“Cup your ears and listen well,
Hoofbeats and horns begin to swell.
The thunderous sound is nothing to fear.
For that is the sign that King Zuva is near.”
                -Excerpt from a Zuvari folk tale “The Boy and the Wildebeest.”

In a time of roiling seas and searing sun, none dared challenge the capricious gods. None but Prince Zuva. After the drought took his parents, the young boy vowed to never again let matters fall outside of his own hands. He ventured deep into the wilds and confronted the spirit of the lands, the Golden Gnu. The fight spanned three days, and one seriously intense game of Tsoro played with giant boulders. But when the dust settled, the spirit bowed its gilded horns. Zuva returned home now blessed by the Wildebeest, and with a single ferocious stomp he sundered the ground behind his village, bringing forth a great new river spring. The land never went parched again.

As Zuva grew from a prince to king, so too did his ambitions and appetite for greatness. One by one, the surrounding kingdoms bent the knee to his might, but Zuva was just in his victories and carried each kingdom on his back to the bountiful river so they could all thrive under one banner. When earthquakes and foes struck out against his empire, his hammer struck back. Now, the only time the ground shakes is when Zuva goes for his early morning jog. He also taught himself to speak lion. Which is great for silencing the room when negotiations get too unruly.

Mighty as he may have been, even the blessed have their limits. When Zuva’s reign ended he stepped from the sunset savannahs into the halls of Valhalla. He is pleased to see that this warrior’s paradise has no shortage of worthy adversaries that can match his full strength. Ulgrim has tried to recruit him as a backup mbira player for EFO’s next album, but to no avail. Zuva prefers to keep his music to himself, and finds a quiet moment to play whenever he thinks of home.

“I’m not yet strong enough. The power I seek is still out of my reach.”
“True strength is an eternal question, and one not so easily answered. …But dude, you literally split a mountain in half last week.”
-King Zuva and Wu Shang