Please feel free to post your own ideas! We have seen that some civs in Civ V were inspired by civs suggested in the forums (I think in the case of the Polynesians, several ideas which ended up in the game originated in the Civ V 2K forums, for example, if memory serves).
Whether they influence Civ VI's expansions or not, posting ideas for future civs and leaders is a fun little research trip into history.
Some ideas of mine, more to come (Kahina of the Berbers, Simon Bolivar of Gran Colombia, Hayam Wuruk/Gajah Mada of the Majapahit). Interesting leader choices for future Civ games could also be indicated here, though they would be less relevant for present purposes (for example much has been made of suggestions of Cao Cao or Cardinal Richelieu, both capable prime ministers/chancellors and de facto rulers of China and France respectively).
Korea
Queen Seondeok of Silla
Musical theme: Sujecheon, composed in the Silla era. (If anyone from Firaxis is reading this, a great musical theme if you choose
Sejong as Korea's leader again would be
Yeomillak, composed by Sejong the Great himself.
Leader ability: Ruler of Silla. Gains one free muster of their highest strength unlocked unit in an army/corp the capital when an enemy leader declares war on them. Trade routes generate culture and science if sent to civs, and faith if sent to allied city-states.
Unique Unit:
Hwarang. These "Flower Knights" of the Silla kingdom were renowned for their arts and culture, and followed Buddhist teachings. Several of Korea's greatest generals in the Korean Three Kingdoms period were Hwarang. In
Civ VI they should generate culture from kills, as well as increased Great General Points, and should be purchasable with faith.
Agenda: Tang Alliance/
Three Kingdoms of Korea. As a ruler of a state with many potential enemies in the Three Kingdoms period of Korea, Seondeok seeks alliances and friendships as often as possible. Likes trade routes sent to her, and will request trade routes be sent to her. She strongly dislikes those who trade with her least favorite civilization.
Civ Bonus:
Daehan Jejuk (name referring to an empire ruling the area of the Three Kingdoms of Korea). City defenses increase based on how much culture and/or faith that city generates.
Unique Unit 2: As part of the civ bonus, Korea gets the famous
Turtle Ship to defend its naval trade routes. It is quite fast and can attack with ranged or melee. Its melee attack does more damage, but its ranged broadside cannon is also formidable. Higher production cost and increased combat strength over the caravel it replaces, but its speed is reduced on open ocean by 2.
Historical Notes: Queen Seondeok was the
second female sovereign in East Asian history, noted for her advances on military, culture, religious (she became an ordained Buddhist nun), and political fronts as ruler of the Silla kingdom of Korea. She is basically the Queen Elizabeth I-ish leader of Korea. The Silla later went on to unify Korea for the first time as a nation. Seondeok is known for constructing the Cheomseongdae,
the oldest surviving observatory in the world, as well as
Hwangnyongsa, or "Imperial Dragon Temple", a massive nine-story pagoda devoted to the Buddhist faith and the center of state-sponsored Buddhism during the Silla era. You may have seen Hwangnyeongsa as the Korean wonder in
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors expansion.
Seondeok was a politically adept leader who kept alliances with the Tang Chinese or the Goguryeo as the need arose. Interestingly, in 647 a revolt arose against Seondeok with the slogan that "female rulers cannot rule the country". The famous Korean general
Kim Yushin put down the revolt on Seondeok's behalf. Kim Yushin later went on to unify Korea under the reigns of later Silla monarchs.
In Civ VI, Seondeok should be a "turtler" player who creates a defensive military and enjoys strong culture, science and faith, with much diplomatic involvement.
Mayans
Lady Six Sky
Notice how she is trampling a conquered warrior underfoot.
Leader ability: Tzolk'in Ritual. Each Great Person comes with a bonus of science and culture in the classical and medieval ages. Each wonder gives an additional lump sum of Great Person points of your choice toward one Great Person.
Civ Bonus: Jub'uy/Shell-Over-Star. Infantry and archers gain an attack bonus against the units of enemy leaders who are at war with one of your ally leaders. Each enemy city that you conquer for the first time provides food and production boosts to your capital city (conquered city-states provide more).
Agenda: K'uhul Ajaw. Dislikes others who ally with city-states. Respects those who attacks city-states and maintain high faith income. ("K'uhul Ajaw" was the title of the Mayan rulers meaning "divine lord." Occasionally, female Mayan rulers also bore the title. Mayan rulership often went hand-in-hand with warfare against other city-states, though these were initially raids and not conquests until the later Classical Mayan period.)
Unique Unit: Jatz'om Spearthrower (also referred to as "White Heat"). Like Civ V's atlatl-based unique unit (basically the same weapon), this warrior is an early ranged unit (historically it was a common Mayan soldier in the latest period; early Mayan warriors were mostly melee, with stone clubs, spears, etc). The Spearthrower's ranged strikes do extra damage if shot from jungles or forests, and have a small chance of forcing the victim to move or take additional damage (if it cannot move).
The word "atlatl" is not used since that is a Nahuatl word, and therefore not quite applicable to the Mayans (though some Internet sources refer to Mayan spearthrowers as using "atlatl"s too, probably because they were lazy researchers *cough cough Civ V*).
Unique Building: Temple Pyramid. Unlocked by Theology civic. High-production cost unique building that grants faith, culture, and also science (until the start of the Renaissance). In the modern age, it generates tourism and has a small chance of generating Archaeology artifacts throughout the modern era.
Historical notes: Lady Six Sky, or "Wak Chanil Ajaw" is described as the
greatest of the Mayan queens, and heralded a new dynasty when she was sent as the
ruling queen to Naranjo as part of an
arranged marriage. She established numerous calendar rituals upon "arrival" as ruling queen at Naranjo. (Calendar rituals were common among the Maya, who
went to war based on the movements of Venus and had a special glyph (star-war or shell-over-star) to indicate conquest of a neighboring city-state.)
Her husband died, however, and she was left to rule. She took this opportunity to torch the towns of her enemies. She won a remarkable string of military victories against Ucanal and Caracol (according to
this article she initiated eight military campaigns over five years). Lady Six Sky was (unusually) portrayed as a warrior-king in several monuments where she stands over a captive. She was likely the mother of her successor, K'ahk' Tiliw Chan Chaak, who was a young child for much of Six Sky's reign.
In Civ VI, Lady Six Sky should be a very aggressive neighbor, with cool relations towards foreign powers. She dislikes meddling in city-state politics and will often take out nearby city-states. She will also keep up high faith (and part of her agenda involves disliking those who do not generate much faith).
For the Maya,
Lady K'abel or "Lady Snake Lord" would be an excellent female alternate, as she was another fierce warrior queen, who held the title of
"Kaloomte" ("supreme warrior") which gave her greater authority than her husband the king K'inich Bahlam, with whom she ruled.
Yuknoom the Great would be an excellent "
badass" (link contains swearing, beware) alternate leader if Firaxis wanted a male warrior king whose name was not Pacal.
Yuknoom Ch'een II, as he was known, is the only other Mayan leader I know who bears "the Great" along his name. Like many Maya rulers, Yuknoom was a successful warrior whose Empire
"encompassed almost all of Classical Mayan Civilization". Yuknoom appointed several Mayan rulers in subordinate Mayan polities. He also lived into his eighties.
Palmyra
Queen Zenobia
American sculpture of Zenobia in chains, but it has more presence than many other sculptures.
Leader ability: Queen of Palmyra. Each city you conquer has a chance to add a trade route slot to the capital city. Caravans are armed and can defend (they have the strength of a regular archer, and gain slight increases in defensive strength throughout the ages). This is based on Zenobia's conquests, which resulted in her
taking vital trade routes from her enemies (namely, Rome).
Zenobia also has the
Clibanarii unique unit, a heavily armored horseman unlocked from the Military Tactics civic. Double defense of regular horseman, and higher production cost. Can attack twice in desert tiles or open plains (no hills/forests). However, these horsemen are slower than regular horsemen. These mighty fully armored cataphracts of the East were a significant part of the Palmyrene Army, and constituted
the main attacking force, using heavy kontos spears around 12 feet long to attack. Zenobia herself had several
thousands of them in her army as she fought Rome. Emperor Aurelian himself admitted the Palmyran clibanarri were mighty; Aurelian in the first engagement with the clibanarii
ordered his troops not to engage them.
Civ ability: Tadmor. Palmyra can rush districts using gold, and the number of trade routes to your capital city reduces the gold rush cost of districts. The capital city gains a free trade caravan and +1 trade caravan slot at the start of the Classical Age.
Agenda:
Augusta. Likes leaders with large military and large wealth. Dislikes those without.
Unique Unit: Palmyreni Sagittarii. Notably, Palmyrans were famous archers, and the Romans had Palmyrene archers stationed in various parts of the empire, and were employed by emperors from Aurelian to Hadrian. Notably, in 117-118 AD Emperor Hadrian employed these mounted Palmyrene archers
in the Dacia province. In Civ VI the sagittarii should be mounted horse archers who gain double strength when defending, but have reduced strength when they initiate a fight. They are unlocked by the Defensive Tactics civic.
Unique tile improvement: Tower Tomb. Generates gold and culture, and tourism in modern age. Can only be built on desert or dirt hills. Magnificent "tower tombs" outside Palmyra were used to bury the remains of wealthy Palmyrans in the so called Palmyrene Valley of Tombs. Palmyra was noted to have burial monuments containing
fully dressed, bejeweled mummies.
Historical notes: Queen Zenobia is famous for carving a short-lived Empire by rebelling against the Roman Empire. Queen Zenobia was initially a subject of the Roman Empire entrusted, like her deceased husband Odenathus, with keeping the Sassanian Persians at bay and protecting Rome's eastern territories. While Roman Emperor Aurelian was busy in the West, Queen Zenobia saw an opportunity and conquered Egypt and areas in Asia Minor, defeating Roman armies along the way. Zenobia was a famously intelligent, beautiful and capable ruler who was known as a "warrior queen" because she led her armies in person, was an able horse-rider, and would walk with her foot soldiers. She was eventually defeated in battle by Emperor Aurelian, who hurriedly crushed the Goths on his way to deal with the Palmyrans who had so disrupted the Roman trade routes. Queen Zenobia was captured and then either executed, or,
surprisingly more likely, married to a Roman nobleman (some suggest Marcellus Petrus Nutenus), with her descendants taking on distinctly Palmyran names not seen elsewhere, like "
L. Septimia Patavinia Balbilla Tyria Nepotilla Odaenathiania" (the names of Zenobia's first husband and son are in there).
In Civ VI Zenobia should value trade and limited conquest, and maintain a fairly large military. She will also occasionally build wonders. She is quick to make peace with you, but may also turn on you even when you are declared friend if she senses weakness (just like in history).
. Why would I possibly allow a rival Portugal to build a Feitoria in my empire? It should provide a gold or other bonus to the host.
