Zulus of the Mfecane 

The Mfecane [mm-feh-kah-neh] period in South African history is controversial because it saw cruelty and bloodshed amongst South African factions, along with more widespread expansionism and regional domination with the rise of the Zulu Empire. Under King Shaka, the Zulus would come to dominate the region over many decades by conquering other South African tribes and assimilating them into the Zulu culture, and eventually found their expansion running into the British Empire later in the 19th century.

Shaka introduced a number of military enhancements into the Zulu culture that are reflected in this deck, the first of which was their adoption of shorter spears known as iKwla which were excellent in close range combat, along with special shields, sometimes referred to as isiHlangu, which were used both offensively and defensively due to their unique shape. Shaka also trained his warriors to be able to run very long distances barefoot, which gave his troops both more fighting endurance as well as the ability to chase down retreating forces.

Shaka also arranged his troop regiments, amaButho (singular iButho) [ee-boo-toh], into age-grouped regiments. This grouping was referred to as Intanga and inspires the deck's use of placing cards of the same name/cost next to each other for greater might.

Shaka is also famous for his "bull horn" battle formation, otherwise known as Impondo Zankomo, where a main regiment would meet an enemy head-on, while hidden regiments would surprise the enemy by appearing from both flanks, like two horns of a bull. The final regiment would wait in hiding as reserves and upon a successful assault, would spring into action to finish the battle and cut-off or chase-down retreating forces. Shaka referred to this reserve as the "loins" of the bull.

The deck symbol is a bull head, a nod to the formation and the animal reverence.