In dark caverns under the Roots of the Earth a strange kind of one-eyed humanoids has evolved. Untouched by the sun, they have become 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 most of Agartha's inhabitants are pale-skinned humans with large eyes. Everything left by the Ancient Ones has become subject to worship by the humans. Ancient statues are enchanted and given life by Golem Crafters, priest-mages of the Agarthan Golem Cult. A few surviving Oracles lead the Cult and keep the memories of past ages alive.

Agartha is inspired by fantasy RPG'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

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) 2 (Rare 3) 1 (Rare 2) 1 3	Summon 21 Hero 341 12231	Light and Heavy Human Infantry Light and Heavy Pale One Infantry Huge and Sacred Ancient Ones Troglodyte Slaves	Darkvision Amphibious Cold Blooded Need Not Eat Siege Bonus Fortune Teller Eyes (1)	Standard Forts Cave Forts have extra Gold and Resources

Capitol Gems: 131
Bless Points + 1

Construct Health: Constructs receive increased HP inside dominion, 10% more for each point of Dominion. It will help disciple players as well as enemies, should they have any constructs.

: Darkvision 100%, Cold-Blooded, Amphibious, Need Not Eat, Eyes (1)

: Poison Resistance (25), Slash Resistance, Pierce Resistance, Magic Being, Inanimate, Need Not Eat, Mindless, Does Not Heal Naturally, Stone Being, Spirit Sight

Summon Spell	Unit	Special Attributes	Comments
Summon Penumbrals (Conjuration 3) 11 and 6	Penumbral x 6	Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (25) Stealthy (40) Undead Ethereal Amphibious Need Not Eat Spirit Sight Spiritform	Commentary here.
Awaken Shard Wights (Conjuration 3) 11 and 10	Shard Wight x 5 + [1/2]	Cold Resistance (25) Poison Resistance (25) Chill Aura (3) Undead Amphibious Need Not Eat Spirit Sight Eyes (1)	Commentary here.
Barathrus Pact (Conjuration 3) 2 and 3 At Capitol	Earth Elemental x 2	Poison Resistance (25) Blind Fighter (1) Reconstruction (8%) Affliction Resistance (4) Magic Being Inanimate Trample Amphibious Need Not Eat Mindless Stone Being Spirit Sight Shapechange Below HP (50) (Earth Elemental)	Commentary here.
Rhuax Pact (Conjuration 3) 11 and 2 At Capitol	Magma Child x 3	Fire Resistance (25) Poison Resistance (15) Heat Aura 3 Fire Shield (10) Fire Power (1) Magic Being Need Not Eat Spirit Sight	Commentary here.
Olm Conclave (Conjuration 4) 11 and 20 Cave Only	Olm Sage	2111 Sacred Cold Resistance (5) Poison Resistance (15) Fortune Teller (10%) Blind Fighter (1) Cold Blooded Amphibious Need Not Eat Spirit Sight	Commentary here.
	Great Olm x 15	Sacred Cold Resistance (5) Poison Resistance (15) Blind Fighter (1) Cold Blooded Amphibious Need Not Eat Spirit Sight	Commentary here.
Summon Umbrals (Conjuration 5) 12 and 8	Umbral x 6	Resist Cold (15) Resist Poison (25) Stealthy (40) Undead Ethereal Amphibious Need Not Eat Spirit Sight Spiritform	Commentary here.
Attentive Statues (Enchantment 1) 2 and 3	Attentive Statue x 2	Patrol Bonus (5)	Commentary here.
Enliven Sentinel (Enchantment 3) 2 and 2	Sentinel	Sacred Patrol Bonus (10) Eyes (1)	Commentary here.
Enliven Granite Guard (Enchantment 5) 3 and 10	Granite Guardian	Sacred Patrol Bonus (10) Eyes (1)	Commentary here.
Living Mercury (Enchantment 5) 11 and 6	Living Mercury	Resist Poison (25) Poison Cloud (5) Blind Fighter (1) Affliction Resistance (99) Slash Resistance Blunt Resistance Pierce Resistance Magic Being Inanimate Amphibious Need Not Eat Mindless Spirit Sight Spiritform Shapechange Below HP (105) (Living Mercury)	Commentary here.
Enliven Marble Oracle (Enchantment 6) 31 and 35	Marble Oracle	2 Sacred Fortune Teller (15%) Eyes (1)	Commentary here.
Hall of Satues (Enchantment 8) 5 and 30	Sentinel x 20 [4/lv]	See Above.	Commentary here.

MA Agartha is a nation partially defined by its national summons. Most players treat them as a core part of the roster, rather than an addition.

Statues: The most commonly-used of these are the Sentinels, who are Sacred, relatively inexpensive in gems, but expensive in mage turns. Like all statues, they have 22 Natural Protection and Pierce Resistance. Combined with their high HP from the Golem Cult dominion bonus, they are extremely durable melee combatants. They also have a Patrol Bonus: they can patrol out Assassins, Seducers, and Scouts even in small numbers.

They are vulnerable to thugs with AP/AN weapons (particularly Smasher), along with Shock damage unless they are blessed with Shock Resistance.

These statues have Map Move 20; this makes them faster than recruitable troops, so they can often outrun the rest of the Agarthan force with a fast commander, such as Attendant of the Oracles or an Oracle of the Ancients, (particularly with Boots of the Messenger).

Umbrals and Penumbrals: These are the opposite of statues: no Protection, but Ethereal and with a powerful Armor Piercing Life Drain attack. Since they have no natural protection, players commonly buff them with protection buffs like Marble Warriors and further augment their damage with Strength of Giants.

They are Stealthy, but Agartha doesn't have any stealthy leaders – although they can make one, by forging a Shademail Haubergeon. Camazotz indies are good for leading them because their Death path gives them Undead Leadership and they are Stealthy.

Umbrals can be summoned by Death-random Oracles or any Oracle with a Skull Staff.

Shard Wights: These are undead Pale Ones with a Cold Aura. They are rarely used since Agartha generally doesn't have Cold Scales to help their aura. They fill a similar role to Shard Guard while not being sacred, and compete with other uses for valuable Death Gems.

Olms (Great Olms and Olm Sage from the Olm Conclave): The Great Olms are Mind Blasters, which are useful to break up formations, force opponents to cast Antimagic, Stunlock solo thugs and SC's, and Paralyze frontline troops.

The Olm Sage that comes along with them is the nation's highest national Water access at 2. Since they are Poison Resistant, they can closely escort Living Mercuries to buff them without risk.

Magma Children: They are substantially better in Heat Scales thanks to their Heat Power ability. Since their attacks do armor piercing, defense-ignoring, area-of-effect fire damage, anything without Fire Resistance will get shredded. Their Fire Shield and area attacks will eradicate swarmbugs and longdead.

These do 12 fire damage base, which increases to 15 in Heat 3 and 19 with Strength of Giants. They are vulnerable to archery and evocations, however.

Note that their Heat Aura can pose a danger to anything deployed near them that is not Fire Resistant (and FR5 is not totally safe either).

Barathrus Pact: Paying 1.5 gems for a size 6 Earth Elemental compares poorly with Summon Earth Elemental or Living Earth, both of which are easy for Agartha to cast. However, they can't be gem baited and are disciplined (and thus can be readily point buffed with Iron Warriors), so there is a niche for disciplined elementals. However, they compete with Sentinels for Earth gems, and thus see little use.

Living Mercury: While the Poison Cloud looks useful, it is generally more of a risk to friendly troops. The real value here is the three Strength 28 armor piercing attacks. These absolutely love buffs – Iron Warriors and Quickness (from Olm Sages) turn them into absolute wrecking balls, and 28 AP damage is enough to pop Mistform and wreck protection thugs.

Careful scripting can keep them away from poison-susceptible things – most of the time. They are safe around statues, Olm Sages, Shard Wights, and anything with PR10 or more once it is blessed; they are *not* safe around magma children since they'll get set on fire by the Heat Aura.

Their Protection 0 means that they will take attrition from mundane troops and PD unless prot-buffed. This makes them more suitable to fight elites (particularly those relying on protection) than chaff without buffs.

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

Both Golem Crafters and Oracle of the Ancients (1 in 4) can be 1. The Oracle of the Ancients has the Death crosspath, they can create a Skull of Fire, avoiding a level of empowerment.

No native access. No simple summons.

Both Golem Crafters and Oracle of the Ancients (1 in 4) can be 1. Either can then summon an Olm Conclave to get an 2 Olm Sage. Any of them can potentially get to 41 to create the unique Orb of Atlantis. With a lot of boosters, the Golem Crafter can craft a Staff of Elemental Mastery. With three Water boosters, so probably including either the Orb of Atlantis or the also unique Orb of Elemental Water.

4 Oracle of the Ancients (1 in 4) is a good start in Earth but has no other useful crosspaths.

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

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

2 Oracle of the Ancients (1 in 4) is the best start MA Agartha has, but has no other useful crosspaths.

Thankfully, a 1 Oracle of the Ancients (1 in 4) or a Golem Crafter with Earth Boots can forge The Copper Arm, which can help with holding either a Skull Staff or the unique The Flailing Hands and the unique Sceptre of Dark Regency. The Silver Arms allow holding a Skull Staff and The Flailing Hands together.

No native access. No simple summons.

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.

No native access. No simple summons.

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.

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 • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia