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LA Caelum, Return of the Raptors

Lore

Long ago, gold-winged Yazatas and black-winged Daevas fought for dominance over the entire world, diametrically opposed to each other. The Yazads, their Kavi soldiers, and their Airya servants fought for Purity, while the Daevas and their Mairya spawn fought for Corruption. Eventually, the Mairya orchestrated the Fall of Catharsis, King of the Purifying Flames, resulting in him turning into the King of Banefires. Either as punishment or out of wariness, the Pantokrator banished the Daevas to Hell and the Yazads to the Celestial Sphere, leaving only the lowest of the Yazatas behind. The Yazatas eventually recreated some aspect of what they knew, and included the descendants of the Mairya out of pity – these were the Raptors.

The Yazatas vouched for the Raptors, and the descendants of the Kavi (eventually known as the Spire Horn Caelians) were neutral towards them, but the Airya never trusted them completely. Caelum was a magocracy, a setting where only the mighty Mages held sway, and the Airya were second to only Caelum's Yazatas in magic power. The Raptors thus underwent a purge of all that knew Fire and Death Magic when they joined Caelum, and a second purge following what might have been a second corruption of Catharsis. They accepted the first purge, but the second purge sparked a civil war that saw the Raptors driven out of Caelum. The last Yazatas left at this time, and the Raptors were bereft of unity.

This has since changed. A Pretender God made itself known to some of the Harab Serapel ("Ravens of Dispersal" in Hebrew), the disparate black-winged leaders of the disparate Raptors, and beckoned them to return home. The Raptors thus returned with all of the worldly practices they learned to survive, such as crafting armor of iron and burying the dead, and subjugated the magocracy. Most of the Airya fled to avoid witnessing the end of their reign, and the Raptors failed to catch them. The Raptors thus rule unopposed, and have shaped Caelum to reflect their sensibilities; it's become a warmer, if grayer, place. Many old traditions have been pushed aside, for better or for worse.

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.

General Overview

Some question if Late-Age Caelum is really Caelum, since it can't do the Storm stuff as efficiently as it used to. On the other hand, its troops are more consistent now… at least, against those who aren't Ethereal or Invulnerable.

Your sacreds are capital-only, one of them relatively fragile, and both unable to fly. The Earthbound still provide a strong if limited core for a ground based force. With reinforcing indies or summons, Caelum can march on foot, but such armies can never operate with the same freedom on the map as the winged Caelians can.

Interestingly, Caelum is the only Nation of the Late Ages that cannot build Communions with its own recruits.

National Features

Race Military Magic Access Priests Buildings
Prefers Cold 1
Flying
Size 3 w/ Wings
Raptor Caelians:
+1 HP, MOR, & ATT vs. Humans
Airya Caelians:
Cold Resistance 15
-1 HP, STR, & DEF vs. Humans
+2 MR vs. Humans
+1 PRE vs. Humans
Spire Horn Caelians:
Cold Resistance 5
Shock Resistance 5
+1 MR & PRE vs. Humans
-1 DEF vs. Humans
Iron
Some Magic Gear
For teh Airya! Ice Protection
For teh Spire Bros! Storm Immunity
Tramplers
Flying Infantry
Archers
Some Wingless
(Infantry & Archers)
( all Sacred)
air 22 (uncommon 3, rare 4)
death 22 (uncommon 3, rare 4)
earth 11 (uncommon 2, rare 3)
water 11 (rare 2)
fire 11 (uncommon, rare 2)
Summons:
death 33fire 22 & 40deathgem: Yatas
fire 33death 33 (1/4)
water 33death 33 (1/4)
astral 33death 33 (1/4)
fire 22death 33blood 33 (1/4)
astral 44 & 40astralpearl: Yazatas
fire 44astral 22 (1/6)
fire 33astral 33 (1/6)
air 44astral 22 (1/6)
air 22astral 44 (1/6)
water 44astral 22 (1/6)
earth 33astral 22nature 22 (1/6)
death 44fire 22 & 60deathgem: Daevas
astral 55 & 60astralpearl: Spentas
Average (holy 22)
Flying
Summon: holy 44
(Limited)
Citadels


Your Elder Harab Serapel have one 100% & one 10% random. For example, each Harab Elder has a 22% (11/50, UNCOMMON) chance of having death 33, and a 0.4% (1/250, RARE) chance of having death 44.

Capital Special Sites

The Citadel of Frozen Crystal Raven's Vale
Enables recruitment of
Enables recruitment of
* Produces 1 per turn
* Produces 1 per turn
* Enables recruitment of
* Enables recruitment of
* Enables recruitment of
* Produces 1 per turn
* Produces 1 per turn

Notable Units

Commanders

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Airya Scout
25
13
1
Stealthy (55)
Resist Cold (15)
Ice Protection (1)
flying
Supply Size (2)
With 22 almost-unhindered Map Movement and above-average Stealth, all for the same price as a typical indie Scout, this guy is pretty good.
Fort turns have other uses (such as queueing mages), but this one shouldn't be overlooked.
Raven Lord
50
25
1
Stealthy (40)
flying
Supply Size (2)
The return of the Raptors to Caelum has brought back Stealthy flying commanders, though without a Sacred status.
Since they have only 40 Leadership, their niches are cheapness and sneak attacks.
Storm General
70
36
1
Resist Cold (8)
Resist Shock (8)
Ice Protection (2)
flying
Supply Size (2)
Storm Immunity
The Spire Horn Clan might now be outshined by the Raptors, but it still has the best generals.
With 80 Leadership, Storm Generals provide a +1 Morale boost to troops beneath them, and can organize Line formations to hold back enemy troops; with scripting, the latter can even keep flying troops in a line, up to round 3 of combat.
Caretaker
100
1
2
earth 11death 11holy 11 9
sacred
flying
Supply Size (2)
The Caretakers offer a lot; earth 11, death 11, holy 11, and wings. Unfortunately, their price tags account for all of these traits, which don't interact with each other very much.
They're your cheapest skeleton-spammers by far, though.
Iron Crafter
45
3
2
earth 11 7
Resource Bonus (10)
forge bonus (1)
flying
Supply Size (2)
As Resource-providers, the Iron Crafters increase your troop production capacity as you amass them, limited only by local Recruitment Points and your Gold economy.
If your expansion strategy is solid, they can even make taking Sloth tolerable.
Uses outside of Research and Resources are a bit limited, however, especially in the age where most people have protection against Flying Shards. They can apply Magic Resistance with Iron Will, and they can pin targets with Earth Grip, but other options require Gems.
Harab Seraph
125
3
2
air 11death 11random1100% 11
flying
Supply Size (2)
Outside the capital, your Harab Serapel (or "Ravens of Dispersion" in Hebrew) are your best combat mages.
All have access to Parting of the Soul; aside from that, what they'll be spamming in battle depends on their random specialization.
The death 22's stand out among them, able to cast Wailing Winds with 3deathgem and a Skull Staff.
There's also Skeleton-spamming through Raise Skeletons and Horde of Skeletons, though settling with Caretakers will weigh less on your economy.
air 22's get Lightning Bolt, fire 11's get Bane Fire Dart (or Sulphur Haze with 1firegem), water 11's get Frozen Heart, and earth 11's can forge stuff.
Caelian Seraph
125
2
2
Capital Only
air 22water 11 11
Resist Cold (15)
flying
Supply Size (2)
Most of the Airya Seraphim fled to Ragha, but the ones you still have are as they've been for the previous two ages: reliable.
Reliable air 22 is swell. It gives you Lightning Bolt, as mentioned previously, and it also gives Thunder Strike with 1airgem; or, if you prefer elaborate schemes, an air 33 Harab Elder who has spent 2airgem for Storm.
Reliable water 11 is nothing to sneeze at. With a Water Bracelet, any white-winged Seraph can convert Water Gems into AOE devastation with Falling Frost and Freezing Mist, though many prefer the simplicity of Frozen Heart.
Of course, the Seraphim share a queue with Harab Elders, which often limits their use.
Harab Elder
305
3
4
Capital Only
air 22earth 11death 22holy 22random1100%
10%
17
Sacred
flying
Supply Size (2)
Without Communions, Caelum's magic leans on the prowess of its Mages, and the Harab Elders are the best that remain.
Wailing Winds and Storm have already been mentioned. The death 33's don't need Staves to cast the former, though they certainly help.
fire 11's can use the Skull Staff or 1deathgem to cast Bane Fire, one of the most insane anti-thug spells ever conceived, and can wear a Skull of Fire alongside it to FINALLY access Caelum's national mage summons. Yatas bring Daevas and Yazatas, and Yazatas bring Spentas.
The earth 22's give Caelum Earth Boots, through which the anti-mage Rain of Stones and all sorts of good buffs become available.
Even the water 11's are notable, providing Stygian Rains for the Iceclad to take advantage of – if you have a Skull Staff and a Water Bracelet, of course.

Troops

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Spire Horn Militia
8
5
5
Resist Cold (5)
Resist Shock (5)
flying
Supply Size (2)
Spire horn militia has lower than average human stats and low protection for LA. This means they will not survive prolonged combat. They come with a lower than average cost per unit and higher than average siege strength and patrol strength, this makes them economical for duties like patrolling and sieging.
Raptorian Militia
8
4
5
flying
Supply Size (2)
Higher stats than spire Horn Militia, at the cost of shock and cold resists and the magic spear.
Airya Light Infantry
10
11
9
Resist Cold (15)
Ice Protection (1)
flying
Supply Size (2)
Decent units and fairly priced, these or Spire Horn Warriors should be staple troops, and cheap magic lances keep them both valuable deep into late game. Compared to Spire Horn, they trade a bit of Str and HP for more protection. Beware Ice Prot in high heat, and note that 9 Str also reduces their charge bonus.
Airya Infantry
10
16
9
Resist Cold (15)
Ice Protection (1)
flying
Supply Size (2)
Enough prot to matter against chaff, or real units in Cold 3. Magic swords are nice, but don't expect miracles - these guys only hit 1 point harder than SHWs, don't charge, and don't have piercing damage.


Raptorian Warrior
10
12
9
Raptorian Warrior
10
24
9
Raptorian Warrior
10
26
9
flying
Supply Size (2)
Better at fighting in heat than Airya, but no magic weapons. Better stats than Spire Horn; but no flight in storms and no elemental resistances, and again: no magic weapons.

The two heavier variants double the resource cost for only 3 more protection but no additional defensive penalties.
Spire Horn Archer
10
7
9
Resist Cold (5)
Resist Shock (5)
storm immunity
flying
Supply Size (2)
Decentish alternative to or ally for your sacred archers, poor early game option. Composite Bows are nice and Storm Flyer preserves Precision in storm, but to my knowledge 50% of projectiles are still lost. Niche use with Wind Guide and (with difficulty) Flaming Arrows - especially as a fort defense, since these add flying Siege Def and synergize with wall archers.
Spire Horn Warrior
10
7
9
Resist Cold (5)
Resist Shock (5)
storm immunity
flying
Supply Size (2)
Early game expansion units. Flying lances give all-or-nothing outcomes as they hit critical mass, so test and err on the safe side. Fall off mid game due to weak stats, then reappear later as storm flyer and shock resist let them fight alongside lightning spam. 18 piercing damage on the charge can crack harder targets than you'd expect.
Iron Crow
14
26
18
flying
Supply Size (2)
Like the sword Raptorian Warriors, except +1 HP Atk and Def. If you want to make Raptorian Warriors with swords, consider making these guys instead.
Storm Guard
15
31
21
Resist Cold (8)
Resist Shock (8)
Ice Protection (2)
Storm Immunity
flying
Supply Size (2)
Flying heavy infantry. Can be really useful. Much less prot than Iceclad, but they're any-fort recruit and can fly in storms.
Iceclad
15
40
21
Capital Only
Resist Cold (15)
Ice Protection (2)
flying
Supply Size (2)
Really good alternative to the lighter infantry but vastly more expensive. Easily worth the gold once you have enough resources. Unreliable in Heat, but in Cold 3 you get an Ulm-tier 23 prot. Many of them fled to Ragha so they are now capital only.
Raven Guard
16
23
23
flying
Stealthy(40)
Ambidextrous(1)
Stick them under a Raven Lord and you might just be able to say "elf raiding".
Aside from that, having two attacks doesn't matter much if the second one sucks.
Iron Hail Archer
16
9
16
Capital Only
sacred
Reinvigoration(2)
These guys can fill up your sacred recruit slots if you have a weapon bless for your Earthbound but can't afford said Earthbound.
Earthbound
23
38
27
Capital Only
sacred
Reinvigoration(3)
Sacred crossbowmen who also happen to be heavy infantry with native reinvigoration. The only bad things about these guys is that they're cap only and they can't fly.
Mammoth
120
20
30
Resist Cold (15)
animal
trample
snow-move
Excellent early game expansion units, try to spam as much as possible early on, as they'll rip through indies. Slightly tougher than elephants. Expensive in gold and has to be weighed against 12 lances, but more able to avoid attrition when facing superior numbers. Has a mid/lategame niche with E buffs or as spell bait, but beware the awful MR.

Heroes

Amusingly, your heroes are reused from Airya Caelum.

Caelos is the Commander of the Temple Guard. He gave up his wings after losing his Iceclads in a battle against infidels. The event ignited his religious fervor and he has since fought harder and braver than any of the Storm Generals against the enemies of the faith. He was recently promoted to the status of commander. His fanaticism has given him priestly training otherwise restricted to women.

Caelos combines Sacred and Good Leadership, but cannot fly.

Zaelinys is one of the few descendants of the Harab Seraphs remaining in Caelum. Her ancestors aided the High Seraphs against the Raptor Rebellion and have served the Seraphs with their dark magic. Zaelinys has learned the dark arts of her family, but has also trained in the temple as a Seraphine.

Zaelinys is Priest 2, Death 2, Stealthy, and can fly.

Magic

National Spells

Has access to special animal-conjuration and 2 paths of national summons which can grant you reasonable access to every other path of magic and holy 33 priests.

Herd of Elephants nature 22 Herd of Buffaloes nature 22 Ambush of Tigers nature 22

Call Ahurani astral 22water 11 Summon Yazatas astral 22 Call Fravashi astral 33 Call Celestial Yazad astral 44 Call Amesha Spenta astral 55

Call Daevas death 22fire 11 Call Yata death 33fire 22 Call Jahi death 33fire 11 Call Greater Daeva death 44fire 22

Call of the Drugvant death 44fire 11

Parting of the Soul (Thaumaturgy 6, death 11air 11, 40 Fatigue) is a nifty Combat spell that Paralyzes the target and summons three Black Hawks (for the battle), without costing Gems. The former effect can be negated by Magic Resistance, but the summoning of the birds is guaranteed. The birds aren't great; but again, they're free.

More Details in Caelum-Line Summons

Magic Access

FIXME What magic path/mages define your nation, what can you level, e.g., thunderstriking, astral, elementals, earth buffs, blood, what is recruitable anywhere and good, what are some summons you are likely able to get and are useable

Combat Magic

Summon Storm Power allows massed Lightning Bolts and Thunder Strikes from Harab Seraphs and Caelian Seraphs, but only 1/5 of Harab Elders can cast Storm.
For a Harab Seraph with fire, sometimes the best they can do are Bane Fire Darts buffed up by Aim (or Wind Guide).

Later on, Parting of the Soul offers a national spell all Harab Seraphs have access to.
FIXME Do they cast it off-script? How worthwhile is it?

LA Caelum can make use of Stygian Rains better than almost any other nation with readily available magic weapons.

Ritual Magic

FIXME What is the best ritual you could cast. Are there any globals you want up, any units you should be summoning? Are there any Generic rituals few nations can cast?

Magic Items

FIXME Do you have any National items(Construction Level, Price, and required Paths). Any unique generic items few other nations can forge? What item would be useful on your unit lineup (non-standard recommend thug gear)?

National Discount Items

Strategy

FIXME do you have a game plan? Anything you should always be working toward? Any National weaknesses?

Pretender

Scales:

LA Caelum prefers Cold 1, but it has Ice Prot units and flyers ignore snow - take Cold 3 for 80 "free" points. You don't need an expander and can't use a heavy bless, so the only question here is how to distribute scales.

Magic scales are exceptionally strong for Caelum, potentially granting +3RP on 45 gold Ironcrafters. Gold may be a higher priority, since Harab Seraphs are more valuable combat mages, but 2-3 magic scales are a solid option.

Growth, Order, and Production are all worthwhile income scales for Caelum. Early on, resources will limit your troop numbers/quality, rewarding Production, but with unlimited resources from Ironcrafters all of mid/late game will be limited by gold and recruitment.

With the Worthy Heroes mod Luck is welcome since your heroes offer H3, E3, W3, S2, and a variety of other bonuses including thugging. Without WH active, your heroes are terrible and Luck strictly offers income.

Bless:

Your sacreds won't be expanding and most of your mages aren't sacred, so bless is largely optional. Precision helps mages and archers alike, and MR is never bad. If you have Death on your god, Undead Leadership is a great fit for your access to Corpse Construct spam.

Pretender Paths:

Caelum has multiple serious gaps in its magic access, which you'll need to address. Glaringly, this is the only Caelum era without Air 4 access, which you need for Winged Helmet, Gale Gate, and Queen of Elemental Air. (Both of which are conveniently in the same schools as your national spells.) Likewise, you'll need Death 4 to make a Skullface or cast Well of Misery. Adding E3 is nice for a Staff of Elemental Mastery (and by extension Robe of the Sea), but not mandatory.

Your national summons are excellent and help fix your rather limited magic paths, but you can't really cast them natively. Call Yata theoretically opens everything else, but is too expensive at 40 D gems and an unlimited pool. So D3F1 is a minimum to cast Call Greater Daeva, and as mentioned above D4 is probably better. Astral is an open question - S3E2 will open your remaining summons, but without lucky searching you can't afford to cast them.

FIXME What kinds of scales does your nation like? Do they require any to function? Any blesses your sacreds would like? Do you desperately need an awake expander? Examples of Pretenders?

Early Game

FIXME How to expand, potential pitfalls and how to get around them, obvious weakness strength, how much do you have to focus on war/infrastructure

Mid Game

FIXME what is the first big research rush, what is the first big powerspike, where do you shift recruitment to? what are the big magic diversity issues, are there particular globals you should gun for

Late Game

Caelum is the only LA nation without native access to communions. The lack of recruitable Blood or Astral means that Caelum needs to either win at the end of midgame or transition to a summon-driven economy late game. Fog Warriors and Wailing Winds are perhaps your greatest combat techs; although you can cast Army of Foo and other major lategame buffs, nothing else is as easy and deadly.

Lategame assets include:

  • Gemgen globals. Your national spells are in the same schools as Gale Gate and Well of Misery, which should be priorities.
  • Certain generic summons. You're likely to be in Conjuration already: Air Queens are ultra-mobile storm casters and SCs, and you can use both Wraith Lords and the King of Banefire. Kokythiads (Streams from Hades) add Stygian Rains since all your troops can get magic weapons.
  • Strong national summons. You may lose the race for Heliophages, Fire Kings, etc, but you'll still do fine thanks to Yata, Greater Daevas, and potentially Spenta. No one can really shut you out of high-level blood and fire casters, unless Ragha is in the game.
  • Corpse Man Construction spam. LA Caelum is perhaps the best nation in the game at building free Corpse Construct armies, having both cheap air 11death 11 mages and a discount crafter for Lightning Rods. With also a Storm Spool, 1airgem becomes 6 Corpse Constructs.

FIXME How do you close out the game if you are in it, is the high-level research stuff you can do uniquely well, does your nation fall off, aka do you have to force things to conclude swiftly

caelum-la.txt · Last modified: 2022/09/13 00:56 by fenrir