MA Bandar Log, Land of the Apes

"Bandar Log, the nation of the monkey people, is inspired by Hindu myths, ancient India and Rudyard Kipling. The Vanara comes from the Ramayana, an epic in which the monkey people aid prince Rama in his struggle against the demon king Ravana. The hierarchical division of the different species of monkeys has parallels in the Hindu caste system. I wanted the Bandar to use the alleged colors of the Indo-Aryan castes: white for priests, red for nobles and black for commoners. Markatas are exempt from the hierarchy and society at large and might be seen as untouchables of earlier times, although I imagine them less vulnerable. Important to the development of the Bandar Log were the semi-divine beings of Hindu myth." - Illwinter

The Bandar Log is the civilization of the Primates. None know for sure how it came about, but it likely involved some help from the Yakshas, the lowliest species among the region's caretakers in an era long since passed. While they were servants of the Devatas and most of them followed their lords into the Celestial Sphere, a few grew infatuated with the beauty of nature and remained on Mount Kailasa for a time, during which they bred three species of primates and possibly gave them the bare minimum gifts that constitute "civilization".

Now the Yakshas are gone – they probably left right after settling their score with the remaining Rakshasas at the island of Lanka with the help of the Bandar Log – and the Primates have a God-shaped hole in their hearts. Their civilization has improved somewhat, but they cling to the divisions and structures that were set or implied by their former masters. Fortunately for them, the divisions are easy to maintain, since no one can easily fake being a member of another caste. The Markatas are tiny, scatterbrained, and too sociable within their own group to even recognize that they're on the bottom level of society. The Vanara are human-sized and lanky, and while some still live in the trees, many have accepted the black-laced "commoner" caste. The Bandar are large and muscular, and form the red-laced "warrior" caste, with further divisions within this group based on what weapon each Bandar is allowed to use; they codified the caste system after the Yakshas departed. Last-but-certainly-not-least are the White Ones, albino Primates (almost-entirely Vanara) who were the favorites of the Yakshas, sitting at the top of the caste system due to their higher intelligence and their sacred status. Being at the top, the White Ones are allowed to do whatever they desire, short of being criminals. They are notably the only Priests, Mages, and Sacred Warriors in the nation.

Compared to Kailasa, the Bandar Log on its own has slightly-better troops and slightly-worse path access. It does maintain Kailasa's super-cheap Astral spam, which it's almost unrivaled at in the Middle Ages, and it now has a better Communion Master in the Rishi, but the loss of depth in Earth and (to a lesser extent) Water can be felt in most stages of the game. You can access all the good Summons more easily with the Rishis than you ever could with Kailasa's guys, but Gems and Pearls (especially Pearls) are a hot commodity. As for your troops, more of your troops have armor and training now; even your Sacred troops have armor, while your capital Sacreds now ride Tigers. Unfortunately, your Primates are still Animals with piss-poor Magic Resistance and mostly-terrible Morale. Fortunately, you can pay for War Elephants now.

Oh, and you might want to consider taking Blood on your Pretender – Lanka's Blood Summons are available to the Bandar Log, and they're pretty good, certainly more cost-effective than the Bandar Log's non-Blood Summons.

Special Race Attributes	Military	Magic Access	Priests	Buildings
Prefers Heat +2 Monke Likes Forests White Ones: Sacred Base 1 Protection +1 MR vs. Humans Might Reincarnate Bandar Apes: Size 3 Base 3 Protection +8 HP vs. Humans +5 STR vs. Humans +2 MOR vs. Humans +1 ATT vs. Humans -1 DEF & PRE vs. Humans -2 MM & MR vs. Humans Vanara Monkeys: Base 1 Protection -2 MR & MOR vs. Humans Markata Monkeys: Size 1 +4 DEF & CS vs. Humans -2 PRE vs. Humans -3 MR & MOR vs. Humans -5 HP & STR vs. Humans Just Won't Sit Still	Iron Varied Ranged Weapons Maces & Swords No Spears War Elephants Some Stealthy Troops Recruit-anywhere Sacreds Sacred Tiger Cavalry (cap-only)	4 (rare 5) 3 (rare 4) 1 (uncommon, rare 2) 1 (uncommon, rare 2) Summons: 4 (rare 5) (req. 21) 4 (rare 5) (req. 21) 2 (req. 3) 333 (req. 5)	Weak (1) Hero: 2 Summons: 2 (req. 3) 3 (req. 4) 4 (req. 5)	Standard Forts

Reincarnation gives your White Ones a chance to return from death WITHIN YOUR DOMINION, if their Experience is high, but they won't return as their original form if their kill count is too high; they'll appear as a Bandar instead, though those who don't kill still have a roughly 25% chance to come back as a Markata or (if not a Commander) a regular Vanara. White Ones (typically those with extra-high Experience) might achieve Moksha instead, adding a Dominion candle somewhere and occasionally boosting your Pretender's Magic; the Magic-boost only happens in paths that the deceased Commander has, and will not happen if the Pretender's level in that path is the same or higher.

You unit lineup is mostly made up of animals with below average Magic Resistance and Morale. Your troops are very likely to succumb to fear spells or fail to resist Charm Animal.

Thaumaturgy is especially tasty for you because of your proliferation of astral mages. It gets you communions along with attack spells like Mind Burn, Paralyze, Soul Slay, and Enslave Mind. "Bring big astral communion and pop people's brains" is definitely a thing you can do. It is not the only thing you can do, but sometimes it may be the best thing you can do.

Conjuration gets you some of your national summons – Contact Yaksha and Contact Yakshini at low levels are essential to get earth and water access. You can go further up Conjuration to get Summon Gandharvas for good sacred troops, then even higher for the high-end mage summons. If you are using mass astral magic, Light of the Northern Star is valuable.

Alteration is a good early defensive route for you thanks to Luck, Body Ethereal, Mossbody, Wooden Warriors, and even Earth Meld.

Enchantment gets you Strength of Giants (off of Yakshas) and Antimagic. You can Foul Vapors, I guess, too. Strength of Giants is good on things like Light Bandar Warriors that have figured out how to fling monkey-poo at things; it makes them fling it harder.

Evocation is a weak school for you. You may want Magic Duel to make sure you're the only one casting astral spells. And, hey, if your monkeys explode their brains – they may come back as other monkeys or as candles… and there's always another monkey ready to step up and take their place.

Construction doesn't have much for you early. But if you are exploding people's brains with mass soul slay, penetration boosting items like Eye of the Void make your monkeys better at it. You can thug out some Yakshas, but they are excellent combat support casters and probably too valuable to casually send around raiding.

Has 21 and with your cap can produce 4,4 and 2.

If you get the right randoms, you can forge boosters to get to 6,5, and 4.

You do have summons that give you Air access, and 5 with boosters, with Conj 9 giving you a 333 that you can use for late-game lab and battle magic.

Animal Summons: Spend nature gems for animal chaff with big HP pools but low MR. Nature gems are desperately needed elsewhere. Only used when desperate for bodies.

• Herd of Elephants Conj 3, 2, 25. (Elephant x5+[1/2lv]) Biggest HP pool.
• Ambush of Tigers Conj 3, 2, 10. (Tiger x5+[1/2lv]): Has multiple attacks.
• Herd of Buffaloes Conj 3, 2, 10. (Buffalo x5+[1/2lv]): Tramplers that never retreat.

• Host of Ganas: Conj 2 1 for 12. ( Ganax20). These ghost monkeys are very mage-turn efficient units to mass, costing 0.6 per Gana. They are perhaps most notable for having magic weapons and being ethereal. They do not inflict a tremendous amount of damage, but can be a very effective screen vs. units without magic weapons. Being ethereal and having a shield, they are also effective vs. archers.
• Summon Vetalas: Conj 5 2 for 10. ( Possessed Corpse, Vetalax10). Cheap death summons with a second ethereal form that have an armor-piercing life drain attack and an attack that feebleminds the target. Like all second-form troops that survive, the unit will revert to the first form after the battle. Notably well protected, as the first form has some armor and a buckler while the second form is ethereal.

Sacred Summons:

• Summon Apsaras Conj 3, 2, 2. ( Apsarax3). Has high protection in melee, but none against ranged attacks. Mix these in your squads to improve their morale.

• Summon Nagas Conj 3, 21, 15. ( Naga Warriorx6).

• Contact Yaksha Conj 4, 21, 25. ( Yakshax1) Spend Nature gems to summon a strong Earth mage. Astral randoms can forge important items like the Slave Matrix, and can lead communions.

• Contact Yakshini Conj 4, 21, 25. ( Yakshinix1). Spend Nature gems to summon a strong Water mage. Are amphibious and can random into Astral to lead communions.

• Contact Nagini Conj 4, 21, 25. ( Nagini).

• Summon Gandharvas Conj 5, 2, 18. ( Gandharvax6). A combination of a Yavana and an Apsara, but also wears full armor. A fantastic elite unit which you will sadly only get limited quantities of.

• Contact Nagaraja Conj 5, 22, 30. ( Nagaraja).

• Summon Kinnara Conj 6, 3, 25. ( Kinnarax1) A flying and Inspirational 222 commander. Having Thunderstrike that can quickly be anywhere is great, especially when they can lead communions for high air magic.

• Contact Nagarishi Conj 6, 33, 40. ( Nagarishi).

• Summon Siddha Conj 7, 4, 35. ( Siddhax1). A Four hand-slot 233 Teleporter. It has bad melee stats, unlike the Devata(below), and has only one Misc slot, but you can do many things with the ability to be anywhere. Can claim Thrones, especially if you plan to rush them.

• Summon Devata Conj 8, 5, 45. (1x Devata) A better thug chassis and a great army leader. It loses a misc slot, but there are many shenanigans you can get up to with 4 hands. Not a teleporter like the Siddha, but can still Cloud Trapeze.

• Summon Devala Conj 9, 5, 55. (1x Devala). A Fanaticism caster, and passively spreads your dominion.

• Summon Rudra Conj 9, 5, 55. (1x Rudra). The national Super Thug. It starts with decent gear, and gets stronger if a storm is up. They will break you into 333 and their cross paths in and out of labs. Anyone that has experienced a Cloud Trapezeing Yomi Dai Oni would understand how great of a thug the Rudra is.

• Summon Rakshasas: Blood 1 1 for 10. ( Rakshasax3). Like your other national Demon apes, they are Sacred with Chaos Power and are Vulnerable to Fire. The Rakshasa is available very early (blood 1) and has two claw attacks but quite low protection. In turmoil 3 it will hit twice for 22 damage with 16 ATK. When attack density is needed over raw damage, they might be preferable to Rakshasa Warriors. They also have quite high HP pools at 28.

• Feast of Flesh: Blood 2 11 for 50. ( Praghasax15). The Praghasa is very similar to the Rakshasa but is more mage-turn efficient to summon and has notably more HP (35). This unit is the most efficient way to turn blood slaves into sacred HP in Lanka. So while it has higher STR and HP than the Rakshasa, it gives up its two attacks in favor of a single mace attack.

• Summon Asrapas: Blood 3 2 for 11( Asrapax3) Asrapas are quite cheap compared to other Lankan summons. While lacking protection, they have rather good ATK and DEF stats and a built-in life-draining magic weapon as well as a kick. This gives asrapa better attack density than other Lankan summons. Once berserk, in turmoil 3, their athame will be 20 ATK and 23 magic damage, and their kick will be 18 ATK and 19 damage. They also do not have Fire Vulnerability, unlike most Lankan demons. Asrapas can also be Gift of Reasoned to be turned into commanders, at which point they gain a Hidden .

• Summon Rakshasa Warriors: Blood 4 2 for 25. ( Rakshasa Warriorx5). The Rakshasa warrior is the middle ground between the expensive, well-equipped elite summons and cheap, poorly equipped summons. Costing only 5 slaves per unit, yet still having decent armor and a high damage two-handed cudgel, the Rakshasa Warrior a very compelling middle-of-the-road option for trade-offs between quality and price.

• Summon Sandhyabalas: Blood 5 21 for 33. ( Sandhyabalax3) Some of Lanka's most expensive elite heavy infantry, inherited by Bandar Log. Sandhyabalas carry a Moonblade and a buckler but have no helmet. They do have phenomenal stats in turmoil and darkness: Their Moonblade will do 32 magic damage with 20 ATK (64 damage vs. magic beings!) while they sport an impressive 17 DEF. If their enemy also has the darkness penalty, the stat difference can become huge. While very strong, they are much more expensive than other Lankan summons and more vulnerable to fire (10).

• Summon Dakini: Blood 6 41 for 81. ( Dakinix1) 3132 Sacred. Demon. Chaos Power 1. Damage Reversal. Fear 6. Flying. Shock Resistance 5. The Dakini is very competent in the roles of a thug, air mage, and blood mage. As a thug, its damage reversal will block and reflect all damage if the enemy fails an MR check. This is notable for both reducing incoming damage and potentially killing high-value targets such as mages. They are also competent Sabbath Masters.

• Summon Samanishada: Blood 7 31 for 35( Samanishadax1). Sacred. Demon. Assassin. Chaos Power 1. Dark Power 2. Fire Vulnerability 10. The Samanishada is a competent assassin with a Moonblade and a Duskdagger (usually costing 510 to forge), along with an excellent melee stats. Dark Power is of special importance if the battle happens at night (50% chance). While quite effective without gear vs. simple targets, higher-value targets will often require items to assist in successful assassinations.

• Summon Mandeha: Blood 8 Cost: 133. 3323, ( Mandehax1) Sacred. Demon. Chaos Power 2. Dark Power 3. Sleep Aura. Flying. Autocasts Darkness at the start of combat. Fear 8. Fire Vulnerability 10. The Mandeha is a Super Combatant-tier summon with 65 hp, great stats (especially in turmoil and darkness), and many SC supporting abilities. The Mandeha is also excellent at supporting undead and demon armies by auto-casting Darkness in every fight. With H3, it is also able to use divine blessing on large sacred demon armies and claim thrones. It is, however, vulnerable to anti-demon weapons and spells.

• Summon Danavas: Blood 8 5 for 75( Danavax3). They are Sacred Demons with Fear 5, Ambidextrous 8. The Danavas are top tier units which can be turned into commanders with Gift of Reason or Divine Name to gain magic paths 2250%
  50%
  50%
  50%. By default they have 3 unholy weapons which paralyze sacreds and poor armor with a weak shield. As units, they are relatively cheap anti-elite units. If turned into a commander and kitted properly, they can become much more durable and super combatants.

• Celestial Music Thumaturgy 6, 3, 1. Grants Army-wide Quickness to all your Sacred Magical Beings. Four attacks Per Sacred and double combat speed makes for an extremely powerful buff.

You monkeys would love it if you can find a fire mage to cast Flaming Arrows, or if one of your Air summons could cast Wind Guide.

Arrow Fend would help your low-protection troops not get slaughtered by arrows.

Yakshas with Eath Boots are your strongest combat mage, improving your troops' abysmal natural protection with spells such as Marble Warriors and buffing their STR with Strength of Giants They can also make enemies easy pickings with Curse of Stones and Destruction.

The Yakshini is your underwater expander by summoning Full size Water Elementals and School of Sharks. They also cast Foul Vapors if holding a booster such as the Thistle Mace, or if leading a communion.

Guru communions are your massed mages, casting Swarm, Howl, Enslave Mind, and Mind Burn among other options.

Having strong Earth and Water access makes summoning the respective Elemental Royalty easy.

Forest Troll Tribe and Contact Naiad improves your magic, with Troll Shamans dipping you into Death and Naiads can get you into 5.

You could craft Golems for tough thugs.

Headdress of the Bull 5 1. Grants the user +2 strength and a retinue of a Buffalo. Great on a mage, as the Buffaloes can buy time for the caster and run over any would-be assassin's retinue.

Vajra 10 2. Shock Damage weapon that can be made by an astral mage. Adds armor ignoring damage on a thug, and even if not a melee guy, a mage can benefit by the Resist Shock(10) and be able to cast Lightning Bolt.

This is probably the most difficult section to get consensus for. Describe how strong the nation is during expansion, the early, mid and late game, and what makes it strong/weak at each of those points. This should give readers an idea of where the weaknesses of a nation lie (if they have not been shown already) and when to take advantage of a nation's strengths.

List some example expansion strategies here. If a strong bless or pretender is required then leave the specifics for the pretender section.

List some example pretender builds. Try to use the following format to keep authorship and pretender design rationale clear.

youtube of someone discussing the nation
guide page on steam??
forum thread or AAR

Nations
Early Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Ulm • Marverni • Sauromatia • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Mictlan • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Agartha • Tir na n'Og • Fomoria • Vanheim • Helheim • Niefelheim • 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 • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Asphodel • Vanheim • Jotunheim • 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 • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia