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MA Ermor, Ashen Empire

Lore

"Agartha is inspired by fantasy TTRPG's in general, and an Earth Dawn setting of my brother's imagination, ripe with mummified ancestors entombed in ancient cavern halls, in particular. Old ideas of a race of pale, cave-dwelling humanoids from my ideas of the game “Shepherds of Creation” completed the conglomerate. Think of opulent halls adorned with riches of the deeper earth in which reside ancient bloated oracles with pallid skins ruling their kin with increasing desperation; desperation because their proud race is dying. Agartha is perhaps the most tragic of the nations in Dominions. Surviving oracles cling to memories of a glorious past unable to stop the unavoidable disappearance of their ancient race. I wanted a sense of loss to permeate the nation." –Illwinter, in 'The Origins of Nations' section of the Dominions 6 Manual

In dark caverns under the Roots of the Earth a strange kind of one-eyed humanoids once evolved. Untouched by the sun, they became known to humans as the Pale Ones. When humans first met these pale giants, it was in war. With the destruction of the false god of the Pale Ones, an ancient Seal was broken and vast powers of destruction were released. The Pale Ones were almost wiped out of existence and humans could move down into the caverns of Agartha. Here they found fabulous riches and ancient secrets. The humans replaced the Pale Ones and now all Agarthans are pale-skinned humans with large eyes. Everything left by the Ancients became subject to worship in Agartha. At first, statues of the Ancients were adored and animated by the Golem Crafters, but most of the statues were destroyed during the great war and new forms of worship have evolved. The mummified remains of the now-extinct Pale Ones are worshiped and reanimated by necromancer-priests. While the mummies of Pale Ones are sacred, the human dead are not treated with the same respect. Used for menial tasks and warfare, the dead of Agartha now walk side by side with the living. –National Description of LA Agartha in the nation selection screen, copy pasted from Dominions6.exe

National Features

Nationwide Effects:

Agartha has a Cave Start.
Additional Entrance Guard PD in Cave Provinces.

Scales & Blesses:

Productivity Limit +1
Death Limit +1

Capital Sites:

Tombs of the Oracles
- Produces 2 deathgem

per month.
- Enables recruitment of Ktonian Necromancer

Infrastructure:

Standard Fortifications for LA (aka: can build Palisades and upgrade up to Citadels).
- Starts with a Fortified City in the Capital.
Each Temple owned adds a 1 to your gem income, up to a limit of current base Dominion Strength.

Starting Army

Role	Unit Card	Amount
Scout	Agarthan Scout	1
Commander	Cave Captain	1
Troop 1	Agarthan Light Infantry	20
Troop 2	Agarthan Infantry	15

Province Defense

Non-Fort PD:

*Non-Fort PD:*
Type/Function	Idle Sprite	Unit Card	Amount
Commander at PD 1+		Cave Captain	1
Troop at PD 1+	???	Depends on the province's poptype	+variable per point
Commander at PD 20+	???	Depends on the province's poptype	1
Troop at PD 20+		Agarthan Light Infantry	+1 per point
Troop at PD 20+		Agarthan Infantry	+1 per point

*Fort PD:*
Type/Function	Idle Sprite	Unit Card	Amount
Commander at PD 1+		Cave Captain	1
Troop at PD 1+		Agarthan Light Infantry	+1 per point
Troop at PD 1+		Agarthan Infantry	+1 per point
Commander at PD 20+		Gate Lord	1
Troop at PD 20+		Agarthan Heavy Infantry	+1 per point

Siege Defense

*Fort Defenders:*
Type	Idle Sprite	Unit Card	Siege Defense	Amount
Commander		Cave Captain	0.6	1
Troop		Agarthan Light Crossbowman	0.5	+16 per level of the fortification's Base Defenders value

Fort Guards

Type	Idle Sprite	Unit Card	Siege Defense	Amount
Commander		Gate Lord	5.6	1
Troop		Entrance Guard	1.6	+10 per level of the fortification's Base Defenders value

National Units

Recruitable

Commanders:

Recruitble Commanders:

Troops:

Recruitable Troops

Passively Spawned

*Commanders:*
Idle Sprite	Unit Card	Spawn Conditions	Notable Comments
	Mound King	Any province	Can lead some non-Undead units in addition to Undead.
	Mound King	Any Province	Same leadership as above, and with very high Mapmovement what with being both Mounted and Undead.
	Censor	Fortification Only	Sacred but not a Priest. Not Amphibious, can lead some additional Undead units compared to Mound Kings but many less non-Undead.

*Troops:*
Idle Sprite	Unit Card	Spawn Conditions	Notable Comments
	Ghoul	Land Only	Not Amphibious. No Prot and low Damage make them a liability in combat due to Hp Routs. They are not Mindless nor undisciplined, meaning they have Siege Defense that MA Ermor otherwise lacks.
	Soulless	Any province	No Prot, high Hp, and abysmal Damage make them more likely to Hp Rout your armies than help. Can sometimes function as "Evo Bait" due to the aforementioned traits, if the rest of the army is healthy enough to survive their loss.
	Longdead	Any province	Capable of fighting well enough, their 16 Damage and good Attack Skill make them capable of killing many non-elite things. Extremely low Hp means they will quickly succumb to Aoe effects and passive abilities like Fire Shield, and lower than usual Magic Resistance means they will easily die to some versions of Banishment.
	Longdead	Any province	Functionally same as above
	Longdead	Any province	Functionally same as above
	Longdead	Any province	Functionally same as above
	Longdead	Any province	Much lower Damage at 13, has a Length 3 weapon, otherwise same as above. Additional survivability from having and avoiding Repel is not useful enough to make a difference in the vast majority of cases.
	Longdead	Any province	Functionally same as above
	Longdead Horseman	Land Only	Light Lances hit for 18 damage on their first landed hit, then 13 after that. Hoof always hits for 13. Horsemen hit the hardest out of all MA Ermor's troops barring sacreds, especially with their Piercing damage type on the Light Lance. Defense Skill and halved Defense Harassment from being Mounted is still not enough to give them much survivability in most cases.
	Knight of the Unholy Sepulchre	Any province	Sacred. At base strength, their Lance hits once for 27 Piercing damage. Broad Sword and Hoof hit for 17 and 13 damage respectively. With 16 base body Prot and 16 Defense Skill with halved harassment from mounted they can survive quite well against foes without AoE attacks like Banishment or other such Spells. Due to only being able to acquire them on rare rolls from passive spawns, they are very hard to build a bless around, compared to the comparatively plentiful Lictors, though consistently a few of them will spawn in any given game.
	Longdead Velite	Fortification Only	Has a Javelin and Tower Shield, otherwise near identical to a naked Spear Longdead. Javelins can be useful for being able to add some ability to attack while behind other Longdead, though still only deal 13 damage.
	Longdead Legionnaire	Fortification Only	Functionally same as above, but with some low Prot armor.
	Longdead Triarius	Fortification Only	Has a 15 Damage Long Spear with Length 4, as well as 16 Prot armor and a Tower Shield. While a good fighter they still have very low Hp and Magic Resistance, therefore using "Evo Bait" to draw fire away from them is useful.
	Longdead Principe	Fortification Only	Functionally same as a Longdead Legionnaire, but with a 16 damage Short Sword instead of a 14 damage Spear.

Summoned

*Commanders:*
Idle Sprite	Unit Card	Magic Paths	Notable Comments
	Censor	None	See: Passively Summoned, Commanders
	Acolyte of Eldregate	1	Potentially useful as a early game way to build a temple, if your Prophet is somehow busy. Once a first temple is built on a province that can recruit indie Priests to function as H1 reanimators they cease to be particularly useful. Can potentially serve as a very expensive Undead leadership option. As with all Undead with Priest levels they cannot Preach.
	Bishop of Eldregate	2	Functionally identical to above, but with H2 reanimation options and spell access.
	Arch Bishop of Eldregate	3	Requires D3 to be cast. Very important tool, as it is able to cast Battlefield Wide Unholy Blessing, and can consistently reanimate 1 Lictor every turn as a reanimation option when not leading armies.
	Spectator	2	While some Spectators are always useful for their ability to can cast a variety of "workhorse" rituals like Summon Lictor, as well as craft items like Black Laurels and Skull Staffs, their combat utility is very limited compared to Dusk Elders. Combat spells like the anti-Undead Dust to Dust and Control the Dead are useful enough but very niche. The summoning capabilities of Horde of Skeletons and Raise Dead (as well as their lower research alternatives) are less useful than they are on other nations since MA Ermor usually has enough indie Priests to reanimate often literally hundreds of Longdead every turn and consistent counters to that will usually never be swayed by the addition of even more Longdead in battle. Disintegrate is as always a very impressive spell, and if the game manages to go long enough to get to Research Level 8 for MA Ermor, a nation infamous for having slow, gem-based researchers, then Spectators once again become a very good tool in the late game.
	Dusk Elder	113 + 100% FAWESD + 10% FAWESD	Requires D3 to cast. Dusk Elders are expensive, but by far the best mage Ermor has in terms of "workhorse" combat spells that can be consistently cast to good effect, such as Bane Fire, Cloud of Death, Drain Life, and can access even higher path levels with a gem and a turn spent on Power of the Spheres for spells like Pillar of Fire, and Vortex of Unlife. Even a single Dusk Elder can provide great utility to a large stack of Longdead with spells like Rigor Mortis, Darkness, and Antimagic (Keep in mind that any S1 can cast Antimagic with Power of the Sphere and two gems, and that Rigor Mortis and Darkness require a D4 to cast due to the maximum a mage only spending gems up to their path level to boost casting level and spend on spell for each cast). In addition to being the main combat mage for Ermor, they are also required for casting other Dusk Elders and Arch Bishops, needing either them or having a Pretender and/or Skull Staff.

*Troops:*
Idle Sprite	Unit Card	Notable Comments
	Lictor	Sacred. Can be amassed very quickly with the item Black Laurel plus the basic Reanimate Lictor Spell for 1 gem per saacred, and the Arch Bishop's Priest Reanimation. They have 29 damage Battleaxes with 13 attack, as well as 20 hp, 5 head prot, 19 body prot, and 14 Magic Resistance. These all at base, without a Bless for them. Due to being able to be fielded in relatively great numbers and their very good ability to fight they are considered my most to be The MA Ermor Sacred, with KotUS and Wailing Ladies passively benefiting from whatever bless is tailored to the Lictors instead of trying to cover all bases with a bless for all and losing the strength of any of them. Lictors not having a head armor is a notable problem, as well as their weakness to anti-Undead spells, but as the sole massable unit that Ermor can muster their faults have to be accepted and worked around.
	Wailing Lady	Sacred. Extremely expensive on a nation with an intense need for Death Gems, Ethereal and 20 hp do very little to protect Wailing Ladies, who by and large will die unless they receive prot buffs like Iron Warriors, Marble Warriors, or the non-native pathed Nature spells of Wooden Warriors and Mass Protection. If however, the exorbitant price for them is paid and they survive to see combat, they do have a Wail attack that forces a whole square to pass a MR check or die (even Undead, Inanimate, and/or Mindless units), and even if they survive there is a Fear effect rider too. Ladies also have Stealthy, potentially allowing them to choose engagements for fights against SCs and Thugs when lead by Dusk Elder, but any such threat used against Ermor likely has a way to cut through theoretically infinite amounts of Longdead and will probably kill them before they fail an MR check. Again, at the judgement of 8 Lictors who can consistently deal 29+ damage every turn or 1 Wailing Lady, this unit is almost always a trap in terms of gem usage for multiplayer games.
	Longdead Legionnaire	At a price of 50 for 15 gems, the spell Ermorian Legion would be a steal for many nations that would like functional chaff for a frontline. Given that any MA Ermor that survives to cast a level 6 spell likely produces literally hundreds of Longdead every single turn passively, purposefully spending gems to summon this unit is likely a waste of resources in a multiplayer game.
	Great Lion¹⁾	MA Ermor does not natively have Nature casters, and even if they did Great Lions are not worth 1 gem per unit with the Pretender Homerealm spell. They have a 17 and 15 damage at 13 attack skill, which with 10 defense skill and 13 morale doesn't fall into the usual flaw of animals in that they are easily repelled by even length 1 swords, but their decent offensive characteristics are failed by their undisciplined nature and having only 20 hp and 4 prot at size 3. Overall a passable (potentially even good) unit on near any nation that has been made absurdly expensive, and can't even be cast natively on MA Ermor.

Heroes

Repeatable:
None.

*Unique:*
Idle Sprite	Unit Card	Magic Paths	Only Arrive After X Turns?	Notable Comments
	Alcastos - Forgotten King	3	No.	None.
	Caractor - Arch Censor	None	No.	Sacred but not a Priest. Has innate Fear and an Axe that deals 35 Armor Piercing Magic Damage.
	Etimmu - Wraith Lord	23	Yes, 15.	Ettimu can self bless, use Ermor's Unholy buffs, and potentially cast Soul Vortex. Combined with a 1 month Immortality Reform time, high Mapmovement, Fear, good armor, and a Bane Blade, Etimmu can be thrown around as a Thug without any equipment or regard to his safety while still being able to reliably take provinces. Care should of course be taken with using him against nations with high Astral or Death mages, as Control the Dead, Enslave Mind, and Soul Slay are all ways he can be taken out permanently.
	Putrescator - Dusk Elder	23 4	Yes, 15.	Potentially provides access to a variety of magic otherwise only available through expensive Empowerment or pregame designing of a Pretender God. Among these is the ability to craft a Skullface while holding a Skull Staff for an additional Death magic booster.

More details on hero arrival mechanics can be found on this page: Heroes

National Magic

Highest Unaided Magic Access

With Recruitables:

N/A

With National Summons:

Without Randoms:
- 3 - - 1000 - - 1300
With 1 in 6 Randoms:
- 3 - - 2111 - - 2400
With 1 in 360 Randoms:
- 3 - - 3222 - - 3500

Spells

Spell Card	School, Research Level	Paths Needed	Fatigue Cost	Effect
*Combat:*
Unholy Blessing	Divine, 0	1	None	Blessing
Unholy Command	Divine, 0	1	None	Enslave
Unholy Protection	Divine, 0	1	None	+4 MR
Unholy Power	Divine, 0	1	None	+4 Att, CS
Unholy Blessing	Divine, 0	2	None	Blessing
Unholy Protection	Divine, 0	2	None	+4 MR
Unholy Blessing	Divine, 0	3	None	Blessing
Protection of the Sepulchre	Divine, 0	3	None	+4 MR
Unholy Power	Divine, 0	3	None	+4 Att, CS
Power of the Sepulchre	Divine, 0	4	None	+4 Att, CS

*Ritual:*
Spell Card	School, Research Level	Paths Needed	Gem Cost	Effect
Revive Lictor	Conjuration, 0	2	3	1 Lictor troop.
Revive Censor	Conjuration, 0	2	4	1 Censor commander.
Revive Acolyte	Conjuration, 0	2	10	1 Acolyte of Eldregate commander.
Revive Spectator	Conjuration, 0	2	12	1 Spectator commander.
Revive Bishop	Conjuration, 0	2	16	1 Bishop of Eldregate commander.
Revive Dusk Elder	Conjuration, 0	3	20	1 Dusk Elder commander.
Revive Arch Bishop	Conjuration, 0	3	23	1 Arch Bishop of Eldregate commander.
Revive Wailing Lady	Conjuration, 2	3	8	1 Wailing Lady troop.
Lictorian Guard	Conjuration, 3	3	10	5 Lictor troops.
Pride of Lions²⁾	Conjuration, 3	2	10	8 (+1 per level), so 10 at the minimum of N2, Great Lion troops.
Lamentation	Conjuration, 5	3	25	5 Wailing Lady troops.
Great Lamentation	Conjuration, 7	5	33	14 Wailing Lady troops.
Lictorian Legion	Conjuration, 8	4	35	25 Lictor troops.
Ermorian Legion	Enchantment, 6	4	15	50 Longdead Legionnaire troops.

Items

*Items:*
Sprite	Item Card	Construction Level	Paths Needed	Cost
	Black Laurel	2	2	10

Important Notes for Playing

Dusk Elder Access: Although MA Ermor starts with a D2 Spectator, to access their Dusk Elders (and thereby any magic paths outside of Death or independents), they need a D3 to cast Revive Dusk Elder. This can be achieved through building a pretender with at least D3, or by the use of path boosting items, notably the earliest Death Booster is the Construction 4 Skull Staff.

Strategy

Expansion Strategies

If you can know some example expansion strategies unique or uniquely affected by the nation here, please get access and add them or contact someone with access to explain the strategy and/or tip!

Cave Knights can be used to make effective expansion parties, attritioning rarely and allowing LA Agartha to make many more expansion parties due to being relatively resource light.

As always, there are some more general expansion strategies available on this page: General Expansion Notes

Example Pretender Builds

If you want to add your own build here, get an account and it'll be more than welcome! Try to use a format to keep authorship clear and pretender design rationale visible.

Community Guides and Videos

None so far?

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