Ermor was once a great empire that had conquered most 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 the foul practices to 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 reconquer 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 to bones.

"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." -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) 2 (rare 3) 1 (rare 2) 1 (rare 2) 1 (rare 2) 3	Heroes 234	Reanimation Instead of Recruitment Undead Legionnaires Wailing Ladies Unholy Knights Hordes of the Newly Dead	Undead Cold Resistance Poison Resistance Cold Aura Poor Amphibian Reanimator Priest	Starts with a Fortified City Temples Produce Death Gems

Capitol Gems: 9
Death Limit + 2
Misfortune Limit + 1

Land of Undeath: Dominion kills population and raises undead units. The dead will rise to serve Ermor and the living will die so they can rise later on. These effects will also take place for disciple players and the undead will obey the disciples when they appear there. The disciple players start with full population in their realm, but it will die quickly and undead will rise instead. Being a disciple to Ermor will not be easy.

Know the Dead: MA Ermor’s dominion senses any unburied corpses in the provinces it covers.

Mercenaries are more expensive.
Province Defense does not need population to support it.

MA Ermor cannot natively recruit any units or commanders whatsoever. Instead, Ermor relies on rituals, freespawn, and indies to for its mage corps and armies.

Ghouls are living humans transformed into undead monsters by vile rites. Reanimating ghouls reduces the population of the province. Soulless are the reanimated corpses of the newly dead and reanimation of soulless can only be performed when there are unburied corpses in the province. Reanimating soulless reduces the number of available unburied corpses in the province. The Longdead are reanimated skeletal warriors. There is no limit to the number of longdead that can be reanimated in a province.

Many of the types of undead have different versions, mostly racial or weapon variants.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Ghoul	Poison Resistance (25) Darkvision (50%) Corpse Eater (1) Undead Dungeon Monster Need Not Eat	Since they aren't Mindless, Ghouls will rout instead of disintegrating. Corpse Eater makes them stall a combat round after slaying a unit. Their attacks are weak, but add 50 Fatigue on damage.
	Soulless	Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (25) Starting Affliction Chance (50%) Undisciplined Poor Amphibian Pierce Resistant Undead Inanimate Dungeon Monster Need Not Eat Mindless Never Heals	Garbage fighters with good HP and Strength. Human shields in battle, and Siege strength on the strategic map. Soulless Warriors, if you can get them, have gear and less-awful skill.
	Longdead	Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (25) Poor Amphibian Pierce Resistant Undead Inanimate Need Not Eat Mindless Never Heals Spirit Sight	11 Attack Skill on a rickety body. Longdead tend to be well-equipped, compared to the others. Ermor can sometimes reanimate old legionnaires. These men are all decently-equipped. Some of them have elevated HP and Attack Skill.
	Longdead Horseman	Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (25) Poor Amphibian Pierce Resistant Undead Inanimate Need Not Eat Mindless Never Heals Spirit Sight	Light cavalry with 5 HP. They are at least always fully-equipped.
	Skeletal Horse	Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (25) Poor Amphibian Pierce Resistant Undead Inanimate Need Not Eat Mindless Never Heals Spirit Sight	Commentary here.
	Lictor	Sacred Cold Resistance (25) Poison Resistance (25) Cold Aura (3) Undead Need Not Eat Spirit Sight	Lictors are essentially Sacred Wights with slightly worse gear. They never have helmets or shields, unlike some Longdead. Still, they do 29 Slashing damage with each swing. They also have the most HP of Ermor's reanimation lineup.

: Cold Resistance (25), Poison Resistance (25), Cold Aura (3), Undead, Need Not Eat, Spirit Sight

Each turn, any of the above may emerge from Ermorian provinces, along with the following unit:

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Knight of the Unholy Sepulchre	Sacred Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (25) Poor Amphibian Pierce Resistant Undead Inanimate Need Not Eat Mindless Never Heals Spirit Sight	These guys arise where Ermor has Temples. They have excellent stats (by Longdead standards) and gear.
	Sacred Skeletal Horse	Sacred Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (25) Poor Amphibian Pierce Resistant Undead Inanimate Need Not Eat Mindless Never Heals Spirit Sight	Commentary here.

(Need to doublecheck what freespawns)

• Unholy Command (Divine) 1
  Commentary here.
• Unholy Protection (Divine) 1
  Commentary here.
• Unholy Blessing (Divine) 1
  Commentary here.
• Unholy Power (Divine) 1
  Commentary here.
• Unholy Protection (Divine) 2
  Commentary here.
• Unholy Blessing (Divine) 2
  Commentary here.
• Unholy Power (Divine) 3
  Commentary here.
• Unholy Blessing (Divine) 3
  Commentary here.
• Protection of the Sepulchre (Divine) 3
  Commentary here.
• Power of the Sepulchre (Divine) 4
  Commentary here.

• Black Laurel (Construction 2) 2 and 10
  Commentary here.

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

MA Ermor has a broad but extremely shallow magic access. With boosters, many mage summons are possible, especially ones requiring Death.

2 Dusk Elder (1 in 6) can produce a Skull of Fire but, unless it can make the unique The Ruby Eye, will need empowerment.

1 Dusk Elder (1 in 6) needs empowerment to get up to the key 4.

1 Dusk Elder (1 in 6) can make a Water Bracelet but needs a level of empowerment to get to 3 and Robe of the Sea. Streams from Hades is a viable path up and with boosters, a lot of them, 33 and Staff of Elemental Mastery is reachable.

1 Dusk Elder (1 in 6) can, with boosters and empowerment, create the unique Atlas of Creation. Otherwise, it has no advantages.

2 Dusk Elder (1 in 6) can make a Starshine Skullcap, and, with many boosters, the unique The Forbidden Light.

4 Dusk Elder (1 in 6) starts high in Death. An 1 Dusk Elder (1 in 6) with two Earth boosters can make The Copper Arm to hold multiple staves. More Fire boosters allow it to make the unique The Silver Arms.

No native access. No simple summons.

No native access. Summon Spectre has a 7 in 16 chance of 1.

No native access. 14 can cast Ether Gate for 1 in 4 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 • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia