Abysia is a hot wasteland, at the center of which lies a great volcano whose lava-lit caverns are inhabited by magma-born humanoids. Their flesh radiates heat and they are not harmed by flames. Abysians are stronger than humans and prefer heavy armor and weaponry. Bows are not used, as they would burn to cinders in the glowing hands of the Abysians. The war machine of Abysia also includes salamanders, lizard-like beings composed of the same hot lava-born flesh as the Abysians. Abysian Warlocks are very powerful Blood mages and skilled crossbreeders. The Anathemant Priests of the Flame Cult practice blood sacrifice to strengthen the power of the Awakening God. Abysians prefer to live in extremely hot places. They do not farm or hunt for a living, so their income and supplies are not affected by the Growth or Death scale of a province. However, population will still die slowly in Abysiacontrolled provinces with Death scales

"Abysia does not have any clear inspirational sources. Malign devil-worshiping empires of the fantasy genre combined with some ancient Middle Eastern concepts, perhaps. Think of great temple ziggurats adorned with ever-burning braziers fed with still-beating hearts in pompous ceremonies, witnessed by a cowed populace of slaves and smoldering Abysian rulers. Imagine magma-lit caverns filled with screams, roars, and fleeting shadows. With blood sacrifices being part of the official state cult it might be considered an evil nation, but it is sprung from elemental forces, and only under infernal influence ‒ and ignorance - does the kingdom turn to evil. It is a tragic nation with a proud heritage, and dilution of their magic - perhaps due to temptation by infernal forces - leads it to embrace blood sacrifice." -Illwinter

Abysia is one of the original fourteen factions from Dominions: Priests, Prophets, and Pretenders. The others are Arcoscephale, Ermor, Pythium, Man, Ulm, Marignon, Caelum, C'tis, Pangaea, Vanheim, Jotunheim, Atlantis, and R'lyeh.

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) 1 (rare 2) 3	Hero 333	Human Infantry No Missile Weapons Salamanders	Fire Resistance Darkvision Heat Aura Wasteland Survival Assassin Crossbreeder Fire Power Grand Communicant	Standard Forts Forts reduce Heat Scale deaths by two steps. Cave Forts have extra Gold and Resources.

Capitol Gems: 5
Heat Limit + 2
Death Limit + 1
Prefers Heat Scale + 3
Bless Points + 1

People of the Flame: Death and Growth Scales have half the standard effect on income and population growth and no effect on supplies.

Blood Sacrifice: Priests can sacrifice a blood slave at a temple to help extend the dominion. This ability is not transferred to disciple nations. Disciple nations with this ability can still use it. These nations do not have dying dominion.

All MA Abysia commanders have: Fire Resistance (25 to 30), Darkvision (50), Heat Aura (3 to 6), Wasteland Survival

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Slayer 95 10 1	Stealthy (60) Ambidextrous (3) Patience (1) Assassin	Slayers are extremely flimsy assassins without gear. In Caves they will reliably assassinate Bekryde Province leaders but will die to anything else. With gear, they can be far more impactful in the mid-game.
	Beast Trainer 70 37 1	Animal Awe (4) Uninspiring (1) Beastmaster (3)	Commentary here.
	Warlord 110 34 1	Ambidextrous (2) Taskmaster (2) Prophet Shape (War Master)	Commentary here.
	Anathemant Salamander 260 1 2	229 Sacred Old Age Grand Communicant Prophet Shape (Anathemant)	Commentary here.
	Anathemant Dragon 415 2 4	313010%13 Sacred Old Age Grand Communicant Prophet Shape (Anathemant)	Commentary here.
	Warlock Apprentice 190 1 2	1211 Crossbreeder (2) Old Age	Commentary here.
	Demonbred 375 1 4 Capital Only	22213 Sacred Blood Searcher (1) Flying Grand Communicant Prophet Shape (Demonbred)	Your best Blood Hunter and they fly, so they are also your fastest Mage. Cap only recruitment so get another fort up to recruit your other mages in order to get more of these. They are sacred, reducing their upkeep so what's not to love?
	Warlock 400 1 2 Capital Only	231100% 10%17 Crossbreeder (6) Old Age Prophet Shape (Anathemant)	Not as expensive as other Nation’s biggest mages, these guys are your path to higher Astral and Blood. The Warlock also gives you the best Crossbreeder results, so you’ll want to get enough of these guys to have forging, ritual and crossbreeding potential. They are old and will tend to pick up diseases, especially in Death scales, until you get Blood Feast to cure them.

: Fire Resistance (25), Darkvision (50), Heat Aura (3 to 6), Wasteland Survivor

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Humanbred 13 10 8	Fire Resistance (15) Darkvision (50) Slave Wasteland Survivor	Commentary here.
	Humanbred 13 10 8	Fire Resistance (15) Darkvision (50) Slave Wasteland Survivor	Commentary here.
	Abysian Infantry 20 26 8		Commentary here.
	Abysian Infantry 20 26 8		Commentary here.
	Abysian Infantry 20 27 8		Commentary here.
	Abysian Infantry 20 28 8		Commentary here.
	Salamander 50 1 15	Fire Power (1) Undisciplined Animal	Commentary here.
	Lava Warrior 30 28 14 Capital Only	Sacred Fire Power (1) Ambidextrous (1) Berserker (3) Formation Fighter (-2)	Commentary here.

: Fire Resistance (25 to 30), Darkvision (50), Heat Aura (3 to 6), Wasteland Survivor

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Rago - Rage Lord	Sacred Fire Power (1) Ambidextrous (3) Berserker (5)	Commentary here.
	Chuzrael - Slayer	Stealthy (65) Ambidextrous (3) Patience (1) Flying Assassin	Commentary here.
Earliest Arrival Turn: (5)	Ba'al Chozron - Anathemant Warlock	33317 Sacred Crossbreeder (8)	Commentary here.

: Fire Resistance (25), Heat Aura (3 to 6), Starting Affliction Chance (25% to 50%), Old Age Chance (25% to 33%), Wasteland Survival
: Fire Resistance (15), Poison Resistance (15), Starting Affliction Chance (50%), Old Age Chance (25% to 33%), Wasteland Survivor, Part Undead, Demon

Summon Spell	Unit	Special Attributes	Comments
Infernal Breeding (Blood 3) 2 and 25	Hell Spawn or	(1) Part Undead, Demon	Commentary here.
	Hell Spawn or	(50%) (1)	Commentary here.
	Hell Spawn or	(50%)	Commentary here.
	Hell Spawn or	(50%) Demon	Commentary here.
	Hell Spawn or		Commentary here.
	Hell Spawn or		Commentary here.
	Hell Spawn or		Commentary here.
	Hell Spawn or		Commentary here.
	Hell Spawn or	(50%) (1)	Commentary here.
	Hellbred Giant	Starting Affliction Chance (50%) Supply Size (10) Old Age Chance (25%) (15) (50%)	Commentary here.
Summon Spectral Infantry (Conjuration 2) 11 and 5	Smoulderghost x 7	Resist Fire (25) Poison Resistance (25) Heat Aura (3) Undead Ethereal Need Not Eat Wasteland Survival Spirit Sight Spiritform	Commentary here.
Pride of Lions (Conjuration 3) 2 and 9	Great Lion x 15+	Darkvision (50%) Undisciplined Animal	Commentary here.
Contact Scorpion Man (Conjuration 8) 11 and 12	Scorpion Man	Sacred Fire Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (15) Fear (+5) Ambidextrous (2) Magic Being Wasteland Survival Spirit Sight	Commentary here.

• Liquid Flames of Rhuax (Evocation 5)
  31
  Commentary here.
  
• Inner Furnace (Enchantment 5)
  3 and 1
  Commentary here.
  

• Infernal Breeding (Blood 3)
  2 and 25
  Commentary here.
  
• Hellscape (Alteration 6)
  4 and 10
  Commentary here.
  

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

• 3 on Anathemant Dragons
• No air magic
• No water magic
• 1 on Anathemant Dragons

• 3 on one-in-four Warlocks (capital only)
• No death magic
• No nature magic
• No glamour magic

• 4 on one-in-four Warlocks (capital only)
• 3 on Anathemant Dragons

• 31: Magma spells, Terracotta Soldiers, Iron Gryphons, some battle items
• 42, 33: Horror spells, Master's Athame (Draining weapon), Shield of the Accursed (Horror Marks attackers)
• 321: Infernal spells (such as Bind Fiery Imps and Infernal Prison), Solar Eclipse (Darkness), Astral Fires
• 321: Illearths, long-ranged attack spells like Gifts from Heaven (with some boosting), Sky Metal Communion-weaving

8, which is reachable with a 4 Warlock (1 in 4) and non-unique Blood boosters, can Bind Demon Lord which gives a 3 in 6 chance of 3, 3 in chance of at least 4, 1 in 6 chance of 4, and a chance for high paths in all the others except Water.

With two, relatively easy to make Blood boosters, a Demonbred can Bind Arch Devil for 4.

No native access. No simple summons.

No native access. No simple summons.

Although MA Abysia's primary Earth path is a 1 Warlock (1 in 4). With a Blood booster, it can make an unremovable Pebble Skin Suit, getting it to 2 for Earth Boots and Blood Stones. Eventually, with Astral boosters, it might make a unique Atlas of Creation.

3 Warlock (1 in 4) is the highest Astral available. It can make a Starshine Skullcap, the unique Dimensional Rod, and the unique The Oath Rod of Kurgi, without any boosters. A 1 Warlock and a 1 Warlock (both 1 in 4), with relatively easy to make boosters, can also create many Astral boosters

No native access. 5, which is easy to reach, can Bind Heliophagus for a 2 in 4 chance of at least 3

No native access. No simple summons.

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

4 Warlock (1 in 4) is the highest Blood available. The 3 Warlock (1 in 4) can make two unique Blood boosters without any boosters.

How to win as the nation. Feel free to use the following sections, or delete them, or change them.

Different expansion options.

In Caves:

Pale ones - a walk in the park. If you have a half-decent bless you can take these provinces with 5-10 Lava Warriors. They’ll fall easily to Abysian infantry too. Your easiest expansion targets.

Zots – Protect your commander and Zots will die easily. They tend to attack on round one. Once you have zots of your own, send some on Attack Rear and you’ll kill the mage. Your own zots will take high attrition from routed enemy troops so don’t send huge stacks of zots.

Cavemen – easy once you have Zots. Attack Rear with flyers or with troglodytes after you have baited the cavemen elsewhere. If you go toe-to-toe with the troops, expect moderate losses as these boys hit hard. Bakemono-Sho tend to help keep them at bay.

Bekrydes – take these provinces through assassination. If you have to fight, they will net and repel your troops but you’ll take minimal losses if you have even 40% of their numbers.

Bakemono-Sho – Cheap to recruit and not too difficult to take. Drop zots on “Attack Rear” and you’ll normally snipe the commander. These guys help when fighting cavemen and are actually pretty handy chaff throughout the game. Not good against tramplers. If you have to fight them with conventional troops, they often have a few Ko-onis mixed in.

Ko-Oni – they melt to Troglodytes (if you have some) but the easiest victory is the Zots again – attach rear and take out the commander. Ko-onis are easy to kill, but they become ethereal spirits after dying, which can be harder to kill without magic weapons or priests.

Cynocephalians – the toughest fights in caves. The berserking warriors don’t rout and they usually tuck a shaman in the middle of the army. Go around these guys until you have numbers. Chaff to tie them up (bakemono-Sho work well here). If you see a small province with these guys, grab it early. The Warriors are good indies for you to recruit and the Shamans break you into Nature and Air.

Shades – Depending on your bless, the best avenue here can be the salamanders (which have very little function in expansion otherwise). The suicidal little lizards can make a mess of shades, but you need enough of them and support them with troops to tie up the shades. Bakemono-sho are good indies for this role.

Getting an early fort and lab going is worthwhile as it lets you recruit more of your resource-heavy troops and lets you focus you get more of your cap-only mages while still keeping up with research. You will likely be building a blood economy so use Bakemono-Sho provinces to build your scouts.

Expansion armies of 10 sacreds will get you far, particularly if you have some chaff or Zots and you can pick your battles.

Early game options.

Mid game options.

Late game options.

What are the nation's weaknesses?

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