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"Marignon is a late medieval nation of inquisitors and religious fanatics. Prudent – or perhaps paranoid –
priests search for vice and heresy throughout the land, putting men and women to the pyre with fiery
justice. Imagine the soldiers wearing fancy and colorful Renaissance clothing, while religious and
arcane officials wear red or black robes and severe miens." -Illwinter
Marignon rose out of the ashes of Ermor, just like Ulm, but under a different banner. All that it had for repelling the shadows of Death was faith & austerity. The peasants labored under feudal lords, who payed their tithes and diligently served the Inquisition, all in the name of survival. The Inquisition was assembled by the House of Fiery Justice, a powerful Priesthood that dedicated itself to purging heresy & eliminating witches that used their magic for selfish means. The start of the Middle Age rebuffed the faith & fanaticism of Marignon with the undeath of Ermor, and (if you so decide) rewarded it with the arrival of an awakening God.
Marignon is a nation of fire and faith with a sacred knightly order. Like other medieval human-only nations (pretty much just Ulm & Man), its magic diversity is not very good; unlike the other two, however, Marignon's two paths it focuses on are almost-purely offensive. One does not simply pick Marignon and avoid gunning for attack spells & elementals in their research. For what can't be dealt with by your old-&-frail mages, you have Knights of the Chalice, sacred heavy cavalry that can be recruited anywhere with a fort, a temple, and an ample pool of resources.
Magic Access | Alt. Access | Unit Summary | Core Abilities | Buildings |
---|---|---|---|---|
4 (rare 5) 3 (rare 4) 1 (rare 2) 1 (rare 2) 3 | Heroes 114 223 Summons 32 (r. 4) 43 (r. 5) 4444 (r. 72) | Medium-Heavy Infantry Two-Handed Weapons Crossbowmen Heavy Cavalrymen Falconeers Any-fort Sacreds * Flagellants * Paladins | Sacred Inquisitor | Standard Forts Masons |
Capitol Gems: 41
The Inquisition: Marignon is held together (more or less) by its Inquisition, the militant fist of the House of Fiery Justice's militant arm, the House of Just Fires. These guys repel hostile Dominion even if you haven't hired them, in provinces and forts that belong to you, having a 30% chance to remove an enemy candle from each of these places each turn (and a 60% chance if there's a Temple). They're less effective at spreading your own Dominion, able to do so only to a maximum of 1 candle (2 where there's a Temple).
The Marignese are almost-average humans, distinguished by a sort of zeal that makes them somewhat unlikely to rout: even the levies among them have 11 Morale, instead of the average of 10. Even the back-rank fighters among them have this elevated bravery, whereas most archers and crossbowmen from independent provinces have a mere 8 Morale.
The House of Fiery Justice | The Royal Academy |
---|---|
Enables recruitment of: * High Inquisitors * Grand Masters Kills Demons & Undead (50% chance) Produces 41 per turn | Enable recruitment of Architects |
The House of Fiery Justice's holiness does 10 Armor-Negating Magical Damage to roughly half of the Undead & Demons in its province each turn (Magic Resistance negates).
You will love each and every Knight of the Chalice that you can produce. Most Independents won't have troops that can match them, and most nations don't have something to compare that's as easy to buff. Consider taking Productivity and Order scales to have more of these guys, or maybe just put off building forts around your capital for a while.
Your Paladins are pretty good, too (being Commander Knights), though pretty-much all of your Commanders are at least decent at leading armies.
Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Scout 35 4 1 | Stealthy (50) Mountain Survival Forest Survival | Commentary here. | |
Falconeer 40 3 1 | Retinue: Falcon x 1d6 | Commentary here. | |
Assassin 80 4 1 | Stealthy (65) Assassin (1) Ambidextrous (2) | Commentary here. | |
Troubadour 110 5 2 | Stealthy (70) Seduction Spy | Commentary here. | |
Paladin 205 58 1 | 1 Sacred Combat Caster Mounted | Commentary here. | |
Friar 60 1 1 + Foreign Rec | 1 Sacred Stealthy (40) | Commentary here. | |
Inquisitor 190 1 1 | 127 Sacred Inquisitor Old Age (49/48) | Commentary here. | |
Initiate 65 1 2 | 17 | Marignon's only reliably-"young" mage. | |
Witch Hunter 260 2 2 | 21111 Sacred Patrol Bonus (10) | Commentary here. | |
Architect 60 52 1 Capital Only | Siege Bonus (15) Castle Defence Bonus (15) Mason | Commentary here. | |
High Inquisitor 190 1 4 Capital Only | 137 Sacred Inquisitor Old Age (66/48) | Commentary here. | |
Grand Master 520 2 4 Capital Only | 322171100% 10% Sacred Fire Resistance (5) Old Age (65/44) | Commentary here. |
Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Flagellant 10 4 5 + Foreign Rec | Sacred Start Affliction (75) | Any nation can get these, through events and Imprint Souls! | |
Crossbowman 10 8 9 | Commentary here. | ||
Pikeneer 10 20 9 | Of Marignon's three types of two-handed infantry: • The Pikeneers can poke giants in the eye before getting punted into Hell. • The Halberdiers can occasionally hit something, and to great effect. • The Swordsmen can dodge and hit more often than the other two. |
||
Swordsman 10 23 9 | |||
Halberdier 10 22 9 | Castle Defence Bonus (1) | ||
Man at Arms 14 24 18 | Bodyguard (2) | Swordsmen with shields; 5 less damage, 3 more defense. | |
Royal Guard 50 66 46 | Bodyguard (3) Mounted | Which knight is best? • The Sacred Knight has better stats, but costs 20% more. • The golden boy has thicker armor, but that requires 14% more resources. You can use both; the golden boy is slightly slower, though. (There's also the whole issue with Sacreds and Holy Points.) |
|
Knight of the Chalice 60 58 46 | Sacred Mounted |
Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Carmont - Cardinal | 1149 Sacred Inquisitor | 4 allows for full-party Morale-boosting, to say the least. | |
Simeon ben Tabbai - Rephaite Scholar Hero turn arrival Limit 5 | 22327 Sacred Fire Resistance (5) Adept Researcher (+8) Gluttony (1) Wasteland Survival | Greatly assists with Angel access; getting another Sky Metal Coin forger takes a while, and the coin brings 3's up to 4. (He forges Earth Boots too.) |
|
Tomaso del Monferrada - Witch Hunter General | 32215 Sacred Fire Resistance(5) Combat Caster Patrol Bonus (15) Inquisitor Mounted | A rare human mage-knight. He's also youthful, unlike the Grand Masters. |
|
Angelique d'Armant - Heroine | Inspirational (1) Mounted Female | A better leader than your already-good leaders. It helps that she's mounted. |
MA Marignon's magic diversity is rather limited. It is renowned for its mastery in fire magic, has some skill in astral, and its most powerful mages dabble in air and earth magic. That's it!
In terms of rituals/forging, MA Marignon has access to the following paths:
Elements
Sorceries
Others
If you include Heroes, Marignon's 4 hero can be made a 5 Prophet, while its 223 hero can expand the nation's booster access to get 5 and at least 2.
Your standard priest's main methods of attack are raining fire, Astral and holy prayers.
Fire kills chaff and stops Air Elementals with Fire Elementals. Standard evocations like Fireball and eventually Pillar of Flame are decent gem-free options. Incinerate is a good anti-thug spell. Heat from Hell can fatigue out non-fire resistant enemies.
Astral magic has buffs and single model kill spells. Mind Burn, Soul Slay, Enslave Mind and Magic Dual. Luck manipulation of Battle Fortune and Doom. get MR Antimagic. Stellar Cascades is alterative to Falling Fires to bypass resistance.
In Witch Hunter communions, Phoenix Power, Power of the Spheres and Light of the Northern Star boost the slave's fire and astral paths to reduce fatigue.
Returning is available if you need a Grand Master to pop in cast some spell then leave.
If you take a Darkvision bless then Solar Eclipse is a castable Darkness that is half as effective.
Flaming Arrows makes crossbows more effective and Wind Guide improve precision for both mundane and magic ranged combat.
Earth magic is unreliable but communionable, providing some small access to the excellent roster of earth buffs.
Air also a big thing for Marignon. Sulfer Haze is unexpected poison damage. and Angles Thunder Strike
Harbingers can respond to attacks in the magic-phase using Cloud Trapeze, and Grand Masters can teleport armies with Gateway.
Breath of the Desert lets you spread heat scale to boost fire magic and diminish cold-related strategies before a battle start.
Eternal Pyre is something of a natural global for Marignon to cast due to its pathing and capital gem income, if it gets to Enchantment 6.
Mind Hunt pick people off.
Terracotta Army later game replaces your line troops with those heavily resistant to Fire and Poison attacks.
Fire in a Jar is a powerful economy option due to the ability of Marignon's workhorse mages to spam Fire Elementals.
make a number of thug items for angels and morale-boosting items(Helmet of Heroes and Herald Lance).
Got some casting improvers with Eye of Aiming so that Gift from Heavens hit its mark. Eye of the Void and Spell Focus penetrates enemy MR.
This is probably the most difficult section to get consensus for. Describe how strong the nation is during expansion, the early, mid and late game, and what makes it strong/weak at each of those points. This should give readers an idea of where the weaknesses of a nation lie (if they have not been shown already) and when to take advantage of a nation's strengths.
List some example expansion strategies here. If a strong bless or pretender is required then leave the specifics for the pretender section.
List some example pretender builds. Try to use the following format to keep authorship and pretender design rationale clear.
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