Civ: Scythians

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

[Guest]

On 03/03/2026 at 2:33 PM, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Horseman with the axe looking a lot like Persian Hyrcanian cavalry.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

7 hours ago, Deicide4u said:

Horseman with the axe looking a lot like Persian Hyrcanian cavalry.

Yeah, basically. lol. They use the same actors. I'll continue to make them more unique. The main issue is Scythian-specific props. 

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

 

 

[Thalatta]

On 23/03/2026 at 12:30 AM, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Yeah, basically. lol. They use the same actors. I'll continue to make them more unique. The main issue is Scythian-specific props. 

Well, Persians did use Scythian battle axes, or sagaris, so they would look similar, just not like that AI image, but way more slender:

Here some discussion about it (and more representations): https://www.oeaw.ac.at/ifi/blog/detail/the-scythian-sagaris-single-or-double-bladed-axe.

 

But I'm not sure where the idea of Hyrcanian Cavalry using the sagaris comes from, Herodotus states in his Histories that the "Hyrcanians were armed like the Persians", which coincides with https://alexander-the-great.org/warfare/hyrcanian-cavalry ("they typically used light armor, spears, and bows"), but maybe I've just not found the source from where this comes from.

On the other hand (if a name different from "Scythian" wants to be used for some unit), Herodotus mentions that the Saka (closely related to the Scythians) did use the sagaris: "The Scaran (sic) Scythians had about their heads caps which were carried up to a point and set upright and stiff; and they wore trousers, and carried native bows and daggers, and besides this axes of the kind called sagaris. These were called Amyrgian Sacans, being in fact Scythians; for the Persians call all the Scythians Sacans".

 

And, something interesting that some could have noticed in my first link: many representations show these warriors being women, the idea being that the Amazons were inspired by mounted female Scythian (and Saka, among others) warriors. According to Diodoros Siculus, "at that time the Sacae were ruled by a woman named Zarina, who was devoted to warfare and was in daring and efficiency by far the foremost of the women of the Sacae. Now this people, in general, have courageous women who share with their husbands the dangers of war". The archaeological evidence seems to support the existence of Scythian (and similar) female warriors, I think this being one of the clearest cases to increase their representation in this respect (if this has not been mentioned already in the 15 pages of this topic that indeed I have not read).

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Saka/Massagetae

 

Western Scythians/"Royal Scythians"

 

 

Tomyris

[Thalatta]

Something to improve should be that the Scythian bow is more characteristically curvy:

 

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Some special technologies I'm thinking of adding for the Scythians:

Advanced Metallurgy

• Forges -20% build time.
• Forge Technologies -20% research time.
• Unlocks "Goldsmithing."

Goldsmithing

• A trading bonus, but researched at the Forge.

Felt Textiles Production

• Civilians and Buildings +20% health.

Gorytos Bow-and-Quiver System

• Cavalry Archers +20% attack rate.

Steppe Saddles

• Cavalry +10% speed.

Scythian Bow

• Ranged Units +10% projectile range.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

3 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Some special technologies I'm thinking of adding for the Scythians:

Advanced Metallurgy

• Forges -20% build time.
• Forge Technologies -20% research time.
• Unlocks "Goldsmithing."

Goldsmithing

• A trading bonus, but researched at the Forge.

Felt Textiles Production

• Civilians and Buildings +20% health.

Gorytos Bow-and-Quiver System

• Cavalry Archers +20% attack rate.

Steppe Saddles

• Cavalry +10% speed.

Scythian Bow

• Ranged Units +10% projectile range.

 

Respectively:

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Tomyris

 

 

Skilurus

[Grautvornix]

Superb! Looking forward to seeing all this in game!

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

What's cool about ChatGPT is that it lists sources for its answers: 

I know some peoples' cognition has been undermined by overreliance on LLMs, but I'm learning so much:

 

 

Quote

 

The evidence is fairly sparse, so it’s best to distinguish archaeologically attested instruments from plausible reconstructions. The strongest evidence comes from the Pazyryk/Altai branch of the wider Scythian cultural world.

• Harps — a small wooden harp from a Pazyryk burial in the Altai is one of the clearest surviving examples. It was a compact string instrument suitable for intimate performance and possibly ritual use.
• Small drums — Pazyryk kurgans have yielded a small drum made from joined sections of bull horn. UNESCO notes that it may have had a ritual or ceremonial role.
• Idiophones / rattling percussion — Scythian musical culture likely included rattles, jingling metal fittings, bells, or clappers, especially in ritual and equestrian contexts. Archaeological discussions of Scythian music include idiophones alongside the better-preserved instruments.
• Simple wind instruments — whistles, reed pipes, flutes, or horns are plausible for steppe societies, but the direct Scythian archaeological evidence is much weaker than for the harp and drum. Because wood, reed, and horn preserve poorly, absence of finds does not necessarily mean they were absent. The broader scholarly literature explicitly cautions that evidence for Scythian music is limited and often requires comparison with neighboring traditions.

For a Scythian faction in 0 A.D., I’d make the most distinctive musical set a Pazyryk harp, horn drum, bronze rattle/jingles, and a simple horn or reed pipe. Of those, the harp and horn drum are the safest archaeologically grounded choices.

 

 

[Thalatta]

15 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

What's cool about ChatGPT is that it lists sources for its answers

Maybe it's getting better, I remember last year it would quote from non-existent sources.

If you want you could have a look at the book "Masters of the Steppe, The Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia", it's a compendium of the latest research. I can't do it myself because I know me and I'll end up just reading every word... best would be if you just check the "Conclusions" subsections. There's a lot about goldsmithing, felt textiles, etc, which I see you have considered already (maybe more specific names could be thought about eventually, but that's not clear for me right now).

Something that I couldn't find in that book though is the Enarei, transexual priestesses that could also be an opportunity for representation (for which there have been some archaeological discoveries also).