After completing ' Welcome Back', at Notoriety level 5 the Zin send in their heavy hover tank known as the Destructor. The Zin's main transport is the Assert, a hover car featuring a grey and red paint job which comes in both armed and unarmed variants. They are distinguished from regular Zin by their thinner appearance, darker skin, shoulder armor, and several red markings on their bodies. They possess the ability to quickly recover from being knocked down by performing an aerial flip, much like the player's 'Ninja Reflexes' upgrade. is destroyed or a Super Power is used against the Zin. C.I.D.s usually attach themselves to Super Powered Zin or normal Zin, granting them a shield that lasts until the C.I.D. They also possess the Super Sprint and Super Jump powers, allowing them to chase the player across rooftops, gain a vantage point during combat, and generally maneuver in the same way the player would. These Zin carry either Dominators or Thumpguns and rarely Tyrants as main weapons, and also carry Suppression Grenades (like normal Zin soldiers) after ' All Hands on Deck' which disable the player's Super Powers for a small amount of time. In addition to the above units, the Zin Empire includes Super Powered Zin who spawn through portals within their ranks. The Zin have a number of units within their ranks which would classify as specialists. The Zin have also mastered the use of Super Powers, as Super-Powered Zin are encountered in the real world and Zinyak appears to be capable of using telekinesis. Two of their most profound (and known) capabilities include the ability to destroy an entire planet, and time travel. The Zin are a highly technologically advanced species. In the end after Playa, the President of the United States and the leader of the 3rd Street Saints defeats Zinyak, they take control as the new emperor, creating the Saints Empire. They have an incredibly powerful fighting force, capable of conquering the entirety of Earth in a very short amount of time.

The Zin then place their captives into simulations of their deepest fears to mentally break them down and eventually subjugate them to serve the Zin Empire. They are driven by conquest, traveling from planet to planet to abduct the best and brightest from the various sentient cultures they encounter. One key aspect of their culture is that all Zin youths are expected (at some point in their lives) to serve in the Zin military. Their homeworld is a distant planet known only as Zin, located in an unknown part of the universe.

The Zin are an intergalactic empire led by Emperor Zinyak.

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