MA Vanarus, Land of the Chuds

"Vanarus was partly conceived during the development of Dominions 3. Hints were included in the descriptions of Bogarus, but I never got around to finishing it.

Vanarus is the predecessor of Bogarus. It is a nation of ruling Vanir that have subjugated and intermingled themselves with the previous rulers of the land. Kievan Rus' is one of the sources here, but I've also used the Chudes, a people that appears in the myths of various peoples from the eastern Baltic seaboard. I haven't found very much on the Chuds, so they are mostly my creation. The "Pine of Skulls," shape-shifting and shamanic bear cult practices fit the nation. These features, as well as the Thunder Priests mentioned in the descriptions of the nation appear in Rus, the early version of the nation.

I wanted the national troops of the nation to reflect the change from the earlier era to the late Bogarus. Versatile Vanarusian sages are slowly replacing the mighty Vanir and will eventually develop into the Starets and mages of the late era. " –Illwinter

When the Vanir entered the land of Rus in between the Early & Middle Ages, they were simply exploring & looking to trade. However, conflict between them and the local Humans & Chuds over a sacred site spiraled into war. The Vanir won the initial battles, founding the city of Novgård at that site. When the Humans & Chudes allied to push the Vanir back into the sea, the Vanir subdued the Humans with their illusions & superior strength, forcing the Chudes to fight the Humans as well. Then came the Black Knights of Ulm, who were certainly there to conquer. In the face of a greater threat, Novgård & Rus rallied together, defeating the Ulmic invasion. From there, the Kingdom of Vanarus was formed, led by the precious few Vanir that were remaining. As a result of this chaotic period, the Chudes had fallen behind the Humans in terms of numbers, but they still held a bit of their former prestige.

Vanarus trades Astral for Water and Death, and its Skinshifters of old have been lost their sacred status in favor of the nation's few "true" elves. Compared to the Early Ages, most of Vanarus's troops have fallen behind in edge, while the magic spread has somehow gotten even more awkward. Still, you have a wide toolkit you can use to address most problems that come your way, especially once you get your hands on a forest or two.

The bear-worshiping humans and the Elves of Vanheim combined to make a more Rus with better Stealth raiders with better access to Blood and Death.

Your nation is made up of common human Rus, having cold Resistance (3) which grants them immunity to chill Auras combined with most foot troops having Snow-Move, lets them scert by most downsides of being a cold nation.

description of the workhorse options, for the sake of sanity better skip the clearly subpar and generic stuff (common indie like units with no gimmicks), merge units into a single description entry if functionally similar battle roles with only minor differences in gear.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Vanarusian Archer 10 5 9	Cold Resistance (3) Snow Move	Men with short bows. Vanarus has easy access to Wind Guide and moderately easy access to Flaming Arrows from Vyedun, making cheap archers a possible target for these buffs (alongside the many javelins Vanarus also has).
	Vanarusian Huskarl 10 12 9	Cold Resistance (3) Snow Move	Cheap humans with javelins. The spear is more defensive while the axe does more damage.
	Vanarusian Huskarl 10 12 9	Cold Resistance (3) Snow Move
	Vanarusian Hirdman 12 17 14	Cold Resistance (3) Snow Move	Upgrade on Huskarls with better armor, morale, attack skill and defense skill.
	Vanarusian Hirdman 12 17 14	Cold Resistance (3) Snow Move
	Vanarusian Hirdman 12 19 14	Cold Resistance (3) Snow Move	Hirdman with greater Attack and Defense skill. More balanced in offensive and defensive capabilities compared to the other two Hirdmen.
	Vanarusian Berserker 15 17 21	ambidextrous (1) berserker (2) Cold Resistance (3) Snow Move	Your DPS guy, being an armored Berserker with a sword and an axe. Doesn't get that shield prot but benefits when mixed in with shielded infantry for survivability while helping them grind down the enemy. Their faster movement means that they should still be behind a shieldwall so that they don't run past them.
	Chud Hirdman 35 21 28	ambidextrous (2) berserker (2) Cold Resistance (5) Snow Move	Successors of the Chud Berserkers. Higher stats and protection than the Vanarusian Berserker. They make expansion easier, though are a bit pricey. Will likely slow down the armies they are with.
	Oath-Bound 35 22 25 Capital Only	sacred bodyguard(3) Cold Resistance (3) glamour stealthy (65) Snow Move	Sacred Elfs going sword and board. Are Hard to kill. Also useful for protecting your mages. As expanders, they will take fewer casualties than Chuds while being able to take a blessing. Like the Chud Hirdman, they are slow on the march.
	Chud Skinshifter 40 5 33 Capital Only	Cold Resistance (5) Snow Move Berserker (+1) Mountain Survival Forest Survival Recuperation Wounded Shape: (Werebear)	Like the EA Skinshifter but suffers that standard demystifying, losing its sacred status and has a weaker Berserk. Now cheaper buying cost, don't have to create a blessing for them, but higher upkeep. Still needs support even though they hit hard and get more HP in bear form. Benefits greatly from casting Regeneration, but their lack of protection makes them more of a tool to be used carefully against tough enemies.

any breakout hits that might sway someone towards luck or away from it ?

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Old Bear Thunder - Last Perkunu Turn Arrival Limit: 5	4131 13 Sacred Poison Resistance(5) Cold Resistance(5) Shock Resistance (22) Shape Changer: (Werebear) Snow Move inept researcher (8) Mountain Survival Forest Survival Recuperation Supply Bonus (30) Summon in battle: (Great Bear)	Your break into high air magic. Also brings astral and Moonvine Bracelets to the table.
	Yngvar - Varyag Turn Arrival Limit: 15	211 11 sacred Cold Resistance(3) inspirational(1) glamour stealthy (65)	Mini-Vanabog without horse. Always brings with him 3d6 Oath-Bounds once as an event.
	Baba Yaga - Hag Turn Arrival Limit: 20	3132 23 Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (15) Shock Resistance (5) Fear (8) Flying Forest Survival Supply Bonus (20)	Fills two holes in your Magic Path lineup, Water & High level Death with a Skull Staff, both of which are not particularly easy for Vanarus to fill.

• Conjuration: Powers, Elementals, Awaken Draugar, Howl, Send Vodyanoy, Contact Gamayun, Summon Mound Fiend, Magic Duel

• Alteration: Mistform, Immolation, Mossbody, Windguid, Incinerate, Manifest Vitriol, Soul Vortex, Frozen Heart. Battle Fortune

• Evocation: Geyser, Sulphur Haze, Fireball, Shadow Bolt/Shadow Blast, Thunder Strike, Storm, Falling Frost, Wailing Winds, Rain of Stones, Astral Geyser.

• Construction: Corpse Man Construction, Research items

• Enchantment: Claymen, Regeneration, Flaming Arrows, Foul Vapors, Ziz, Reanimate Archers, Antimagic,

• Thaumaturgy: Terror, Raging Hearts, Gamayun spells: (Communion, Mind Burn, Paralyze, Soul Slay.)

• Blood: Demon summons

Blood is less about boosters and more about how many blood slaves you can gather so you can empower. Vanarus doesn't have cost-efficient blood hunters so that's a negative. A good way to start nationally is with a 2 Vanabog, empower until 4 so he can make the boosters and the Robe of the Magi to boost other paths, though blood is likely already on your pretender. Vanarusian Sages can make the Armor of Twisting Thorns with some help.

Fire naturally peaks at 2 but Vanabog and sages can forge Skull of Fire, to then summon Flame Spirits to then forge Flame Helmets end ending with a Fire King sitting at 7.

If the Last Perkunu arrives or a Vanabog is empowered, you can make Winged Helmets and then Bag of Winds for 7 Storm queens. in combat a Vanabog with gems can turn your 2 mages into Thunder Strikers with Storm.

Water is easy to boost with a Vyedma summon a Vodyanoy or Beregina. then use Water Bracelet and Robe of the Sea to make her 5 to summon a water queen.

Earth access is limited to 1 on Vyedun/Vyedma, or 11 on Vanarusian Sages for earth sabbaths. If you can grease the wheels with some gems or a pretender, you can create Earth Boots and Blood Stone to make a recruitable mage 4 in combat, but more likely to also spend Earth gems on Troll Kings, Earth Kings, and Father Illearth.

Astral is not a native path but if you have a 2 you get Gamayun. Give her a Starshine Skullcap to make her 3 and she can replicate.

You get a Vanabog with Skull Staff for 3 unless Baba Yaga shows her face, then we get into Liches.

We get 3 on a forest mage with a Thistle Mace and 4 in combat (Strength of Gaia). To go higher we need the Last Perkunu, or a Cloud Vila to make a Moonvine Bracelet to make a Treelord's Staff. This gets you a Leshiy. If you want to go absurdly high, get The Copper Arm to equip him with all the boosters so he is 8.

Vanarus has access to the following paths for the purposes of rituals:

Elements

• 2 on Vyeduns, 7 via Skull of Fire (Vanarusian Sage/Vanabog), Flame Helmet (Flame Spirit), King of Elemental fire (expensive!)
• 3 on Vanabogs or Vanarusian Sages, 7 via Winged Helmet (empowerment), Bag of Winds and Queen of Elemental Air (expensive!)
• 2 on Vyedmas, 7 via Water Bracelet, Robe of the Sea, Vodyanoy, Queen of Elemental water
• 1 on Vanarusian Sages, Vyedmas or Vyeduns, 6 via Earth Boots and Blood Stone (empowerment), Troll King and King of Elemental Earth (expensive!)

Sorceries

• No astral magic, 3 via 2 (indie, pretender, empowerment) Starshine Skullcap on Gamayun.
• 2 on Vanabogs, 3 via a Skull Staff, 5 via a Skull Staff, Baba Yaga - Hag (empowerment), Skullface on Lich (expensive!)
• 2 on Vyedmas or Vyeduns, 8 via Thistle Mace, Moonvine Bracelet (Cloud Vila or Mountain Vila), Treelord's Staff, The Copper Arm on Leshiy (expensive!)
• 2 on Vanabogs, as much blood as required via empowering and boosters.

national spell or summon cost and usecase, judgment if it's good. fix from Rus

One of Rus's selling points is its sheer amount of exclusive summons.

• Summon Simargl Conjure 2, 1 1, ( Simarglx1). Too slow if your trying to amass a flying fores but fine as Patrol chaff. You have the air mages but Air gems are also precious, especially when you access better summons now.

• Summon Firebird Conjure 3, 11 2, ( Firebirdx1) hard to use as Vanarus don't have Astral mages but if you get an influx of astral gems, empower and be spamming for the influx of lucky events in your fort, especially since they also something Siegers should mess with.

• Sloth of Bears Conjure 3, 2 8, ( Great Bearx10 + [lv]) Summon more bears for Sieges but not soo good in combate.

• Contact Sirin Conjure 3, 2 8, ( Sirin) if you run into a big astral indie, A way to steal Male Commanders. If that doesn't work, giving them Handful of Acorns and some other weapon that can be used in the misc slot like The Pebble Pouch can dispatch a variety of problems

• Summon Likho Conjure 4, 1 10, ( Likho) Summon and let her sit in a eneimy Provence to cause annoyances.

• Awaken Draugar Conjure 4, 2 12, ( Draugx3) They are undead with a chill aura and fear and hit harder when on their last legs. They are comparable to Wights, with Draugar being better equipped to win the grind game.

• Contact Alkonost Conjure 4, 2 15, ( Alkonost) Summable by Gamayun, they are Flying Greater Priest, leader, and Throne Claimer. Decent alround Utiltiy.

• Summon Rusalka Conjure 4, 11 16, ( Rusalka) Hard for MA to use. Create more Low-level Death mages with water gems and a way to expand underwater. Can kill most things with a Water Lens Summon a Water Elemental and then spam skeletons until the assassination target is dead.

• Send Vodyanoy Conjure 4, 2 20, ( Vodyanoy) only target Sea province. Conjure a Stealthy Water mage underwater. She won't Be Establishing a foothold underwater by herself and without gems, but she can raid if you had already created a foothold down there. Is A means of fighting a water war if the ocean nations had failed to conquer most of the independents. They are also will climb water magic for you, getting you into Water Queens and Naiads
  

• Send Lady Midday Conjure 5, 11 10, ( Lady Midday) Basically summons a weak Disease Demon. Is Very fragle.

• Summon Zmey Conjure 5, 2 5, ( Zmeyx1) Cool 3 headed Dragon but held back by the fact its a reptile and all of Rus's line is a cold nation. May be ok if taking a Hellbless or fighting in hot lands. Lead them with a Alkonost.

• Contact Gamayun Conjure 5, 3 25, ( Gamayun) Get a Flying Air and Astral mage. Very mobile with Fly and Cloud Trapeze to support your army with Paralyze and Mind Burn. If you have Astral on your pretender, summon one then put a Skullshine Skullcap and put her in charge of summoning more.

• Send Bukavac Conjure 5, 4 5, ( Bukavac) only target Sea province. They are very hard to deal with especially if your having a bunch of Vodyanoy sends several aginst one providence. These are Giant Trampler that will clear out Fishman settlement and many of their armies.

• Contact Beregina Conjure 6, 31 35, ( Beregina) a amphibious Water mage with nature support spells and may to take a decently sized force underwater. the Middle age have the easest time summoning them.

• Contact Cloud Vila Conjure 7, 4 40, ( Cloud Vila) Mountain and borders only. Take a Perkunu and make it a flying true Healer instead of a Werebear. You could be spending those Air gems to work towards Air Queens while having an easier time summoning Mountain Vilas.

• Contact Mountain Vila Conjure 7, 4 40, ( Mountain Vila) Mountain and borders only. Nature Air communioning, True Healer 2 mage comes prepage with a Vine Bow for going off-script. Mix of Faery Queen and Ivy King, those too expensive to use recklessly. if you only need a generally strong nature mage, an Ivy King is far more resilient for cheaper.

• Contact Leshiy Conjure 8, 6 60, ( Leshiy Leshiy) Forest only. Takes a lot of climbing to get a nature mage that can be potalty 7 while in forests. Only get so someone, not your pretender can hold up Gift of Health or Enchanted Forests

Get Sages and Forest mages with wide path spreads, Lots of air, thug elf on horses, some Sabbath mages, some good summable mages in Gamayun.

the Vyedma and Vyedun are your mass-produced mages, grabbing a lot of them to focus on an Elemental or Nature of spells. while your fort sages perform a similar role with the exception of blood randomness.
with boosters and gems, they mass evocation and fluffing. Chaffing with Elementals or Swarm, and Sages can Skilly spam with a staff.
If you don't have Earth Boots a gem to Summon Earthpower lets your forest mages fluff your troops' strength and protection.

Some sages create Sabbaths with Blood and air being the main paths that course the least fatigue on the slaves, with Fire, Nature, and Earth also boosted on the master to cast big spells like Rain of Stones and Sulphur Haze, Purify Blood.

Vanabog is your recruitable magic powerhouse when not currently used as a thug. They put up Storm so your plentiful air mages become 2s, and 3s.

THough you don't have native astral the Gamayun should not be discounted as they can be just as hard to nail down as Vanabog, casting Astral spells like Soul Slay and also calling down Lighting.

A tactic in the late middlegame is during a big battle is Blood Rain and Wailing Winds to moral route mortal units.

You Have many National Summons.

Your are one of the few nations to benefit from Summon Flame Spirit as your evocator and Raging Hearts.

Having a Van, makes use of Cloud Trapeze. with Aupex to boost your precious air gem income.

Vanarus gets lots of way to invade underwater, Getting underwater mages, and raid with Send Bukavac. Also spend water gems on Clayman and Green Lions for troops.

You don't have astral in forts but Contact Gamayun gets you flying Air astral mages to summon more Gamayuns for 25. Gamayun can conjure Alkonost for throne claimers.

You do have good death even before Baba Yaga. Corpse Construct and Draug for chaff. Londead Archers to pain someone when you have Wind Guide. Ziz to siege Mound Fiend for more undead chaff. At higher death Wraith Lords is logical with your normal research priorities.

some sages get crossed with Earth and Nature, but your best blood is crossing it with air. With Storm Demons and messing up capitals with Wrath of Pazuzu.

Gets lots of crosspaths for forging.

Can make Kithaironic Lion Pelt to protect a mage's head and chest.

Is recommended to find a way to get Earth Boots so you can get more 2.

Your do have fast researchers, boosted by Owl Quills, Skull Mentor and Lightless Lantern

With 2 boosters you can make important Rune Smashers. Though not native making Spell Focus and Eye of the Void combined with a Rune Smasher grants High Magic penetration on a mage.

Lantern Shield is an interesting item giving your elf thug get an entourage of Corpse Candles and grants fear which pairs well with the van's hard-to-hit nature.

Mass produce Corpse Construct with Lightning Rod and Storm Spool

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.

Deives of the Sun: awake, Order 3, Growth scales, above average dominion strength, Blood 3 at least, the rest may vary, but normally take Heat 1, Misfortune 1, Magic 0 or lower. The idea is to start blood hunting early, in order to start producing Soul Contracts early and en masse. Deives of the Sun reduces unrest in her province by 10 per turn without population loss, so does your Order 3 scales and good dominion candles. She also produces 2 fire gems per turn, in addition to the "free" blood slaves thanks to unrest reduction, which creates a significant discount towards forging Soul Contracts or towards empowering other commanders in Fire/Blood. Growth scales should offset population loss from blood hunting/patrolling, although the intention of this build is to patrol as little as possible. Vanabogs can have Death 2 or 3, meaning they can lead a lot of Devils. Vanabogs also can have Blood 2 or 3, as well as Fire 1, making them into good blood hunters or Soul Contract producers in the latter case. Chud Skinshifters can handle the early expansion. Since you will be using Chud Skinshifters and then Devils, a bless is not necessary.

Reinc's Vanarus Guide (WIP)

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