Twilight Incursion

The Forces of Twilight, known in Hyrule as Interlopers, are a playable faction in Hyrule: Total War.

Description
During the time of Ganon, many flocked under his lordship. Gerudo, Hylians, and even the Sheikah would break their creeds in favor of promised power under a dominion ruled by Ganon. After his defeat, these Hylians, Gerudo and Sheikah were all sentenced to eternal imprisonment in the Mirror of Twilight, an ancient device of unknown origin that was believed to be the entrance to an endless void. Unknown to the Kingdom of Hyrule though, rather than sending these war criminals to a bottomless pit of no return, the Mirror of Twilight was in fact a portal to a new world. For thousands of years the Interlopers and their descendants evolved and changed in this new alien world. Millennia later they hardly resemble their ancestors, and are now a tall and slender race characterized by glowing white skin. Dubbed the Twili, they thirst to once again return to Hyrule and take revenge on the ones whom banished their ancestors. Eventually they discovered how to open the portals, and the Twili have begun to pour into Hyrule. Despite the fact that thousands of years have passed in their world, it has only been a lifetime in Hyrule since the Interlopers were banished. The Twili army is a terrifying one. With exotic armor, wicked looking weapons, and horrific beasts of burden, the alien force that is the Twili can easily scare off the unprepared. Despite their psychological edge over Hyrule's races, their evolution in the Realm of Twilight has changed them to the point where walking in Hyrule is uncomfortable in the extreme. Sunlight slowly burns the Twili unless properly protected by clothing or armor, and the air is thick for them to breath. As such they tire very quickly when forced to fight for extended periods of time. They may suffer in this alien environment, but even so one cannot help but cower in fear at the sight of a Twili army marching from the portals of another world.

Language
The Twili spoken and written language shares its name with the race, Twili.

Rise of Ganon
The Twili are descended from Bongo's Dark Interlopers, a traitorous group of Sheikah, and the female Gerudo followers of the Twinrova sisters, both of which coveted the Triforce. After they failed to get their hands on the holy relic, they, along with Veran's Fairies, surrender to the Kingdom of Hyrule, who hand them to the Gerudo Circle of Warlords as a peace offering. The Warlords banish the prisoners to the Mirror of Twilight, believing it to be an endless void.

The Realm of Twilight
The Dark Interlopers and the Gerudo, after being banished through the Mirror of Twilight, find themselves not in an endless void as what the Warlords thought, but in a new alien world dubbed the Realm of Twilight. Many struggle to survive and most die soon after their arrival.

Weakened from the battle at Lake Hylia and by the harsh alien landscape, Veran wanders off from the other survivors to die alone. In the wilderness, she is found by the Dark Dragon Onox, who senses that she had great and powerful magic, so he shelters her from the harsh Realm of Twilight and helps her recover from her wounds. Because of this the two develop a close and possibly romantic relationship.

With the help of the two other Great Fairy survivors, Morsheen and Una, Veran organises numerous kingdoms amongst the rest of the exiles, who now call themselves the Twili. For centuries the Fairies remain in control of the Twili, pulling the strings of each King that they placed on the throne. Morsheen establishes the Church of Majora in the Realm of Twilight, and becomes a major missionary in spreading the worship of Majora across the planet.

For hundreds of years the Twili radiate into many cultural groups throughout the Realm, notably the Bonemold Monks, who retain many traits of Sheikah culture, the Twili Sorceresses, who inherit their abilities from the Great Fairies in conjunction with the use of Sols, and the mysterious Lost Kingdom of Oorgath who has managed to shed their mortal bodies and created masks that allow the wearers to perform almost superhuman feats at the cost of great physical and emotional pain.

Eventually the Fairies' power over the Twili becomes threatened when the powerful King Mizorant unites the various kingdoms to form the Twili Empire after having made allies in a group of Parella minions of Bellum - the original creator of the Mirror of Twilight. It is revealed they intended to head to Hyrule from the Mirror's original destination, but the Circle of Warlords' meddling disrupted the portal and left them stranded on the Realm of Twilight instead. With the Parella's help, Mizorant plans to get rid of the three Great Fairies, and then conquer Hyrule.

A short time after Mizorant's coronation, his son Zant meets the lowborn girl Midna, starts a relationship with her and gives her a room in the Palace of Twilight. Mizorant strongly disapproves of this relationship.

But Mizorant underestimated the influence the Fairies had in the Twili Empire. Quickly after being banished from the Palace, they have his armies disbanded against his will and assassinate him in the Palace of Twilight, then cast Zant aside in favour of Midna.

Being denied the throne, Zant's love for Midna is eventually replaced by envy for what his father promised him. In secret, Zant consults his father's Parella associates and forms an army from Mizorant's personal guards. Knowing that this army can't be enough to usurp the throne, Zant travels to the prison of Valran to free Lady Middee, head of the Bonemold Monks who was abandoned and imprisoned by Midna. Following Middee's advice, he then heads to Elmenzhia, the throne of Una and overcomes her army of Twili Sorceresses.

After Zant's forces take Una captive, Veran teleports in and invites him and his forces to the church of Uzu, making it clear that his army can't defeat hers there, then returns to Uzu where Morsheen and Onox await. Back at Uzu she asks Morsheen to summon Majora, and ask it to animate the Avatars of its likeness to crush Zant and his army, with the condition that Majora could reap their souls. Majora cackles at this idea and summons numerous Wrath Entities, as well as animating Avatars to destroy Zant.

Zant knowingly marches into Veran's trap, with the belief that he can overcome and subjugate her.

Despite being backed up by Majora, Onox and Veran at the end still lose to Zant, though she refuses to bend the knee for him. Zant slices her kneecap, forcing her to kneel, then tells her of his plan to return to and conquer Hyrule, at which point Veran gladly accepts to help him. Veran begins to transform Zant's men into Shadow Messengers using masks of Oorgath.

Zant, Middee and General Onox march upon the Palace of Twilight to forcibly remove Midna from the throne.

Upon his victory, Zant confronts a surprised Midna in the throne room, accusing her of casting him away after taking his birthright. Midna tells him that he could have become King by her side, but he left her alone because of envy for the throne. Furious at Midna but unable to kill her, Zant forces her to don a mask of Oorgath, turning her into an imp.

The Realm of Twilight now his, Zant provides the necessary resources for the Parella to build a new Mirror of Twilight to conquer Hyrule.

Gerudo Wars
With his preparations complete, Zant starts his invasion of Hyrule, accompanied by Veran, Onox and the Parella. Upon their arrival, they are greeted by the Parella's servant Princess Sokuuf who tells them she has installed a mole in the Zora Dominion nearby, while the Parella reveals her plan with Onox: when the Twili and Parella are fighting the Zora defenders, he'll carry a bottle of poison upstream and pour into the Zora River, poisoning the main water source of Hyrule to make further invasions easier for Zant.

In the caverns under Domain Prime, as the battle rages above, Onox is intercepted and killed by the Zora Princess Ruto. At this point, Domain Prime comes down collapsing over the Zora and the Twili, while the River Zora have left and abandoned them during the battle. It is revealed that the River Zora have been taking advantage of the Zora being occupied by the battle and by Onox to plant numerous Sols all around the Zora's Domain, and with Onox dead they detonated all of them to destroy their ancient enemies, without concern for their allies. Zant manages to escape the crumbling Domain and orders a retreat for the Mirrors of Twilight, though Veran refuses to leave without Onox and is stranded on Hyrule after the Mirrors are closed.

Realising the Parella only used him to escape into Hyrule, Zant returns to rule over the Realm of Twilight and rebuild his empire.

Manifest Destiny
A few years later, Zant is suddenly contacted by Veran in Hyrule, who tells him she has managed to build another Mirror of Twilight on the top of the Black Tower in Lynna City and asks him to prepare an army for another invasion. The Twili suddenly storm into Lynna, forcing the invading Hylians and Fairies of Tarm to retreat.

Strengths, Weaknesses and Abilities

 * Alien Invaders: The monstrous and exotic soldiers employed by the Twili exploit primal fears in the races of Hyrule. Enemies are more likely to flee from a fight with the Forces of Twilight.
 * Unfamiliar Environment: The land of Hyrule is as alien to the Twili as they are to the races that inhabit the land. Troops are generally uncomfortable and tire very quickly when fighting during the daytime.
 * Airborne Assault: The Forces of Twilight have a large roster of flying units, giving them excellent line of sight and initial speed in battle.
 * Slow Logistics: Because their supplies must come from the Realm of Twilight, armies under their command move much slower on the campaign map.

Freeform Campaign
The Twili begin play in the Realm of Twilight, which is initially contested between Prince Zant and Princess Midna The player will select a leader to side with at the beginning of the Freeform Campaign -this will determine the path of their techtree. The rival faction leader must be defeated as a rebel general before the Forces of Twilight can construct the Mirror of Twilight and enter Hyrule.

Mirror of Twilight
After uniting, in order to invade Hyrule, the Twili must construct a Mirror of Twilight, which will appear near the settlement where it was constructed. Two of these structures are required to operate: one in the Realm of Twilight and one in Hyrule. One already exists at the Arbiter's Grounds, so when you have an army ready you'll need to build one on your end. When the gate is up and operational you'll need to move your armies into it.

At the end of the turn, they'll be instantly teleported to the other gate in Hyrule or vice versa. Unless you control both settlements that have the gates however, the trip is only one way. So you'll need to take control of the Arbiter's Grounds as soon possible to create a highway between the two worlds for your armies.

This gives the Twili a very nice defensible "home base" area which is really important since they cannot train or build anything in Hyrule other than resource generating structures like mines. You'll only be able to get new troops in your homeland. This also makes defending Mirror Gates very important as the inhabitants of Hyrule could decide to destroy all the gates and permanently seal you off from the world... or worse invade your homeland by storm and exterminate you.

Standard

 * Twili Infantry
 * Twili Sorceresses (must control Elmenzhia)
 * Bonemold Monks (must control Valran)
 * Shadow Kargaroks
 * Sol Nurses
 * Repentants (must kill Prince Zant or have his forces surrender)
 * Twili Spider Swarm (must control Elmenzhia)
 * Avatar of Majora

Siege Weaponry

 * Sol Cannon

Agents

 * Master Sorceress
 * Arch Sorceress
 * Twili Diplomat

Heroes

 * Midna
 * Morsheen
 * Onox

Standard

 * Twili Infantry
 * Twili Sorceresses (must control Elmenzhia)
 * Bonemold Monks (must control Valran)
 * Shadow Kargaroks
 * Shadow Messengers (must control Uzu)
 * Shadow Insects
 * Fused Shadows (must kill Princess Midna or have her forces surrender)
 * Avatar of Majora

Siege Weaponry

 * Shadow Bloat

Agents

 * Master Sorceress
 * Arch Sorceress
 * Twili Diplomat

Heroes

 * Zant
 * Onox
 * Middee

Tech Tree
The Forces of Twilight have a very streamlined techtree spread across population requirements with no prerequisites. During the Twili civil war it's somewhat shattered and broken however, as is to be expected when a nation tears itself apart.



Hamlet

 * Fungal Farms: Though there are flora that grow within the dim Realm of Twilight, the Twili prefer to grow fungus in large quantities to feed their people.
 * Gardens: A simple plot of land devoted to flora, Gardens increase the health of their host settlement as well as the happiness of those that live there.
 * Sol Nursery: Radial resting place from which Sols are placed to light up Twili cities, improving the quality of life.
 * Mask Crafters: Masks are a cultural icon of the Twili people, and this dedicated crafting team creates Masks for worship, celebration, and all sorts of activities.

Village

 * Fungal Colonies: Allowing Twili fungus to grow as it pleases rather than limiting its spread radius, allowing for more food production.
 * Imperial Barracks: Central training facility for the soldiers deployed by the Forces of Twilight.
 * Imperial Barracks - Shadow Morphing: By subjecting soldiers to the form warping Shadow masks the Forces of Twili can field powerful monstrosities in battle. Initially only available to Zant.
 * Imperial Barracks - Light World Training: Having soldiers train for periods of time in the world of light and simulated conditions hardens them for battle. Initially only available to Midna.
 * Market Plaza: A series of shops that sell various goods and services within its host settlement, increasing both its economy and the happiness of people within.
 * Kargarok Roost: Large spires and outcroppings make ideal nests for large flocks of Shadow Kargoroks.

Town

 * Fungal Ecosystem: With minor guidance and restrictions Fungal Colonies can become self sufficient ecosystems that provide replenishing food for the Twili people.
 * Insect Pits: The vicious Shadow Bloats and their young love to nest in these underground burrows. At a young age they can be trained and deployed from these hives for battle.
 * Mask Guild: Devotes an entire guild to the creation of Masks for the Twili people, greatly increasing the happiness of those that live in its host settlement.

Large Town

 * Fungal Invasion: Fungus begins to grow across entire Twili cities, allowing civilians to cultivate whatever they need to their heart's content.
 * Twili Prison: Secure and ominous Prison for containing Twili criminals. Greatly increases the Law and prevents unrest after the Twili Civil War has ended.
 * Twili Spider Nest: Structures created for Twili Spider Swarms to create their elaborate and glowing webs upon.

City

 * Bonemolding Shapery: The difficult art of bonemolding is practiced and performed here, allowing the Twili to sculpt everything from clothing to entire buildings. Decreases the cost of construction projects in host settlement.
 * Shadow Mask Market: The Masking guild empowers their masks with magical forces, allowing those that wear them to perform enhanced feats and tasks. Allows soldiers to train at their first Upgrade level.

Large City

 * Mark of Oorgath: Twili Masks are empowered by the dangerous magic of Oorgath, allowing the wearers to perform almost superhuman feats at the cost of great physical and emotional pain. Allows units to train at the second Upgrade level.