Zebras

The Zebras are equids similar to earth ponies but recognizable by their striped black and white coat. Their flanks bear cutie marks, albeit they are far more abstract in appearance than those of ponies. They have magical abilities, but most of their magical practices involve the craft and use of potions and communion with spirits. Unlike their pony cousins, zebras tend to live in more arid or tropical climates.

Racial Technology

Chargers

Charger Division

Enables Chargers

Zebra courage, alchemical enhancements, the favour of the spirits, ancient warrior culture and the finest steel in the world comes together to create a kind of warrior without equal.

Charger Division II

• Chargers Organisation: +5

The alchemy we use to enhance our chargers is not merely simple brews, but centuries-old art. Carefully refining our potion recipes will only strengthen our chargers.

Charger Division III

• Chargers Breakthrough: +5%
• Chargers Organisation: +5

In modern times, alchemy and traditions will only get you so far. Providing better equipment to our warriors will help them prevail in even more dangerous situations.

Charger Division IV

• Chargers Organisation: +5
• Chargers Piercing: +10%

True spirit magic is a powerful art, but at the same time it is incredibly dangerous. We are ready to take the first steps to harness our traditions to make our chargers the greatest fighters of all time.

Charger Division V

• Chargers Recovery Rate: +5%
• Chargers Organisation: +5

More refined ingredients, better training, improved equipment. As always, there are a number of small things that can be done to add up to a larger whole.

Charger Division VI

• Chargers Hard attack: +5%
• Chargers Organisation: +5

Five facets come together as one, and with each component refined to its end, what other end result can there be but the fiercest soldiers Zebrica has ever seen?

Adaptability

Under The Zebrican Sun

• Heat Attrition: -20%

Zebras are capable of surviving and even thriving in some of the harshest environments in the world. They have adapted to the sweltering heat of Zebrican deserts and the overbearing humidity of Zebrican jungles. As such, anything made by a zebra is capable of functioning even in extreme temperatures.

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Jungle Warfare

• Leg Infantry:
  • Jungle Attack: +5%
  • Jungle Movement: +10%

Jungles are hot and humid in equal amounts, a place where you can lose yourself in a green inferno. For everyone else, that is. For us, the jungle is home.

Desert Warfare

• Leg Infantry:
  • Desert Attack: +5%
  • Desert Movement: +10%

Deserts are hot, dry, expanses of nothing but sand. Sand that is coarse, and rough, and irritating, and gets everywhere. But we are already well adapted to these conditions.

Poisoned Ammunition

• Enables Tactic: Poisonous Ambush

The dangers of the jungles are our boons. With a little resourcefulness, we can utilize poisons of exotic creatures and plants for our weapons. Others can bleat about the morals of it, for us it is necessary to defend our lands by any means possible.

Tireless Charge

• Enables Tactic: Tireless Charge

A warrior trained on the desert sands, where every step wants to swallow your hooves, will be strong as few on the assault, and an army trained in the sands will have the ability to charge for longer than any others.

Warrior Instincts

• Chargers Recovery Rate: +0.10
• Chargers:
  • Forest Movement: +10%
  • Forest Attack: +10%
  • Plains Movement: +10%
  • Plains Attack: +10%
  • Jungle Movement: +10%
  • Jungle Attack: +10%
  • Marsh Movement: +10%
  • Marsh Attack: +10%
  • Desert Movement: +10%
  • Desert Attack: +10%

Our chargers have a sense for danger unlike any other. Training them to hone this sense will make them even more dangerous. No matter what may come, they can notice and adapt before the enemy even knows what happened.

To the Bitter End

• Organisation loss when below 25%: -10%
• HP: +5%

The final truth any good soldier should know is that you are only defeated when you accept defeat. To a true warrior, this truth holds even when grievously wounded, and again and again our forces prove themselves able to come back from what should have killed them.

Alchemy

Zebra Alchemy

All Infantry and Mot/Mech:

• • Recovery Rate: +0.02
  • Defense: +10%

Zebra shamans, healers and doctors have documented the inherent potential of countless plants and other ingredients since the dawn of time, creating a discipline that when used well can produce miracles worthy of any magic.

Potion of Toughness

All Infantry and Mot/Mech:

• • Organisation: +2

War demands much of a warrior, and these simple potions will allow them to find energy even in the most dire circumstances.

Side effects may include constipation, insomnia, loss of taste and/or smell and, in certain cases, death.

Nighteye Potion

• Land Night Attack: +7.5%

It's one of the most classic military tactics to attack during the night. However the mutual lack of vision can make this a risky proposition. These potions ensure that it no longer is an issue.

Side effects may include: light sensitivity, polymorphic light eruption (sun rash), hypersensitivity to sound and, in certain cases, death.

Healing Potion

All Infantry and Mot/Mech:

• • HP: +60%

It was one of the first potions that ancient alchemists tried to brew, and great strides have been made in the field. A soldier equipped with these potions has an exponentially higher chance of survival.

Warning: exceeding the Designated Daily Dose (1 for foals, 2 for adults), can have serious health consequences. Always consult with your doctor first.

Potion of Haste

All Infantry and Mot/Mech:

• • Max Speed: +7.5%

At crucial moments, the ability to speed up can be the difference between life and death, and instead of merely hoping our soldiers have it in them, we also supply them with the means of achieving it.

Side effects may include: anxiety, hyperactivity, weight loss, mania and, in certain cases, death.

Potion of Heroism

• Chargers Organisation: +2
• Chargers HP: +60%
• Chargers Max Speed: +7.5%

Some of the potions that have been developed are frankly too concentrated for any regular zebra to even try to use. Only our chargers, who already are accustomed to a sizeable cocktail of various brews, will be able to make use of these.

Side effects may include but are not limited to all of the above described. Never use without a doctor's explicit permission.

Oil of Sharpness

• Chargers Hard attack: +25%
• Chargers Piercing: +100%

In many ways the apex of our alchemical skill, this salve can be applied to our chargers' weapons to great result. With these, even armored vehicles are no longer safe from their weapons.

Warning: fatal if swallowed. Skin and eye irritant. Keep out of reach of foals!

Metallurgy

Note: Taking one of the second branches requires one of the first branches or An Unequaled Tradition be completed.

The Enigma of Steel

• Production Efficiency Retention: +5%
• Production Efficiency Base: +5%

The zebras never had a "bronze age". Rather, they developed ironworking skills independently thousands of years ago, eventually even learning to make carbonized steel.
"The secret of steel has always carried with it a mystery. You must learn its riddle and discipline. For no one in this world you can trust. Not mares, not stallions, not beasts. Steel. This you can trust."

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Prioritising Purpose

• Military Factory Construction Speed: +10%
• Civilian Factory Construction Speed: +10%

For what purpose do we forge these weapons? That question must come first, and if we ignore it, we have lost the way. If tradition doesn't provide for this, then it should be discarded.

Hoofcrafted Perfection

• Infantry:
  • Reliability Bonus: +2%
• Artillery Support & Line:
  • Reliability Bonus: +2%

Short term thinking will bite you in the flank in the long run. Our craft has prevailed this long because we didn't compromise it to death, and instead kept producing the highest quality possible.

No Stone Unturned

• Resource Gain Efficiency: +15%

Even the most barren regions of Zebrica can still provide, as long as one is committed to a philosophy of absolute efficiency, and to never stop looking for more. There is metal in the sand, metal in the bogs, metal in the soil. One must only know how to exploit it.

New Sources of Inspiration

• Factory Output: +10%

Contrary to what the griffon clever-claws might say, being one with nature is not to be simple, or backwards. It is about learning from more than your kin, and to realize that you are part of a greater whole. There are millions of living things out there, and if even one in a thousand can teach us something, that is still thousands of lessons learned.

Modern Steelmaking Methods

• Modify Civilian Factory resource output by: +1

In far away lands, new and more efficient ways of producing steel have been invented. Though the traditionalists may scoff at how we're 'corrupting' steelmaking with foreign influence, there is no doubt that production rates will greatly improve if we combine our expertise with methods from abroad.

Applied Alchemy

• Infantry:
  • Supply Usage: -2%
• Monthly Population: +10%

Alchemy was never meant to be merely for war. It belongs to all, and so does its gifts. A small healing brew to a sick foal can pay for itself many times over as the foal grows up to become a strong warrior, while alchemical brews can be used to protect crops from blight and accelerate their growth.

An Unequaled Tradition

• Chargers Soft attack: +20%

The apex of steelworking skill has always been found among the Zebras, and whatever we produce, we make it like none other. Hide, bone and metal all yields before our weapons, and our finest warriors wield our masterwork weapons like none other.

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Exclusivity is Pointless

• Infantry:
  • Soft attack: +5%

If we are to prevail, we must lose some of our old, cherished beliefs. The important thing is that we produce as much steel as possible, even if its quality suffers as a result.

The Cherished Elite

• Special Forces:
  • Soft attack: +12%

The Chargers are a select few, that is true, but we do not throw away lives casually, and that is why we ensure that our finest can lead the way. They fight for all of us, and they deserve all we can give.

Breaking with Tradition

• Light Tank Recovery Rate: -0.02
• Light Tank Soft attack: -5%
• Light Tank Reliability: +10%
• Light Tank Production Cost: -10%
• Medium Tank Recovery Rate: -0.02
• Medium Tank Soft attack: -5%
• Medium Tank Reliability: +10%
• Medium Tank Production Cost: -10%

Though controversial, maybe the time has come to stop treating metalworking as a sacred art and instead view it with more pragmatic eyes? It will be a painful transition, but we must do it either way.

Warrior and Weapon as One

• Special Forces:
  • Breakthrough: +10%
  • Reliability Bonus: +3%

Whether a spear or a gun, every weapon has its own small quirks and flaws that makes it an entity of its own, and the warrior who can understand this can use it like none other possibly could.

Ending the Charger Cult

• Chargers Breakthrough: -10%
• Chargers Soft attack: -10%
• All Infantry and Mot/Mech:
  • Breakthrough: +10%
  • Soft attack: +10%

The cult of the charger has reigned since time immemorial, and the time has come for it to be ended. This obsession with a select warrior elite will weaken us in the long run, and we are better off spending our effort empowering our regular soldiers.

Zebrica's Finest

• Chargers Recovery Rate: +2.5%
• Chargers Defense: +10%
• Chargers Soft attack: +5%
• Chargers Hard attack: +5%
• Chargers Initiative: +1%
• Chargers Organisation: +2

One Zebra can be worth ten enemies, but only if he is forged to become such a warrior. This spearhead elite will be there whenever we need, and they will fight like no other. They are the chargers, and the world trembles under their hooves.

War Canoes

Note: In addition to War Canoes, Deep Sea Canoes also requires the Designated Landing Barges technology.

War Canoes

Leg Infantry:

• • River Attack: +5%
  • River Movement: +10%
  • Marsh Attack: +5%
  • Marsh Movement: +10%

Living along the great waterways of Zebrica meant that watercraft were often used to travel long distances and to catch plentiful amounts of fish. These wooden canoes were eventually refined to be used in warfare to rapidly transport warriors across the rivers and lakes.

Deep Sea Canoes

Leg Infantry:

• • Amphibious Attack: +5%
  • Amphibious Movement: +10%
• Invasion Prepare Time: -20%
• Invasion Defence: +10%
• Amphibious Invasion Speed: +20%

Those zebras who live near the vast oceans built large ships that could survive even the fiercest storm. Merging the tradition of canoe-building from inland zebras with the boatbuilding tradition of coastal zebras has resulted in fast and durable transport ships.