A game of Dominions will start in one of three Ages. These set the available nations to play as, along with the independent cultures in provinces between the various capitals. These also set the economic conditions of the game, both materially and magically, though these effects can be modified to an extent in the settings.

The Early Ages have 35 different nations to choose from; of these, less than a third are predominantly human, though some element of humanity is present in around half. Much of the world does have iron, but it hasn't been made impressive yet. Steel armor is restricted to a few, powerful melee weapons are only a bit more prevalent, and the strongest ranged weapons in the world are merely giant bows. Most role models of the world are literal giants, most of whom have some reason and magical powers; these fellows can often be viewed as miniature Pretender Gods in their own right.

Even now, the "independents" of the surface world are mostly human, though civilization is unknown to a very-large chunk of them. Many still live in tribes; the plurality are ruled by barbarism, though some provinces have the magical oversight of druids, totemic shamans, Amazons, or even long-dead marshals. The "civilized" men typically fight like Berytians, or Mekoneans, or occasionally like Sauromatians; in other words, this world's mundane heroes are closer to Achilles than Arthur.

The disorganization of mankind allows even good parts of the surface to be held by inhuman races; among these are trolls, little people, half-elves, carnivorous lizardfolk, monkeys, goblins, dog-headed men, and even some cavemen. The caves are almost-evenly split between pale giants, bat-men, lava-men, troglodytes, cavemen (of course), beasts of the dark, the undead, and the aforementioned goblins and cavemen. The "independents" of the underwater realm are mainly Triton merfolk, despite the resistance of ichtyid and kulullu half-fish; they, in turn, are encroached upon by the frogmen of the gorges.

Starting populations in the Early Ages are generally smaller than they are in the Middle Ages; in Dominions 5, the percentage was 20% (and thus two-thirds of what the Late Ages have), though this has yet to be confirmed for this game. The default value for Magic Site generation in these Ages is 65, making them 18.18% more common than in the Middle Ages and 44.44% more common than in the Late Ages.

The Middle Ages have 37 different nations to choose from; of these, around half are predominantly human, and the number that has some humanity is greater still. Bronze has (largely) fallen out of use in favor of iron and steel, though the technology of the highest end is still scantily spread. Through either growth or decline, many nations have reorganized to the point of only barely resembling their prior incarnations. Even the magic has changed, remodeled by astral enlightenments and ghastly revelations; the depth to draw from has reduced, but what remains has broadened somewhat beyond mere men of power.

The "independents" of this age have improved as well, at least in technology. The uncivil remain, but the civilized now have lordships in the vein of the Kingdom of Man, as though they left an imperial era and rebuilt from the pieces; which they did, according to the lore. A few still use the War Elephants, as though they were Arcoscephalians, but even these fellows have dropped bronze in favor of the cheaper metal. Some even use the crossbow now.

Humanity's rise has coincided with a slight upheaval in the other races; they have largely declined in their reach, with the half-elves disappearing entirely into Eriu. The dogmen have disappeared as well, into both Ind and the underearth. One might also find brown-winged men in the hills, however; they were scattered across the world in an exile of sorts. Underground, the troglodytes and lava-men have lost ground to the other subterranean races. The seas have seen colonies of one-tailed merfolk and tail-less merrow rise in prominence, though not decreasing the shares of their rivals, somewhat challenged by the odd lordship of shark-riding knights.

Starting populations and Magic Site rates for the Middle Ages are considered the standard for the games; though, in truth, the latter is 10% higher than it was in Dominions 5. In the case of the former, it has no multiplier, thus being 25% higher than in the Early Ages and 16.67% lower than in the Late Ages. In the case of the latter, the Magic Site rate is 55, thus being 22.22% higher than in the Late Ages but 15.38% lower than in the Early Ages.

The Late Ages have 30 different nations to choose from; ironically, the proportion of humanity in them is only around three-fifths, but their presence is firmly felt in most of the rest as well. Technology has improved some more, but only by trace amounts over what was available in some areas in the Middle Ages; the great progress of these times has been in the proliferation of said tech, and of knowledge in general. This has coincided with a greater decline in the power of magic, attributed to both the exhaustion of previous wells and the "un-focusing" of talents. Some new forces have established themselves in the absence or decay of the old, but only time will tell if they make a dent.

By this point, almost all of the "good" land has dropped into the hands of the "civilized" independents, who are now better-armed and better-armored on average than before. The tribes (with their obsolete technology but still-useful magic) are now marginalized, along with most of the non-humans of no important faction; aside from the little people, anyway, who have abandoned their magic but gained a stronger footing than before. The dogmen are now completely extant outside of Andramania, and their space in the caves has been taken by the Pale Ones (ironically not extinct) and the goblins Jomon defeated. Underwater, the Tritons have spread wide in the chaotic civil wars that let Erytheia come to be, wiping out the Kulullus and almost-completely destroying the merrow; their reach largely ends at the depths, however, where wicked mages have co-opted them and frogmen still hold sway.

Starting populations in the Late Ages are higher than in the Middle Ages; in Dominions 5, they were said to be 20% higher, thus 50% higher than in the Early Ages. The default Magic Site rate is 45, however; this is 18.18% lower than in the Middle Ages, and 30.77% lower than in the Early Ages.