For centuries the seas have been the domain of the Tritons, but recently a nation of beings resembling a cross between fish, frog and human has emerged in the deepest gorges of the oceans. The race is not entirely unknown, for there are a few of them who have made shallow coastal reefs their home, but the Triton Kings never imagined that they were numerous or powerful enough to form a nation. These Atlantians of the deeps never stop growing and will live for several hundred years unless killed. The Atlantian society is organized in a strict hierarchy of size and age. The oldest and most cunning Atlantians have made themselves kings and queens of the Basalt City in the deepest reaches of the ocean. The Atlantians of the Deeps use weapons of enchanted basalt made by the Basalt Kings

"[R'lyeh and Atlantis] are heavily influenced by H.P. Lovecraft. While R'lyeh is closer to the Cthulhu mythos with Starspawns and strange beings from the stellar void, Atlantis is a nation of deep ones native to the depths." - Illwinter

EA Atlantis boasts strong troops and a recruitable Super Combatant in the Basalt King. A focus on Construction will truly make the Basalt Kings shine, while the troops can easily hold the line even with no buff spells whatsoever.

Atlantis troops often have either good armor, or Fire and Cold resistance, but rarely both. Most have darkvision, but not all of them do. Bringing the right troops for the right fight can be a challenge, but can also open up very powerful strategies. So plan ahead for what magic you want to cast when deciding what troops to recruit.

Finally, beware of your Magic Resistance. The Mages and Priests are decently resistant, but some of your best troops are sporting MR 8 or below.

AQUATIC

Magic Access	Alt. Access	Unit Summary	Core Abilities	Buildings
4 (rare 5) 3 (uncommon 4) 2 (rare 3) 1 3		Light Infantry Shamblers No Missile Weapons	Amphibious Darkvision Poison Barbs Fire Resistance Cold Resistance	Advanced Forts

Capitol Gems: 123

See Magic Access for the general guides to climbing magic paths.

• 2 on one-in-four Basalt Kings (capital-only) and every twelfth Mage of the Deep
• No Air magic
• 4 on every twelfth Mage of the Deep
• 4 on one-in-four Basalt Kings (capital-only), 2 on every twelfth Mage of the Deep

• 1 on every fourth Mage of the Deep
• No Death magic
• No Nature magic
• No Glamour magic

• No Blood magic
• 3 on Basalt Queens (capital-only), 2 in other seas, and 1 on coasts

EA Atlantis's magical ascent from its recruits is very straightforward; it can get deep into Water and Earth, but its crosspaths don't really offer anything new. The five paths it lacks, it lacks, depriving access to Poison Resistance and a few other buffs. It also can't climb in Fire or Astral without empowerment, unless it lucks into a 3 in time for Construction Level 9 and crafts The Ruby Eye.

The random path arrangement on Mage of the Deep is highly unusual for Dominions' nations; the chance of at least 3 on one of them is 7-in-12, for instance, but the chance of 4 is 1-in-12. The same is true for 1/2, and for 1/2.

4 allows a Basalt King (1 in 3) to cast Troll King's Court for 1.

Because so many of your units have Fire Resistance, trading for the Flame Helmet and Skull of Fire (or empowering to craft them yourself) is well-worth your gems. 2 Fire Boosters and 2 Water Boosters let a Fire-random Basalt King forge Staff of Elemental Masterys, and craft more Flame Helmets himself. 2 Fire Boosters and a staff then lets you hit 5 for Fire Storm, Flame Storm, and Heat from Hell, without the need for Fire Fend or Frostflesh Army.

Basalt Kings can be 4 and have two functioning feet. That means they can wear Earth Boots to become 5 and cast Forge of the Ancients, a huge boon for a nation as forge-hungry as this one. Then with a Staff of Elemental Mastery or trading/empowering for a Blood Stone, you can hit 6 for Earth Blood Deep Well.

An 4 Basalt King can also wear Earth Boots, a Robe of the Sea, a Water Bracelet, and a Staff of Elemental Mastery to reach 56, letting them cast Lost Land, just in case there’s a coastal throne you need or you just hate someone with a coastal cap. Regardless, Basalt Kings are one of the few recruitable units that can reach this lofty height.

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

You’ll hear a lot of conflicting opinions on Pillars of the Deep: are they worthless or do they make expansion easy?

With a Pillars-focused bless like Hard Skin, you can expand with a Mother of the Deep, 3-5 pillars, and as many Shamblers/Warriors of the Deep as you can afford. Put the Pillars way out in front with the Mother and Warriors way behind (but still in range of the Bless spell). Put all units on "Hold and Attack" and try to position the Pillars to take the brunt of the indies. Small amounts of indies will filter behind your Pillars to be cut down by your other units while the Pillars take almost no damage at all.

Alternatively, with a Basalt King focused bless like Regeneration, recruit a few Coral Priests and then pump out as many Basalt Kings as you can with few/no troops. Have the priests bless then retreat while the Kings cast Alteration Buffs and attack. Fear from the Kings should rout the indies even if you don’t kill anyone.

Finally, EA Atlantis can expand with pure scales, but you’ll probably want a mix of Coral Guard and Deep One Spearmen for defense or attack density depending on indies.

Basalt Kings should be just about the only thing you recruit in your cap after your first fort is up. Map Move 20 makes them one of the few units that can move two provinces underwater. They are your premier thugs and super-combatants even with zero bless.

Your first research goals should almost always be Alteration 3 (for Basalt King buffs) and Conjuration 5 (for Water elementals and Voice of Tiamat). Even if there are no other water nations to fight, Voice of Tiamat is perfect for getting the gem economy rolling as early as possible.

Nature is one of the most common schools of magic for indie mages, so try to find a land province with nature mages. Hand them a Ring of Water Breathing to site-search underwater as well for good measure, as nature construction items like Boots of the Messenger and a Ring of Regeneration are a big help for your Basalt Kings. Even an Indie 1 mage can craft these, if you either have Forge of the Ancients or can trade for a single Thistle Mace (and then make more Thistle Maces of your own).

Mid game is also an excellent time to run up Construction to level 6 (for Forge of the Ancients) and 7 (for Lightless Lanterns). If you took Drain scales, Lightless Lanterns are even more pressing.

Finally, if running up Construction, it’s a good idea to empower a Basalt King either twice in Fire or once in Fire and once in Death. That’s a whole lot of gems, but it unlocks the Flame Helmet, the Staff of Elemental Mastery, and possibly the Skull of Fire. These Fire Boosters will allow you to cast high level fire spells like Fire Storm and Heat from Hell that your Warrior of the Deeps and Living Pillars resist. Hopefully, Voice of Tiamat has been kind enough to give you the Fire gems you’ll need.

Even without empowering for boosters to cast Fire Storm with, Acid Storm is another great battlefield wipe that both Kings and Mages can cast. It can be made even better when combined with Quagmire and Grip of Winter, so Water boosters are well worth the investment.

If Voice of Tiamat gave you a lot of Air gems, empowering for Air Spells, perhaps using an Astral Mage of the Deep for communions, can also give you access to air-based battlefield wipes and buffs.

And if Voice of Tiamat gave you a lot of Water gems, consider going Evocation 8 for Maelstrom, to turn some of those Water gems into other gems and to set up Green Lion (Manifest Vitriol) and Gelatinous Cube (Vile Water) factories on all your coasts.

Try to have 22 on your pretender, or gun it for Forge of the Ancients, as this will be needed to forge Crystal Coins and Starshine Skullcaps. These open up Golems, which you can gear for a teleporting thug option. Golems are also naturally Poison Resistant, letting them wield a Snake Bladder Stick and opening up another threat vector your enemies will have to prepare for.

Finally, Crown of the Magi is another incredible item, well worth an Astral Empowerment to craft. It gives you 30% fast-casting, letting your Basalt Kings cast Earthquake before most enemy mages can cast battlefield-wide buffs. Stopping an enemy mage from casting Army of Mist or Army of Bronze can turn a battle all on its own.

With how many times Construction items have been mentioned, is it any wonder Forge of the Ancients keeps getting mentioned as well? If you do manage to get and keep the Forge, Construction 9 should be your first level 9 research goal, as there are some items, (such as The Ark,) that can be worth an entire army all by themselves.

What are the nation's weaknesses?

Add links to guides or other overviews for this nation here.

EclecticEel for much of the commentary and the pretender builds.

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