Ermor is an empire centered around a great city. For centuries it has grown and become more and more influential. Traders and travelers from near and far come to the city. By military campaigns, diplomacy and trade, Ermor has become a power to be reckoned with. By adopting local traditions and beliefs, the Ermorians posed little threat to neighbors and conquered peoples, but this has begun to change. A new God is rising. Old syncretistic faiths and spirit worship were banned by a Prophet dressed in white shrouds. The remnants of his body and shrouds are buried in the Holy City of Eldregate where the adherents of the New Faith are awaiting the arrival of the Reawakening God foreseen by the Prophet. The all-encompassing old state cult of the Numinas still survives, but the Pontifices and Flamen are slowly adopting the New Faith.

"Ermor was initially a conglomerate of the Roman Empire and undead nations of general fantasy stock. With time, it has received a history that begins as something like the early Roman republic, with military units of that age and priests and diviners inspired by Roman religious officials. The New Faith replaces the old state cult of the Numina, as Christianity eventually replaced the old Roman state cult. With the turn of the age, the mistake of the Augurs becomes apparent, and the nation is brought into darkness.

Ermor is one of the first conceived nations in the Dominions universe. In the first Dominions, the Ermorian backstory influenced many of the other nations. When the eras were introduced in Dominions 3, the undead empire ended up in the late age and the Dominions history lost some of its coherency. With Dominions 4, I tried to straighten things up and once more placed the Ashen Empire of Ermor in the middle age where its antagonists and splinter empires can be found.

The backstories of Sceleria, Pythium, Marignon and Ulm are all influenced by Ermor. Several other nations have interacted with the nation or its shadow. It would be difficult to imagine the Dominions setting without Ermor. . . .

During the subjugation of C’tis, lizard soldiers were recruited into the Ermorian ranks. Lizard Auxiliares have since been a regular part of the Ermorian army. The lizards are armed as Hastati, but wear ring mail cuirass of C’tissian design, and use round shields instead of the tower shields standard to the Imperial Legions. . . .

Ermor was once a great empire that had conquered much of the known world. The realm crumbled as the great mages of the Empire studied dark magic under the Sauromancers of C’tis. Unaware of the dangers of dark sorcery, priests performed unholy rites in the capital city of Eldregate. But there were voices who demanded that the foul practices stop. Theurgs and Thaumaturgs foresaw the cataclysm and advised generals, governors, and consuls to revolt. When the Apostate Emperor marched on Ermor itself, the Augurs and Bishops of the Empire were forced to act in concert. In one cataclysmic event, Death was let loose and the empire was shattered. The Cataclysm attracted attention from an earlier God, a dark and hungry God. The vast power of this Awakening God erased the boundaries between the land of the living and the land of the dead. Ermor is now a cursed land of ashes and darkness where nothing grows. The bones of long-dead inhabitants reassemble to form legions of undead under the leadership of the cursed priests of the old Ermorian faith. Undead legions march forth to conquer a world once theirs. The Ermorian Dominion reanimates the dead without the aid of unholy priests. It also destroys the land, turning crops and forests into ashes, and people and livestock into bones. The Pretender God of Ermor will also be able to sense where any corpses are in provinces under his Dominion." -Illwinter

If you are considering picking this nation to play, what should you know?

Magic Access	Alt. Access	Unit Summary	Core Abilities	Buildings
3 (rare 4) 3 (rare 4) 2 (rare 3) 1 (rare 2) 1 (off-fort) 1 (off-fort) 1 (off-fort) 3	Hero 4 Summon 112 (req. 1)	Human Legionnaires Lizard Auxiliaries	Levy Stealthy Recuperation Healer Grand Communicant Old Age	Advanced Forts Starts with a Fortified City

Capitol Gems: 33
Order Limit + 1

• Shroud of the Battle Saint (Construction 5)
  1 and 4
  A cursed item that trades whatever the bearer's original armor was for being permanently Blessed. This even works on those who are not Sacred, so you can (for example):
  • Put extra Map Movement and/or Flight on your Elder Augurs
  • Put additional Leadership on your Centurions and Legates
  • Strengthen Ermor's various Death commander summons in the late game, and/or mend your endgame Tartarians

• 3 on one-in-four Augur Elders
• 1 on one-in-four Augur Elders
• 1 on one-in-five Flamens (off-fort only)
• 1 on one-in-five Flamens (off-fort only)

• 2 on one-in-four Augur Elders
• 3 on one-in-four Augur Elders
• 1 on one-in-five Flamens (off-fort only)
• No glamour magic

• No blood magic
• 3 on each Arch Bishop of the Sacred Shroud (capital only), 2 off-capital

• 312, 222, and 213: Various powerful Evocations, Bane Fire summons (including Antrax - King of Banefires)
• 2112: Cloud spells (i.e. Sulphur Haze), Breath of the Desert (+3 ritual), Corpse Constructs
• 11: Acid spells, Geyser (large-AOE Fire damage), Rune Smasher (+2 Penetration)
• 11: Magma Bolts (igniting projectiles), Scorpion Beasts, Terracotta Soldiers, some useful battle items
• 11: Seven Year Fever (Disease spell), Elixir of Life (Unaging item with an Extra Life)

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

EA Ermor has mages with only one level in many paths, without good crosspaths. This makes climbing those paths difficult.

The Copper Arm
11 Flamen (1 in 5) +

The Silver Arms
11 Flamen (1 in 5) +

The Copper Arm and The Silver Arms are useful for holding multiple boosters at once, especially Death and Nature boosters.

EA Ermor has the right paths and crosspaths for some of the major Multi-path boosters but the levels of its mages are so low it makes it difficult to get any of them.

Highest starting: 3 Augur Elder (1 in 4)

Skull of Fire
22 Augur Elder

The Staff from the Sun Unique
22 Augur Elder (1 in 4) +

Highest starting: 1 Augur Elder (1 in 4), Flamen (1 in 5)
Air is almost always hard to climb. Getting the Unique Tome of High Power will save one empowerment on the way up to 4.

Tome of High Power Unique
11 Augur Elder (1 in 4) +
The Air level probably needs to come from empowerment.

Highest starting: 1 Flamen (1 in 5)

Contact Lar
1 Flamen (1 in 5)
Lar has 112, good for Contact Naiad and, with enough boosters, the Unique Orb of Atlantis.

Highest starting: 1 Flamen (1 in 5)
Needs a level of empowerment to get started. Might be better to save the gems for the summoned Lar.

Contact Lar
1 Flamen (1 in 5)
Lar has 112, good for the Unique The Tome of Gaia.

Highest starting: 2 Augur Elder (1 in 4)
EA Ermor lacks good crosspaths for Astral, making the climb above 3 difficult. Even if it can get the Unique Dimensional Rod, getting it to 4, climbing higher is still tricky, and Astral is one of the paths where climbing high in it is actually useful.

Tome of High Power Unique
11 Augur Elder (1 in 4) +
The Air level probably needs to come from empowerment.

Highest starting: 3 Augur Elder (1 in 4)

Highest starting: 1 Flamen (1 in 5)
In order to get to the Treelord's Staff, normally two expensive levels of empowerment are needed. If a Naiad is summoned and The Tomb of Gaia Unique is created, no empowerment is necessary.

Contact Lar
1 Flamen (1 in 5)
Lar has 112, good for Contact Naiad and the Unique The Tome of Gaia.

No national access.

Troll King's Court
1 Flamen (1 in 5) +
Troll King has 1.

Summon Spectre
3 Augur Elder (1 in 4)
Spectral Mage has a 7 in 16 chance of at least 1

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 • Pyrène • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia