LA Caelum, Return of the Raptors

Caelum is a magocracy of winged humanoids who inhabit the highest mountain peaks. In ancient times, there were three Caelian clans led by semi-divine beings known as Yazatas. Centuries ago the Harab Seraphs of the Raptor clan were accused of polluting the purifying flames and tainting the sacred task of the Seraphines. They were condemned by the High Seraphs of the Airya clan and civil war broke out. The Raptors were banished and scattered across the world. But now a new God is rising and the scattered tribes have gathered. The Raptors have returned to Caelum and overthrown the magocracy. Harab Seraphs, the mage-priests of this new and dark faith, have replaced the High Seraphs and black-winged Raptors have become the ruling elite. Now the Raptors have cast their eyes upon other nations. The Harab Seraphs are skilled in Air, Death and Earth magic. A few of the Airya Seraphs remain, but the ice crafters have been replaced by iron crafters, Raptorian mage-smiths who forge weapons of iron and steel. The secrets of the magical ice of former times are all but forgotten. Caelians are thin and light. The Raptorians are slightly stronger and are martially superior to the other clans. They are not as resistant to the elements as the other Caelians. Airya Clan Caelians are resistant to cold, but few of them remain. Spire Horn Caelians are less resistant to cold but have partial resistance to lightning. They are skilled archers and prefer hit-and-run tactics, even though they do have some heavy troops, such as huge Mammoths.

"Caelum was originally a purely fictional nation of winged humanoids living atop the coldest mountain peaks. Later development has gifted them with Zoroastrian traits. In a Dominions 4 patch, the nation’s backstory was remade and more Zoroastrian traits, summons, and spells were added to the nation. The backstory of a primordial was between Daevas and Yazatas along with concepts of the pollution of the sacred flame merged with earlier ideas of Catharsis/Anthrax. We also added some new guardian spirit mechanics based on Zoroastrian concepts of the soul." -Illwinter

If you are considering picking this nation to play, what should you know?

Magic Access	Alt. Access	Unit Summary	Core Abilities	Buildings
3 (Rare 4) 3 (Rare 4) 2 (Rare 3) 1 (Rare 2) 1 (Rare 2) 2	Summons Many different summons. and can get you: 5, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 3, 4. No . See Summons for details.	Flying Units Skilled Archers Mammoths	Flying Cold Resistance Shock Resistance Ice Protection	Standard Forts

Capitol Gems: 1111
Cold Limit + 1
Prefers Cold Scale + 1

All Commanders have Supply Size (-1) and Flying

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Airya Scout 35 13 1	Cold Resistance (15) Stealthy (55) Ice Protection (1)	Commentary here.
	Raven Lord 70 25 1	Stealthy (40) Ambidextrous (2)	Commentary here.
	Storm General 95 36 1	Cold Resistance (10) Shock Resistance (10) Ice Protection (2) Storm Immunity	Commentary here.
	Iron Crafter 65 3 2	17 Resource Bonus (10) Forge Bonus (1)	Commentary here.
	Caretaker 140 1 2	1119 Sacred	Commentary here.
	Harab Seraph 175 3 2	111100%11	Commentary here.
	Caelian Seraph 175 2 2 Capital Only	2111 Cold Resistance (15)	Commentary here.
	Harab Elder 430 3 4 Capital Only	21221100% 10%17 Sacred Old Age (60/50)	Commentary here.

All Commanders have Supply Size (-1) and Flying except for the obvious ones.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Spire Horn Militia 8 5 5	Cold Resistance (5) Shock Resistance (5)	Commentary here.
	Raptorian Militia 8 4 5		Commentary here.
	Airya Light Infantry 10 11 9	Cold Resistance (15) Ice Protection (1)	Commentary here.
	Airya Infantry 10 16 9	Cold Resistance (15) Ice Protection (1)	Commentary here.
	Raptorian Warrior 10 12 9		Commentary here.
	Raptorian Warrior 10 24 9		Commentary here.
	Raptorian Warrior 10 26 9		Commentary here.
	Spire Horn Archer 10 7 9	Cold Resistance (5) Shock Resistance (5) Storm Immunity	Commentary here.
	Spire Horn Warrior 10 7 9	Cold Resistance (5) Shock Resistance (5) Storm Immunity	Commentary here.
	Iron Crow 14 26 18		Commentary here.
	Storm Guard 15 31 21	Cold Resistance (10) Shock Resistance (10) Ice Protection (2) Storm Immunity	Commentary here.
	Iceclad 15 40 21 Capital Only	Cold Resistance (15) Ice Protection (2)	Commentary here.
	Raven Guard 16 23 23	Stealthy (40) Ambidextrous (1)	Commentary here.
	Mammoth Rider 120 27 34	Cold Resistance (20) Shock Resistance (5) Storm Immunity	Commentary here.
	Mammoth	Cold Resistance (15) No Throw Off Animal Trample Snow Move	Commentary here.
	Mammoth Archer x 2	Cold Resistance (5) Shock Resistance (5) Storm Immunity Mobile Archer	Commentary here.
	Iron Hail Archer 16 9 16 Capital Only	Sacred Reinvigoration (2)	Commentary here.
	Earthbound 23 38 27 Capital Only	Sacred Reinvigoration (3)	Commentary here.

See Magic Access. These guides supplement the summaries at the top.

LA Caelum has summonable mages with a variety of paths. The Astral ones require either a pretender or a summoned mage:

Call Yata Limited
11 Harab Seraph (1 in 5) + or
12 Harab Elder (1 in 5) +
The four Yatas all have Death, two have Fire, one has Astral, one has Water, one has Blood.

Call Greater Daeva Limited
12 Harab Elder (1 in 5) +
Of the six Greater Daevas, five have Death, three have Fire, two have Earth, and two have 3.

Call Celestial Yazad Limited
Mage with 4
Two of the six Yazads have Fire, two have Air, one has 4, one has 3, one has 2.

Call Amesha Spenta Limited
Mage with 5
There are six Amesha Spentas, three with Earth, three with Nature, one with 4, one with 6, one with 4,

A mage with Astral enough to do the summons is close to a Ring of Sorcery and Ring of Wizardry.

Highest starting: 1 Harab Seraph (1 in 5) or Harab Elder (1 in 5)

Skull of Fire
11 Harab Seraph (1 in 5) or Harab Elder (1 in 5)

See above for Call Yata, Call Celestial Yazad, Call Greater Daeva, Call Amesha Spenta.

Highest starting: 3 Harab Elder (1 in 5), requires a level of Air empowerment.

Call Fravashi
Mage with 3.
The Ancestral Fravashi has 3.

See above for Call Celestial Yazad, Call Amesha Spenta.

Highest starting: 1 Caelian Seraph or Harab Elder (1 in 5), requires a level of empowerment to get past Water Bracelet and up to Robe of the Sea.

Orb of Atlantis Unique
11 Harab Elder (1 in 5) +

Streams from Hades
11 Harab Seraph (1 in 5) or 12 Harab Elder (1 in 5) +

See above for Call Yata, Call Celestial Yazad, Call Amesha Spenta.

Highest starting: 2 Harab Elder (1 in 5)

The Harab Seraph or Harab Elder has the right crosspaths for Staff of Elemental Mastery, but too many boosters to be practical.

See above for Call Celestial Yazad, Call Greater Daeva, Call Amesha Spenta.

No recruitable access. See above for Call Yata, Call Celestial Yazad.

Summon Spectre
3 Harab Elder (1 in 5)
Spectre has a 7 in 16 chance of at least 1.

Call Fravashi
Mage with 3.
The Ancestral Fravashi has 2.

Hidden in Sand in Wasteland
22 Harab Elder (1 in 5) +
Dust Priest has 2

Hidden Underneath Underneath
22 Harab Elder (1 in 5) +
Released Sage has a 3 in 4 chance of at least 1

Highest starting: 3 Harab Elder (1 in 5)

Call Yata Limited
12 Harab Elder (1 in 5) +
3 in 4 Yatas have 3, 1 has 2.

Call Greater Daeva Limited
12 Harab Elder (1 in 5) +
Five of the six Greater Daevas have Death.

No national access. See above for Call Celestial Yazad, Call Amesha Spenta.

No national access.

Troll King's Court
2 Harab Elder (1 in 5) +
Troll King has 1

Summon Spectre
3 Harab Elder (1 in 5)
Spectre has a 7 in 16 chance of at least 1.

No national access. See above for Call Greater Daeva.

How to win as the nation. Feel free to use the following sections, or delete them, or change them.

Different expansion options.

Early game options.

Mid game options.

Late game options.

What are the nation's weaknesses?

Add links to guides or other overviews for this nation here.

Nations
Early Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Ulm • Pyrène, • Marverni • Sauromatia • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Mictlan • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Agartha • Tir na n'Og • Fomoria • Vanheim • Helheim • Niefelheim • Muspelheim • Rus • Kailasa • Lanka • Yomi • Hinnom • Ur • Berytos • Xibalba • Mekone • Ubar • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Therodos
Middle Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Sceleria • Pythium • Man • Eriu • Ulm • Pyrène • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Asphodel • Vanheim • Jotunheim • Nidavangr • Vanarus • Bandar Log • Shinuyama • Ashdod • Uruk • Nazca • Xibalba • Phlegra • Phaeacia • Ind • Na'ba • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Ys
Late Ages	Arcoscephale • Pythium • Lemuria • Man • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Jomon • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Midgård • Utgård • Bogarus • Patala • Gath • Ragha • Xibalba • Phlegra • Vaettiheim • Feminie • Piconye • Andramania • Pyrène • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia