Dominions
Dominions, 1 through 4, is a fantasy game about gods wanting to become the supreme lord of creation. And not the lazy, stay-at-home gods that get fat off prayer and ambrosia. No, it's about angry gods who are willing to take a shit on the entire world to become head honcho. Much like the Soviet Union, the various nations despised each other but were held together by a powerful leader known as the Pantokrator until he disappeared. By killing everyone else or claiming the Thrones of Ascension, they can become the true god. Your life is measured by your belief dominion (represented by white candles)and the number of provinces you control. Once you hit zero in either, it's game over.You may also lose if any enemy captures enough thrones of accession, or win if you capture said thrones of accession.
Anyways, what's unique about these gods and the factions they lead is that they tend to be more based upon world mythology and culture than your Tolkien-esque elves and dorfs (though it could be argued he stole it from Norse myth anyways). So there's your Irish Fae, Greek Hoplites, Roman Legionaries, German barbarians, Egyptian er...Lizardmen and mummies, Irish giants, Norse giants, Biblical giants, Sumerian giants, Japanese oni, and more! The exception being most noticeably R'lyeh and their Aboleths and Illithids.
And yes, you can have totally ridiculous battles like Cthulhu vs Spanish Inquisition vs Monkeys vs Zombie Jesus. And yes, you can cast totally ridiculous spells like making a second sun (or turning it off), freezing the oceans, accelerating time so everyone ages to death, poisoning all the magic in the world so horrible horrors eat all mages(except the bloody ones), etc. Battles in the game tend to start off pretty tame with small armies hitting each other using puny mortal sticks, then big armies throwing magic at each other, and then huge armies led by insane ancient undead gods. A logical progression in a war of gods.
It's primarily a multiplayer game, since the AI is too dumb-dumb to comprehend what to do and just throws shitty units at you.
The Magic
There are 8 (technically 9) paths of magic and 9 schools of magic. Magic rituals are fueled by magic gems (or virgins) and take a monthly action to perform. You get these magic gems mostly by searching the land with your mages for magic sites. Once found, they automatically generate these gems once a month. There isn't really a mana system in combat, as most spells use fatigue instead and sometimes gems.
The Schools
Conjuration
Summoning magical monsters mainly. They vary from fire drakes to bane lords to otherworldly abominations. Most notably, the spell Tartarian Gate is in this school, allowing you to summon insane ancient undead gods to fight for you.
Alteration
Changing yourself, the battlefield, or reality itself to fit your needs. Many buffs and debuffs are located in this school, like Ironskin and Petrify. The absolute gamebreaker spell is Wish, which has a rather wide utility. No, you can't wish to win. But you can wish for girls!
Construction
One of the schools that is pretty much mandatory, though getting it up to level 8 is sort of a give or take. It primarily deals in the forging of magical tools, weapons, and armor. There's also your giant golems and mecha dragons, which make pretty decent combatants.
Enchantment
Sorta a brother to Conjuration and Alteration, this school is notable for letting you flip the bird to all the other player through the use of global spells like flooding all the coastal provinces or drilling a hole to the earth's core to harvest its riches. Many mass defensive spells are also included from keeping your guys safe from fire, or shielding an entire province from enemy spells. Also, enchanting corpses to give them false life(as opposed to Conjuration which brings pre-existing undead from their native realm IE ghosts).
Evocation
The school of zapping, burning, and icing motherfuckas. Start out shooting sparks and end with lighting the entire battlefield on fire. Out of combat spells include making a volcanic eruption, hurricanes, and tidal waves that all wipe out population.
Thaumaturgy
The "gimmick" school. A lot of it is based upon fucking over or seizing another faction's magical or undead creatures and fucking units with low magic resistance. Most famous for the Communion spells, that allow your mages to combine their powers to become one mega mage.
Blood
Both a school and a path, it deals with mainly the summoning of demons. Demons are nothing to sneeze at and are a LOT harder to banish than undead due to having generally higher health and magic resistance. There are also spells that can completely fuck a nation's production through Rain of Toads or Send Horror.In the fluff this is considered heretical by the most nations and is the only magic you could call objectively evil since it requires human sacrifice.
Divine
The only school you can't research, as all the spells are researched already. While some nations have their own unique Divine spells, divine spells are generally casting blessings, banishments, and smites. Blessings are the real thing here, as depending on what your Pretender has for magic, it can either be a minor aid or the focus of your nation. Used only by priests, though some priests can be mages too.Blessings only effect sacred units however, the variety and availability of which varies nation to nation.
The Paths
Fire
What does it sound like? Mainly oriented around flinging hot stuff at enemies, it's one of the premier paths for battlemages. Heat nations like Abyssia benefit from the battlefield wide spells like Heat from Hell and Fire Storm which fucks everyone without fire resistance.It is usually considered the wort path to have a lot of however since it isn't very flexible unless mixed with other paths.
Water
Water is a bit more niche. Often called the weakest path due to the fact that a lot of nations can't use it effectively, it does offer some pretty good ice based battlespells and defensive buffs. If you're playing a cold nation, then spells like Murdering Winter, Niefel Flames, and Living Water (water elementals become ice elementals in colder environments) can trash unprepared armies pretty well. You can also UNLEASH THE KRAKEN.
Air
Air focuses on zapping fools with lightning and breaking minds with illusions. The two big spells are Storm and Call of the Winds. While relatively low level, Storm completely ruins projectile accuracy and buffs all air mages. Call of the Winds is an incredibly annoying spell that sends a flock of giant birds to harass provinces.
Earth
Flying boulders and sharp blades when it comes to battle. Most notably known for having the best when it comes to forging and construction. You can also summon tons of trolls.It is the other premier battle magic path and is powerful when mixed with fire since they have devastating magma spells.
Nature
Revolves mainly around summoning big dudes (or many little dudes) that can take tons of damage, and then berserking and buffing the mofos. You can also summon tarrasques, and if you really want, you can make them wizards.
Death
Zombies, skeletons, disease, rot. Pretty much what you think necromancers are. Some of them are actually "good" like C'tis necromancers, practical like LA Agartha's necromancers which use them for domestic labor, or omnicidally against the living like middle age Ermor and late age Lemuria. Spells mainly revolve around summoning the dead, and making the living die in mass numbers.
Astral
The "first" magic, and where you get all the nifty spells like communions. Mainly based around mind control and debuffs/buffs. Body Ethereal, Luck, Curse, and Horror Mark are the most commonly used battle spells. Other ones like Soul Slay and Magic Duel are instant death to a single target. The true power comes from the super strong rituals like Wish, Acashic Record (reveals all magic sites in a province), Gateway (mass teleport) Arcane Nexus (you get a fraction of all gems used to cast all spells), and Mind Hunt (assassination spell) are the big game changers.
Blood
Unusual as you don't require gems, but rather female virgins. Virgins can be found anywhere as long as you got guys hunting for them. Since your people don't really see eye to eye with their daughters getting rounded up and sacrificed to infernal forces, you have to know how to juggle unrest and hunting so your income doesn't go down the drain. Blood spells are all in the Blood school, so you don't have to split up your research for it, which is useful considering it's a massive investment. Blood can do a little bit of everything. It can heal and it can hurt. But it's speciality is summoning demons, which are pretty beefy and cheap. Rain of Toads is also a good spell to completely fuck someone's income and recruitment at a capital. Claws of Kokytos/Infernal Prison will send someone straight to hell where they have a 99% chance of not surviving.
Factions
There are three ages in the game: early, middle, and late. They progressively get more grimdark and less magical as time goes on, though the legions of undead and void horrors might make you think otherwise. Mythical races get replaced by humans and steel becomes more common.Along with death and blood magic.
Early
Ermor
The "main character" of the game, they're essentially Rome right after they adopted Christianity as a state religion, complete with Jesus expy. The fire worshipers from before got kicked out and were replaced by the church of Eldregate. They tend to have better infantry than average, so they can mow through the early game pretty well. Their priests are pretty strong, and their mages have access to mainly fire and astral magic. They also enslaved lizardmen and learned a lot of death magic from them, leading to their state in the Middle age.
C'tis
A race of Egyptian lizardmen that perform necromancy. Unlike most races though, they tend to perform it responsibly and know when to show limits. Doesn't mean you can't cause accelerate aging in the entire's world populace and have them die off in a few years, but all fair's in love and war amirite? They're lead by powerful priest-kings and Sauromancer mages. For troops, they have your skink-like lizardmen soldiers and the more dinosaur-like slaves troops. Got pwned by Ermor earlier and was forced to teach them said necromancy.
Arcoscephale
Ancient Greece. No hoplites yet, but super heavy infantry, chariots, and pegasus riders. Their mages are pretty powerful, and are great and sieging and defense. One of the more unusual commanders is the sceptic, essentially a stealthy atheist that reduces dominion.
Ulm
Germanic barbarians. They field all kinds of leather-to-scale armored units dual wielding axes and swords. They can also recruit Steel Warriors, which is literally Conan. One of their 3 mages specializes in construction magic, but their commander units aren't that great at fighting anyways so pimping them out is a limited option. Unless you summon a powerful creature and give it equipment to make a duel wielding, regenerating, never tiring, 2 extra mechanical arms with shields having, magic self buffing, flying, iron skinned, awe inspiring, terrifying, bat-shit insane, way to many resources leeching, undead god. Well, maybe not all of that stuff but at least like, 5 of those things.
T'ien Ch'i
Warring states era China. Units are boring but practical; Pikemen and spearmen with shields to hold the line, archers for dakka, glaives to deal with giants and other high-HP creatures, horse archers to harass the enemy, and noble charioteers to break the enemy line. Armored from leather, to light scale, to heavy scale. The big selling point is that their mages have magic from every single path besides blood. Easily one of the most versatile nations, throughout all ages.They also have a powerful sacred warriors of the five elements, notably of only one variety, all the elements.
Niefelheim
Norse giants. One of the most powerful nations in the Early age, specifically because of the dreaded Niefel frost giant, which come in commander and basic unit varieties. The Niefel giant and his commander counterpart, the Niefel jarl, is the size of an elephant and can take on entire provinces by themselves. This allows them to expand at incredible speeds, also known as a "Niefel rush". Besides the Niefel giants, they also have their smaller (but no less huge) Jotnar cousins.
Hinnom
Biblical giants. From the smaller Horite cave dwellers and civilized Avvim, to the larger Rephaim, to the humongous Nephilim, the theme of Hinnom is cannibalism and blood magic. The Avvim giants are eaten by their larger children, the Rephaite giants, who are in turn devoured by their larger fathers, the Nephilim. Their units are well armed and armored with the addition of spammable Enkidu and Horite meatshields, tempered with blood magic, their downside is that their elite units and commanders eat people, gobble up supplies, and cause unrest. Fortunately (or not) said elites are the most badass in the game. They can also summon the badass fallen angel lords of civilization such as azazel in the late game. It costs 177 innocent female virgins to summon one.
Tir na Nog
Irish elves. All of them are invisible on the strategic map, and have a glamour that makes them incredibly hard to hit in melee. Their magic is relatively simple, mainly focusing on nature and air magic, but is still incredibly strong as they can blast you with mass lightning, or buff themselves so that a well equipped elf commander can take a province single handedly. Are considered to be dicks generally.
Ur
Ur is a warm plain inhabited by Enkidus, large, hairy wild men with horns and unkempt hair. Once upon a time all Enkidus lived in the wild, frolicking with feral beasts, but when the Enkidus met with the Avvim, some Enkidus adopted their ways of life. Now there are three Enkidu tribes. The members of the first tribe live pastoral lives and are led by shamans of remarkable power. The second one is a ferocious, swamp-dwelling hunter-gatherer society led by Head Hunters and Bone Readers. The third tribe are the ones who adopted the Avvite way of life, agriculture and metalworking. It is they who founded Eridu, the First City. In the city a great temple was built and the kings of Eridu were inaugurated as priest-kings and rulers of the young nation. In the cities of Ur, where metalworking is common, medium and heavy infantry is raised. On the plains and in the swamps of the nation nomadic Enkidus gather and form quickly levied raiding parties. In the Swamps of Ur, near Eridu, live ancient dragon-kin known as Sirrushes. They are benevolent and powerful beings sacred to the Enkidus.
Caelum
Caelum is a nation of weak troops and strong mages, all with high mobility (since nearly everything flies). They have excellent access to Air magic, lesser access to Death, and minor access to Fire, Earth, and Water. Many of their troops resist cold and have extra Protection in cold. They have two lines of national summons based on the good and evil spirits in Zoroastrian mythology. The good line requires Astral, which the evil line requires Death with a Fire crosspath; neither is accessible to any recruitable Caelum mage, so if you want access to these, you will need to create a pretender with S, D/F, or both. The commander summons in both lines are mages who provide an excellent and useful selection of paths.
Abysia
Abysia is a hot wasteland, at the center of which lies a great volcano whose lava-lit caverns are inhabited by magma-born humanoids. Their flesh radiates heat and they are not harmed by flames. Abysians are stronger than humans and use very heavy armor and weaponry. Bows are not used, because they would burn to cinders in the glowing hands of the Abysians. The war machine of Abysia also includes Salamanders, lizardlike beings composed of the same hot lava-born flesh as the Abysians. The Anointed of Rhuax and the Anathemant Priests of the Flame Cult practice blood sacrifice to strengthen the power of the Awakening God. The Warlocks of the Smouldercone, a newly formed magical order, practice Blood magic and search for suitable blood slaves in conquered lands. Abysians prefer to live in extremely hot places. They do not farm or hunt for a living, so their income and supplies are not affected by the Growth or Death scale of a province. However, population will still die slowly in Abysia-controlled provinces with Death scales\
Kailasa
Kailasa is a realm of intelligent apes ruled by Yakshas and Yavanas, divine beings living on the Sacred Mountain of Kailasa. On the sacred Mount Kailasa, beings from an earlier era still linger. They are blessed with mystical powers but are few in number. With the emergence of the New God they have mustered aid from a most unsuspected source. Deep in the forests below the Sacred Mountain, apes of uncanny brightness have evolved. The apes are uncivilized and have only recently mastered the mysteries of metalworking.
Machaka
Machaka is an old sacral kingdom divided into totemic clans. The clans follow their totemic spirits and worship them as bringers of civilization and tell myths about their interactions with men. For centuries the Lion Clan has dominated the others and formed a unified kingdom under their wise rule. The Lion Clan is blessed by Lion and are superior to other men. The Great Men of Mababwe, called 'Colossi' by Arcoscephalian historians, have ruled the plains since Hyena was coerced to teach metalworking to men and Rhino was defeated by spears longer than his. From Great Mababwe, the semi-divine Colossi of the Lion Clan rule their lesser kin as sacred Kings and Queens. There are many totemic clans, but some have been more influential. Hyena, Rhino, and Spider all serve Lion with their totemic masters' skills and guidance. Recent contact with Berytos and other nations has seen the rise of ambition among the Colossi royalty and the Lion Kings are preparing for the Awakening of Lion. Machakans prefer hot lands.
Fomoria
The bountiful land of Fomoria was claimed by giants who once guarded the dark and stormy ocean realm of the drowned dead. With death ever near, their loyalties had changed and their malice grown. With the ascendancy of a previous Pantokrator, they were punished for their sins and banished from their dark home. The full effects of the Curse became evident when the Fomorians settled in a fertile land. Their offspring were short and cursed with monstrous appearance. The few surviving Fomorian giants saw their once proud race degenerate and die. Then came the Invasions. Partholonians, Nemedians, Fir Bolg and Tuatha all claimed the land of Fomoria. Twice the Fomorians were all but defeated by foreign magic, but twice they conjured a plague that slew the invaders. The third wave of invaders, the Fir Bolg, accepted Fomorian rule and aided the giants in defeating the Tuatha. Now Fir Bolg compose much of the Fomorian population. Fomorians are skilled shipwrights, powerful storm crafters and have a legacy of mastery over the dead.
T'ien Ch'i
T'ien Ch'i is an emerging empire. Masters of the Five Elements and Celestial Masters are versatile mages. The nobles partake personally in battles and their chariots form an important part of the army. Sacred Celestial Beings and the sacred Warriors of the Five Elements form the elite core of the armies.
R'lyeh
In the deepest of oceans lives the strange fishlike race called the Aboleths. These beings are highly intelligent and the older Aboleths called Mind Lords can enslave lesser beings with the force of will alone. Having this power means they have enslaved Mermen and Deep Ones to do the daily work and to fill up the ranks of their armies. In a deep gorge the enslaved workers have built a score of small but magnificent cities for their rulers. In this gorge live the greatest of the Aboleths.
Lanka
On the dark and densely forested island of Lanka, Rakshasas, demon ogres from an earlier era, still linger. Gifted with tremendous strength, they once fought the Devatas of Kailasa, but since then the most powerful of the Rakshasas have left this world for the Nether Realms. The remaining Rakshasas have captured and enslaved the monkey people of Kailasa and made them serve as warriors, hunters or food. The Rakshasas had no use for the peaceful White Ones and Kala-Mukhas, Rakshasa halfbreeds, lead the monkey people of Lanka. Since the enslavement of the apes, the ancient conflict between the Devatas of Kailasa and the Rakshasas of Lanka has been renewed.
Atlantis
For centuries the seas have been the domain of the Tritons, but recently a nation of beings resembling a cross between fish, frog and human has emerged in the deepest gorges of the oceans. The race is not entirely unknown, for there are a few of them who have made shallow coastal reefs their home, but the Triton Kings never imagined that they were numerous or powerful enough to form a nation. These Atlantians of the deeps never stop growing and will live for several hundred years unless killed. The Atlantian society is organized in a strict hierarchy of size and age. The oldest and most cunning Atlantians have made themselves kings and queens of The Basalt City in the deepest reaches of the ocean. The Atlantians of the deeps use weapons of enchanted basalt made by the Basalt Kings.
Marveni
Marverni is a nation of tribal chiefdoms guided by Druids and religious magistrates. The tribes have a long history of war and infighting, but recent developments have joined the tribes in pursuit of a single goal. The most prominent tribes are the Marverni, the Ambibates, the Eponi and the Carnutes. The Sequani, though a small tribe, are influential due to the large number of Druids among them. The smiths of the Marverni tribe are reputedly the inventors of chainmail and most nobles of the tribes use it. Lowborn warriors fight bare-chested. The Ambibates are known for their martial skills. The Eponi nobles fight on horseback and are the only cavalry available to the nation. The Carnute tribe guards the Sacred Forest of Carnutes where the Druids gather every year. The Carnute warriors are able to go berserk when wounded. Boars are a sacred symbol to the Marverni nation.
Therodos
The Telkhine empire of Therodos was vast and powerful, the Telkhines themselves were almost god-like beings which had the appearance of giants with dog heads and seal flippers for arms whom had the less powerful but still significant Daktyloi as servants, whom in turn were served by the humans of the region.
To give the brief of it, the previous Pantokrator thought the Telkhines were getting too big for their boots with their investigation into death magic, specifically a concoction using sulfur and water from the river Styx that killed vast swathes of animal and plant life. So he first cursed all those Telkhines involved with an aura mimicking their concotion(The Telkhine Malediction), then decided it was not enough and banished all but the non-involved Telkhines(three), plus sunk the islands of the empire.
Fortunately the Daktyloi were amphibious, and the ghostly human dead refused to be dead due to ignorance, so they set about rebuilding the empire from one tiny little sunken island.
Berytos
The people of Berytos are the descendants of a civilization created by the Telchines, titanic storm demons defeated by a previous Pantokrator. The Telchines taught shipbuilding, sailing and metalcrafting to the human ancestors of Berytos. When the Telchines were defeated, the humans fled to the sea, led by the Storm Callers, disciples of the Telchines. With the knowledge of ironcrafting and the magical might of the Storm Callers, new colonies were founded on distant shores. Like a phoenix, the dying empire was reborn. But the Telchine gods were dead and the humans sought divine leadership. They found the Melqarts of Hinnom. One of the colonies was situated near Ashdod and the bloody cult of the Melqarts soon spread through the Phoenix Empire. In the capital colony of Berytos, a great temple to the Melqarts was built. But soon another power found its way into the cult. Refugee Colossi, great men of the Machakan royal family, arrived in Berytos and established themselves as rulers of the bloody cult. Their sorceresses claimed divinity and called themselves Brides-in-Waiting. Now Berytos is a seafaring people led by sorcerer queens from the great temple in Berytos, and ruled by King Ba'al Hammon of the Melqarts and Queen Makelo, one of the three remaining Telchines.
Sauromatia
Sauromatia is a nation of nomadic warrior tribes ruled by women. Men and women fight side by side and all prominent tribes are ruled by warrior queens. This is a legacy of the Sauromatians merging with the Amazon tribes in times past. The Amazons leaders were not accepted, because they were not warriors, but they influenced the Sauromatians and women warriors gained power and prestige. Only the tribe of the Androphags has totally rejected the notion of female leadership. The Androphags are ruled by ancient Witch Kings who introduced cannibalism and man-flaying to the Sauromatians. The Androphags also use hydras from the Marshes of Pythia in warfare.
Helheim
Helheim is a land of shadows, windswept moors and silent mountains. Here lies Gnipahålan, the Stone Cave, where the dead pass through on their way to Hel. The Hanged Kings, ancient Vanir who have hanged themselves to learn the secrets of Death, rule the land from their thrones in Helhalla. Helheim is inhabited by Vanir, a race of tall and innately magical beings who are able to trick mortals with their glamour. The Vanir of Helheim have sequestered themselves from the Vanir of Vanheim and have not been part of the great war with the giants. For ages they have been guiding the dead on their way to Hel in service of a dead god. Now a new God is arising and the old ways are changing. The Valkyries, guides of the dead, have become messengers of death and sacred warriors of the new God. Valkyries, the female Vanir of Helheim, are able to fly, a gift from the dead god they once served. Lesser beings are not held in high regard and their blood is sacrificed to sate the Awakening God. Unlike their cousins in Vanheim, the Vanir of Helheim are not shipwrights and sailors.