learned how to summon spirits from the afterlife, and with this knowledge forged great magical constructs such as Silver Gauntlets and Mirror Shields as well as mastering elemental Wind and Ice magic.

With their control over the Spirits, However, their over-expansion and resource exploitation stretched their limited Desert resources past the breaking point, and led their Empire into decline until by 1 BG the Gerudo Kings had been reduced to petty Warlords fighting for dwindling resources.

Rise of Ganon
In 1 BG, King Ganon of the Moblins presented himself to the Circle of Warlords to ask for an alliance against the Kingdom of Hyrule to the east. In their terrible pride, the Warlords rejected Ganon's offer; the Moblin King politely accepted the rejection before claiming a curse will befall their people for their refusal. True to his word, Ganon then poured a bottle of poison given by his ally Bongo into the Gerudo's oases.

After Ganon was killed at Death Mountain Crater and the Triforce's location revealed at the Water Temple, the Twinrova sisters gathered a small army of female Gerudo and marched upon Hylia Marine to steal it, against the Warlords' orders.

After the battle at Hylia Marine, unable to deal with the Gerudo, Sheikah and Fairy prisoners, Princess Nylin Zelda I decided to turn them over to the Warlords as a gesture of goodwill. The Warlords then banished the prisoners to the Mirror of Twilight, believing it to be the entrance to an endless void.

First Golden Age
As the result of Ganon's curse, no more Gerudo boys are born, and the male Gerudo slowly die out. Unable to produce males, the Gerudo are reduced from one of the the most powerful states in Hyrule to a dying society viewed as bandits and heathens by their eastern cousins.

However, in 71 AG, a son is unexpectedly born to the Gerudo woman Adieladorf, whom she names Ganondorf, as despite Ganon's curse he still manages to be born. The living Gerudo men, his father included, are all old at this point, and none survives long after his birth. The boy Ganondorf becomes the sole member of the Circle of Warlords, with his mother serving as regent until he's of legal age, but Adieladorf's regency doesn't last long: she mysteriously dies a few months into Ganondorf's reign. At this point, the Twinrova sisters, who were spared banishment for their involvement with the Dark Interlopers, adopt Ganondorf as their own son and become his co-regents.

When he reaches adulthood, Ganondorf learns about the Triforce, the divine artefact that the Golden Goddesses left at Hyrule, with the power to grant a wish to anyone who can obtain it. Concerned about his people's survival and desiring to lift Ganon's curse, he decides to militarise the Gerudo against the Kingdom of Hyrule in an attempt to take the Triforce. Meanwhile, Twinrova strike an alliance with Vaati, mastermind behind the Darknut Legion, and Agahnim, head of the Sheikah Cadre, agreeing to pay them a city after the Kingdom of Hyrule falls. Ganondorf also successfully convinces Dakkon, the disgraced Sage of Fire, and the remaining Volvagians to aid him in the invasion.

Gerudo Wars
The Gerudo Wars start in 99 AG when Ganondorf commands a small army of Gerudo and Darknuts to march upon Nal Ordona, forcing Princess Mahrala Zelda III to respond so Agahnim would be able to temporarily take charge of the Kingdom of Hyrule and officially declare war on the Gerudo. After the initial attack, Ganondorf leads his main army to assault Hyrule Castle.

The Gerudo forces prove too strong for the Hylian garrison, and after Ganondorf kills Princess Zelda III in a duel the rest of the garrison surrenders to the Gerudo. Immediately, Vaati orders the Gerudo to retreat and let the Darknuts occupy the city, reminding a displeased Ganondorf that Hyrule Caslte Town is the city he wants as payment for his help.

With the Princess dead and the Kingdom left without leadership, for a year Ganondorf leads the Gerudo around Hyrule, conquering town after town. Around the same time, his wife Nabooru starts to receive dreams from a mysterious Darknut woman, calling for help.

A year after the fall of Hyrule, the Hylians and the Sheikah Cadre openly rebel against the Darknuts occupying Hyrule Castle Town. After Agahnim is killed, the alliance between the Gerudo and the Darknuts break, and Ganondorf abandons Hyrule to return to the Gerudo Desert.

The Darknut Senturon, who claims to be the husband of the mysterious woman, soon arrives at Ashinon and asks Nabooru for Ganondorf's help to free his wife, but every time Ganondorf declines her request and orders her to stay with him and help him against the Hylians, who are marching west towards Ontheon to free the young Princess Oraiya Zelda IV captured by Vaati. When Nabooru reports back to him, Senturon decides he can't let Vaati discover his intents via Ganondorf and Twinrova, before telling her helping him will be the only way to save the Gerudo.

When the Hylians arrive at Ashinon, Nabooru helps them by breaking the locks of the city gates. Twinrova manage to escape, while Ganondorf is captured by the invaders and put into custody until Princess Zelda IV can judge him. Nabooru, meanwhile, encounter two Hylian children named Link and Lana, and proceeds with them and Senturon to Ontheon.

At Ontheon, the four find the mysterious Darknut woman - the imprisoned Sage Yaraxonal - under the cathedral and manage to free her. With her help, the Hylians and their Goron allies are able to rescue Princess Zelda IV and kill Vaati, bringing an end to the Gerudo Wars.

Second Golden Age
The Hylians put Ganondorf and many other Gerudo leaders on trial after the end of the war. Many of them are executed, but Ganondorf's life is spared.

The Darknut Legion, now led by Yaraxonal and Senturon, declare war on the Gerudo and enslave the rest of their people.

Trivia

 * All Gerudo unit's scimitars bear Gerudo typography that translates to "Wind of Death." This seems to make reference to Ganondorf's speech in The Wind Waker, in which he speaks of the harsh winds that plagued his desert homeland, and the death they carried.
 * The Gerudo faction symbol is that of the Gerudo's emblem, which first appeared in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.