EA Therodos, Telkhine Spectre

Therodos was once a kingdom of sages and craftsmen ruled by the Telkhines, sea daimones of almost godlike powers. When the Telkhines made themselves god-kings and threatened the divine order, their entire kingdom was drowned and cast under the waves. The people of the old kingdom suffered the full wrath of the divine judgment and unaware became ghosts inhabiting the ruins of a sunken kingdom. Of the Telkhine kingdom only a few islands remain, inhabited by survivors of the cataclysm. On these islands the living serve the unaware dead out of fear and respect. On the islands of the shattered kingdom also live the Daktyloi, dwarven smiths and servants of the Telkhines. With the death of the Telkhines the Daktyloi replaced them and became revered by the Therodian ghosts. The Daktyloi and their Hekateride sisters bring life to the remains of the ancient kingdom and prevent the total destruction of their home. Now Therodos is a drowned kingdom of ghosts and human islanders ruled by Daktyloi master smiths.

"Therodos is based on Greek legends and ideas of a golden-age kingdom swallowed by the waves as punishment by the gods. Since I made Berytos I wanted to elaborate on the Telkhines. Previous concepts of the Berytian Telkhine ancestry and new ideas of a spectral nation unaware of its undead precondition were merged and Therodos started to take form. Additional ideas of craftsmen daimones, such as Daktyls and associated Kouretes and Korybantes found a place in the backstory of the nation." - Illwinter

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

Magic Access	Alt. Access	Unit Summary	Core Abilities	Buildings
4 (rare 5) 3 (rare 4) 3 (rare 4) 2 (rare 3) 1 (Rare 2) 1 (Rare 2) 2	Heroes: 231 54333 443222 and Master Smith Summons: 233321100% and Master Smith 244321100% (requires 52)	Ghosts do not need supplies and can enter the sea. Kouretes can enter the sea. Spectral hoplites and infantry. Kourete and human sacred war-dancers. Skilled Daktyloi mage-smiths.	Berserk when Blessed	Advanced Forts Forts prevent death of entire population.

Capitol Gems: 1131

Death limit: + 1
Magic limit: + 1

Population Death: Population will die off slowly but surely under the dominion of Therodos. Friendly forts under this dominion will generate ghosts that will help the Pretender God. In disciple games this will also affect the disciples.
Spectral Troop Summon: Dominion summons spectral troops.

Freespawn As mentioned earlier, Therodos' dominion kills population to generate ethereal units in forts. Death scales increase the number of units generated. Forts also prevent the complete depletion of population.

The rate at which dominion kills population is not completely clear, but Dom4 wiki says it is 1% of the population per candle. So that growth 3 only goes 0.6 of the way to cancelling out a single candle.

It is worth noting a few things about the ethereal units.

• They have a protection of 0, meaning that anything that makes its way past their etherealness (which is 25% of mundane attacks) will inflict serious or lethal damage.
• One exception is the Spectral Hoplite unit, which while still having 0 protection, carries a shield. This shield is treated as mundane and anything that this unit blocks will be treated as a hit against 15 protection.
• All of these units have Spectral weapons, which prompt the targets they hit for a MR check for half damage. This reduces the spectral freespawn's damage output against all units to some degree.
• Spectral javelins and bows can be fired underwater.
• These undead are not mindless and are susceptible to morale damage.

Morale penalty Non-undead units controlled by Therodos suffer a -1 morale penalty their dominion instead of receiving a +1 bonus. This is a national trait which is not negated by being a disciple and is not shared with disciple nations should Therodos be the pretender.

It has not been confirmed yet if all the following info is still accurate in Dominions 6.

They all share these special attributes:

Image	Name	Additional Attributes	Comments
	Spectral Archer		spectral Bow
	Spectral Peltast		spectral javelin
	Spectral Hoplite	Formation Fighter (2)
	Spectral Kourete	Sacred Bad Formation Fighter (2) Berserk when Blessed
	Spectral Commander	Formation Fighter (2)
	Ephor	1 Sacred	May also be summoned with Call Ephor.
	Spectral Philosopher	10 Philosopher (2)	May also be summoned with Call Spectral Philosopher.

Freespawn mechanics courtesy of Loggy's Freespawn Reverse Engineering Notes.

Therodos' freespawn is generated only in forted provinces under Therodian dominion. The number of freespawn attempts in an eligible province in a given turn is determined as follows:

In an eligible province with 5 candles and 3, 2-3 spawn attempts will occur per turn. With the maximum of 10 candles and 3, 4-5 spawn attempts will occur per turn instead.

For each spawn attempt:

• Overall, there is a 95% chance of generating units, with commanders spawning in only 5% of freespawn attempts.
• 42.2% exploding 1d4 Spectral Hoplites
• 21.1% exploding 1d4 Spectral Archers
• 21.1% exploding 1d4 Spectral Peltasts
• 10.5% 1 Spectral Kourete. If the province does not have a temple built in it, the Kourete is replaced with exploding 1d4 Spectral Hoplites.
• 2.50% 1 Spectral Commander
• 1.25% 1 Ephor
• 1.25% 1 Spectral Philosopher

Detailed Mechanics

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

The Telkhine summons and heroes have powerful magic and, in human form, Master Smith, creating many possibilities. Dexithea - Telkhine and Lysagora - Telkhine can craft a Staff of Elemental Mastery. Telkhine, the summons, can forge both Staves of Elemental Mastery, with a Fire booster.

Summon Telkhine requires 52. A 1 Hekateride (1 in 4) requires two Water boosters and an Air booster. The Air booster can be hard to get.

1 Daktyl (1 in 5) or Kabeiros (1 in 4) is as high up the path as the EA Therodos recruitable mages start. No useful crosspaths.

52 can Summon Telkhine who has 2, 1 in 5 chance of 3, and +1 for crafting. It can create a Skull of Fire If it can make the unique The Ruby Eye, no empowerment is needed.

2 Daktyl (1 in 5) because of Master Smith, only needs one level of empowerment to get to key path 4. Still needs a level of empowerment to summon a Queen of Elemental Air. Has no useful crosspaths.

Dexithea - Telkhine, hero, starts at 5 in animal form, which makes things simple.

Lysagora - Telkhine, hero, starts at 4 in animal form.

52 can Summon Telkhine, who has 4 in animal form.

3 Hekateride (1 in 4) starts at the key level for Water. 41 for the unique Orb of Atlantis is achievable by multiple mages with Water boosters and multiple heroes.

3 Daktyl (1 in 5) is the highest level avaiable. A 1 Hekateride (1 in 4), with an Earth booster, can create the unique The Tome of Gaia.

Dexithea - Telkhine and Lysagora - Telkhine can craft a Staff of Elemental Mastery, which means one less level of empowerment.

52 can Summon Telkhine, who, with a Fire booster, can forge both Staves of Elemental Mastery.

No native access. 31 can cast Hidden in Sand for a 1 in 3 chance of 2 or Hidden Underneath for a 3 in 4 chance of 1.

3 can cast Summon Spectre for a 7 in 16 chance of at least 1.

1 Daktyl (1 in 5), with an Earth booster, can cast Hidden Underneath for at least 2. It can forge a Skull Staff because of Master Smith but will still eventually need empowerment.

Lysagora - Telkhine, hero, starts at 2, (effectively 3 because of Master Smith), but will still need a level of empowerment to climb high in Death.

The Copper Arm and The Silver Arms can be forged by a Telkhine. They allow a mage to hold multiple staves.

31 Hekateride (1 in 4), with an Earth booster, can create the unique The Tome of Gaia. Otherwise, it will need another level of empowerment to get to 5.

The Copper Arm and The Silver Arms can be forged by a Telkhine. They allow a mage to hold multiple staves.

No native access. 4 can cast Troll King's Court for 1.

3 can Summon Spectre for a 7 in 16 chance of at least 1.

3 can Forest Troll Tribe for a 1 in 4 1.

No native access. 25 can Contact Lamia Queen for a 7 in 16 chance of at least 1.

5 can Awaken Treelord for a 1 in 3 chance of 1.

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.

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