Phlegra, as it is now, is a realm with three castes: a mage-priest elite, a warrior citizenry, and a large population of helot slaves. It calls back to the design of Mekone, the City-State of Gold and Marble that Titan-born Gigantes made in an age long past, and this is most likely intentional. In those days, the elites and the warriors were largely of the same Gigante stock, though with Elder Cyclopes from Telkhinis as the greatest mages. Then the Gigantes lost their reason, and their dignity, and eventually their form, following a disastrous declaration of War upon the Gods themselves…

The current Phlegra is a rump state of the original Phlegra, site of a government-in-exile for the defeated Mekone's Gigantes. The Gigantes had become tyrannical, either at this point or with the next generation, and that next generation was far more monstrous than what came before. Though unable to grasp their old ways, the Gigantes at least realized their deficiencies. Recognizing they were on the backfoot, they allowed the Elder Cyclopes to command the Younger Cyclopes of the Phlegran hills. Unable to understand old Mekonean writing, they welcomed Trophimoi (students) from the human realms to decipher it for them. This Phlegra was far less stable than Mekone, for the Phlegran Gigantes took far too many helotes, but the Trophimoi devised new means of holding the state together; one from Pythium, utilizing his old experience in the Theurgy and the enchanted blacksmithing of the Elder smiths, invented a means of coercion through mind-controlling headbands and shackles.

Eventually, however, the original Phlegra came apart. The Gigantes grew so monstrous and unreasonable that they became known as the Laestrygonians, and they imprisoned and ate the Elder Cyclopes in their madness. Then they fought each other, and this gave the helotes (or perhaps some ambitious mind-controllers using them) the chance to rise up. With his kin driven underground, the last Laestrygonian with a Phlegran city had a brief moment of clarity and empowered the Cyclopes (both the Youngers and the descendants of the Elders) to clean up this mess. The rebellion in Telepylos was crushed; and then, like his kin, that last Tyrant went to sleep in the bowels of the earth. Now Phlegra exists for the Cyclopes; they care little for the affairs of humanity, as long as their martial prowess and (limited) acumen as generals are honored, and the new users of the Iron Communions may do what they want. Phelgra's human Oppressors rule with an iron fist, but they are powerless against the legend of the Laestrygonians, whose prophesized return keeps all but the Cyclopes up at night.

"Mekone and its successors are inspired by giants of Greek myth. Described either as strong and proud hoplites, or in later times, as monstrous beings with serpent legs, the idea of a nation of giants that doesn’t follow the development of most other giant nations, with smaller and smaller giants in the later ages, started to take form. … I also wanted to incorporate the hubris of the giants and the Gigantomachia—the war against the gods—into the nation, which in turn created the backstory for the middle and late age versions of the nation.

Phlegra in the middle age is a nation that has lost most of its proud legacy. The Gigantes of Mekone are cursed for their hubris and are becoming physically and mentally afflicted. I also wanted to add shepherding cyclopes to the Elder Cyclopes of earlier times. At first, the nation felt a bit bland, but when I started to think on the slaves and the Phlegran society the idea of the oppressors and slave mages appeared. The feel of the nation took a whole new turn and the slave mage mechanics made for entirely new tactics not available to other nations." -Illwinter

Phlegra is a kingdom of human slaves living in constant terror of the monstrous giants that once claimed the lands as theirs. For centuries the giants have been absent and only memories of their tyranny remain. Most of the Phlegran population are human slaves and slave masters dominated by a warrior-caste of Younger Cyclopes, previously living pastoral lives on the slopes of the Phlegran hills. The Tyrants who once ruled the land were descendants of the Gigantes of Mekone, who made war upon the gods of men. Punished for their sins the Gigantes were imprisoned and cursed with monstrous appearance. Those who avoided imprisonment became Tyrants and rulers of Phlegra and formed a slave kingdom with the aid of human servants. But the Tyrants destroyed each other and the very lands they ruled. Slowly their numbers and influence dwindled and their servants made themselves rulers in all but name. Now human slave masters rule the kingdom in the name of absent Tyrants, hoping that the sleeping giants never wake up. - in-game description

Until around Turn 36, Phlegra is a typical troop-focused nation, if a little overtuned to that end. Following in the Mekonean and middle Phlegran tradition, the nation has small armies of elites that operate alongside vast armies of slightly-below-average troops. This time around, technological advancements are in Phlegra's corner, giving its helot hordes crossbows and plate armor with a bottom-dollar cost in gold. The magic angle for Phlegra is rather odd, with an auto-Communion angle offset by only one mage (the Oppressor Archon) having over three levels; this avaricious elite, demonstrating hubris to a tee, also flaunts superfluous Astral levels that will get him punished by Magic Duels.

Then the switch flips. The capital explodes, and Pretender-grade Titans stream out of it. Phlegra has thuggish mages before this point to practice with, notably the Cyclope Smith, but nothing that compares to these murderous supercombatants. The nation gets one of these for free, tempting players of Phlegra to go ahead and recruit more – they take two turns to manufacture, and they will most-certainly destroy the economy, but their power is just that impressive. With the national Global Enchantment that any of these Laestrygonian Tyrants can cast, the capital can also churn out troop versions at a rate of one-per-turn, provided that anyone's still alive to supply them.

Religion-wise, Phlegra has no Sacred troops and a Dominion effect that passively taxes its provinces, though its special mechanic is at least stronger on enemy provinces than on friendly ones. If one considers a Bless, it would be a tool for aiding their Pretender and Prophet – and, to be fair, their late-game Prophet may very well outmuscle their Pretender. They could also take negative Scales and high Dominion strength to double-down on the economic ruination of their enemies, but these will vex the hungry homeland first (unless they're incredibly aggressive with their Pretender and Prophet).

The Burning Mountain site is associated with a number of events for LA Phlegra. These events are not guaranteed to trigger every turn and are actually somewhat infrequent in testing.

• After turn 5, the following event can occur, producing around 30 unrest.

The Burning Mountain is rumbling. Throughout the land fearful tales are told of the giant monstrosities that wage war upon Gods.

• After turn 15, the following event can occur, producing around 40 unrest, causing around 10% of Phlegra's population to emigrate and giving you 2d6 Fire gems.

The Burning Mountain is rumbling and lava has spilled forth. There has been widespread panic and people are fleeing the land while they still can.

• Most importantly, once per game after turn 30 the following event can occur, creating The Shattered Volcano, producing around 40 unrest, killing around 20% of Phlegra's population, and giving you a powerful commander: Enkelados, First of the Gigantes. This event may occur even if Phlegra's capital is captured by an enemy before The Burning Mountain explodes.
  • The Shattered Volcano produces 11 and allows recruitment of powerful but destructive Laestrygonian Tyrants. If Gigantomachia is cast, you can also recruit Laestrygonian units here. However, Laestrygonian recruitment is not available to enemies who capture this province.
  • This event does not destroy The Burning Mountain, meaning that the unrest and population emigration events from earlier can still occur.

The Burning Mountain has erupted sending shock waves throughout the kingdom. Thousands have perished in ash and flames. In the wake of the devastation the Laestrygonians have awoken and broken free. Enkelados the Laestrygonian monstrosity imprisoned underneath the volcano has returned to punish the gods for his imprisonment.

Interestingly, if Phlegra owns a normal Volcano site, this site can also erupt and turn into the Shattered Volcano, similarly allowing recruitment of Laestrygonians. Instead of Enkelados, this event instead produces the slightly less powerful Polybotes, King of the Gigantes. This is a 'common bad' event, meaning it is more likely to trigger under Misfortune scales, but can only occur once per game.

The Volcano has erupted sending shock waves throughout the lands. Thousands have perished in ash and flames. Polybotes, the Laestrygonian monstrosity imprisoned underneath the burning mountain has returned to punish the gods for his imprisonment.

Turmoil Limit + 1

Unrest: All provinces under the dominion of Phlegra will have their unrest increased every turn. Higher dominion strength in the province yields a greater increase in unrest. In a disciple game this will only have an effect if Phlegra is the Pretender God and then it will affect the disciples as well. Being a disciple of Phlegra will be difficult.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Phlegran Commander 60 26 1	Taskmaster (2) Slave	50 leadership Taskmaster. Boosts slave morale but is otherwise unremarkable, being incapable of putting squads into special formations.
	Cyclope Commander 105 83 1	Taskmaster (2) Eyes (1) Gluttony (+1) 10 Gold Cheaper When Active (Gigantomachia)	The Cyclope Commander is almost as well armoured as the Lochos of EA Mekone, but less skilled in melee combat. It is marginally better at leadership than the Phlegran Commander with 75 leadership, but is also incapable of formations; however, it is necessary to lead Cyclope Soldiers due to their Minimum Leader Size of 6. Potentially useful as an army thug due to its giant stats and decent starting gear, with the notable weakness of very low Magic Resistance.
	Phlegran Cataphract Commander 135 50 2	Taskmaster (3) Skilled Rider (3) Slave Mountain Survival	The Phlegran Cataphract Commander is Phlegra's best mundane commander at 100 leadership and Taskmaster (3). They are also pretty mobile on the strategic map (Map Move 18).
	Cataphracted Mouflon	Cold Resistance (5) Supply Bonus (5) Undisciplined Animal Mountain Survival
	Phlegran Priest 90 1 1	1 Sacred Reduces Unrest (2) Taskmaster (1) Slave	Due to the way the turn order sequence works, Phlegran Priests actually reduce unrest before the gold income calculation occurs. However, their unrest reduction is so low compared to their actual gold cost that their utility in this regard is somewhat dubious.
	Shackled Mage 95 1 2	1100%5 Starting Affliction Chance (50%) Slave Communion Slave	Shackled Mages are poor researchers and mages on their own. However, their innate Communion Slave ability allows Phlegra to use large, round-zero communions to cast devastating spells before opponents have the chance to get protective buffs online. This comes at the cost of Shackled Mages being extremely vulnerable to being wiped out by the fatigue costs of their communion masters' spells.
	Phlegran Oppressor 160 1 2	111100%11 Taskmaster (2)	Phlegran Oppressors are Phlegra's generic mage recruit. Their wide spread of paths allows them to cast powerful spells in combat if supported by a communion (which they can only join with the help of communion items such as the Crystal Matrix, or the national Oppressors Headband), but they are relatively weak outside of one without gem expenditure. In terms of rituals, Phlegran Oppressors provide access to a few nice summons with modest boosting, such as Green Lions (Manifest Vitriol) or Gelatinous Cubes (Vile Water).
	Oppressor General 185 21 2	11100%9 Taskmaster (2)	Oppressor Generals have the same leadership but lower Taskmaster compared to Phlegran Cataphract Commanders, and they are worse mages compared to Phlegran Oppressors, making their usefulness in Phlegra's roster questionable.
	Cyclope Smith 335 3 2 Capital Only	111100% 10%11 Fire Resistance (15) Resource Bonus (20) Master Smith (1) Eyes (1) Mountain Survival 10 Gold Cheaper When Active (Gigantomachia)	Cyclope Smiths are considerably worse as mages compared to the Elder Cyclopes of earlier ages. They no longer provide as much access to boosters, but they are still a big chunky body with some magical ability, which can be helpful for niche thugging tasks. However, they cost only 2 CP to recruit, meaning they can be recruited in relatively large numbers, which makes their Resource Bonus ability a lot more relevant.
	Oppressor Archon 470 1 4 Capital Only	1111122100% 100% 10%19 Sacred Taskmaster (2) Old Age (65/48) Communion Master	Oppressor Archons have a huge variety of crosspaths, making them excellent forgers and ritual casters; in particular, they provide access to the Earth/Astral crosspath for Golems and Meteoric items. They are also auto-Communion Masters, allowing them to cast devastating spells in the first round of combat with the support of Shackled Mage communion slaves. However, their single guaranteed Astral path makes them incredibly vulnerable to Magic Duel, a vulnerability likely to be exploited in the Astral-heavy Late Age.

The Laestrygonian Tyrant may only be recruited once the Shattered Volcano capital site has appeared.

Image	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Laestrygonian Tyrant 845 8 6 Capital Only	432010% 13 Resist Fire (17) Resist Poison (10) Berserker (4) Gluttony (10) Cause Unrest (+10/month) Taskmaster (4) Combat Caster Fear (7) Siege Bonus (15) Heretic (1) Population Killer (70) Unsurroundable (2) Shattered soul (5%) Poor Amphibian Recuperation	Laestrygonian Tyrants are expensive super-mages with a variety of abilities that make them fearsome combatants. A combination of Fear, high base HP and multiple attacks make the Tyrant more difficult to defeat with counterthugs. Berserk prevents it from routing, and adds extra protection on top of its very high base natural protection (16). Its magic paths are great for durability, allowing Tyrants to cast the Phoenix Pyre-Soul Vortex combo, self-buff Temper Flesh and cast Summon Earthpower for extra reinvigoration. Finally, it has some access to battlefield wipe spells like Fire Storm and Earthquake, or Bone Grinding if added to a communion. However, Tyrants are not without their weaknesses. While their paths are powerful in a conventional sense, they do not provide the game-breaking utility you might expect for their gold cost. Tyrants are very unlikely to have Air paths and thus are much more difficult to empower into magic-phase capability compared to their predecessors, the Phlegran Tyrants. Finally, their berserk ability not only continuously generates fatigue while it is active, it also disables their spell-casting and forces them off-script if they are damaged. This can be exploited by canny opponents to prevent Tyrants from buffing themselves up to their full potential or pulling off battlefield wipes. Interestingly, unlike their MA counterparts (Phlegran Tyrant) Laestrygonian Tyrants lack Affliction Resistance, making them more prone to pick up afflictions while Phoenix Pyre-ing.

Similar to MA Ulm, LA Phlegra's unit roster suffers from low Magic Resistance across the board; the highest it gets is 11 on the Mouflon Cataphract's rider. Due to how common Astral magic is in the Late Age, it is important for Phlegra to transition out of recruitable units and into summons before its opponents can exploit this weakness using spells like Enslave Mind.

Most of Phlegra's troops also suffer from low morale, even with the help of Taskmaster commanders.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Helote Archer 8 5 4	Slave	A cheap, ordinary archer. Potentially useful for Flaming Arrows plays.
	Helote Crossbowman 8 26 4	Slave	A resource-expensive but gold-cheap crossbowman. Useful against the duel-wielders of the Late Age, and harder to kill for ordinary archers, but not as easy to mass as some crossbowman.
	Helote Soldier 8 26 4	Slave Lab Promotion (At 25 XP to Iron Bound)	Helote Soldiers are unremarkable medium infantry, coming in with mediocre melee skills and not enough damage to deal with the heavy armour of Late Age troops, as well as very low morale that is only barely saved by Phlegra's Taskmaster commanders. Those few that survive to 25 XP will be promoted to a more well-protected heavy infantry form with very good morale; however, this form requires magic leadership to move around. Helote Soldiers are serviceable blocker troops for protecting mages, but will not stand up to elite units on their own.
	Iron Bound	Suffers Damage on Rout (5) Morale Bonus (8) Magic Being Slave
	Iron Guard 15 35 16 Capital Only	Bodyguard (2) Suffers Damage on Rout (5) Morale Bonus (8) Magic Being Slave	Iron Guard are heavy infantry with good melee skills, okay damage, and very good morale. However, they require magic leadership to be led.
	Mouflon Cataphract 40 50 31	Skilled Rider (2) Slave Mountain Survival	Mouflon Cataphracts are actually fairly decent heavy cavalry if looking purely at their Protection and damage output, especially for only 40 gold. However, like LA Phlegra's other slave units their morale is rather poor and they are prone to routing when faced with even moderate resistance. Still, with morale boosts in the form of skilled commanders, Taskmaster and/or leadership blesses, Mouflon Cataphracts can be quite formidable opponents to their Late Age peers.
	Cataphracted Mouflon	Cold Resistance (5) Supply Bonus (5) Undisciplined Animal Mountain Survival
	Cyclope Soldier 40 67 17 Limited Recruitment (4 per Turn)	Minimum Leader Size (6) Eyes (1) Gluttony (+1) 10 Gold Cheaper When Active (Gigantomachia)	Cyclope Soldiers have decent protection, a magic weapon, and high HP/strength for their size. However, their melee skills aren't great and they come in lower numbers due to their limited recruitment. They are Phlegra's main answer to Ethereal plays, and a good source of high-damage attacks, but they do poorly into Defence-based elites such as Cambion Knights without magic support. Cyclope Soldiers are also a magnet for MR-negates spells like Enslave Mind due to being a high-value chassis with poor MR.

The Laestrygonian may be recruited if Gigantomachia is active, and only once the Shattered Volcano capital site has appeared.

Image	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Laestrygonian 250 8 66 Limited recruitment: 1 under Gigantomachia Capital Only	Resist Fire (10) Resist Poison (10) Berserker (2) Gluttony (10) Cause Unrest (+3/month) Combat Caster Fear (6) Siege Bonus (15) Heretic (1) Population Killer (30) Unsurroundable (2) Shattered soul (5%) Poor Amphibian Recuperation Minimum Leader Size (6)	Gains 211 if turned into a commander. Laestrygonian troops can only ever be recruited in limited numbers while Gigantomachia is active, meaning they are unlikely to be relevant in most games. While they are expensive, they have nice abilities and very high damage output, so they could potentially be used to good effect with pointbuffs. Alternatively, their large hitpoint pool could be used to soak enemy magic away from more important units/commanders.

• Gigantomachia (Thaumaturgy 7)
  44 and 60
  Commentary here.
• Oppressors Headband (Construction 1)
  3 and 15
  Commentary here.

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

Cyclope Smith have Master Smith, increasing their paths by one for the purpose of forging items. Master Smith does not help with summoning, though.

An Elder Cyclops with 1 or 1 (1 in 4 for both) can make a Staff of Elemental Mastery, Crown of the Elements Unique or Staff of Elemental Mastery, which can be very helpful. Both versions are difficult to get to, though.
LA Phlegra can progress high enough in Astral to get a Ring of Sorcery and a Ring of Wizardry. The only sorcery path LA Phlegra has is Astral, so the Ring of Sorcery doesn't give as much flexibility as it does for other nations.

The hero, Steropes - Elder Cyclops (23), with an Air can create a Staff of Elemental Mastery.

The Magic Lamp Unique but Reforgable
11 Cyclope Smith (1 in 4) + (because of Master Smith).
22 Steropes - Elder Cyclops, the hero +
Obviously, any of the Elemental Mastery boosters, a Ring of Wizardry, or The Forbidden Light Unique, can all really help.
With The Magic Lamp, Al Khazim - Jinn can be summoned. It doesn't give any new paths, but is high in the four it does have.

Highest Starting: 3 Oppressor Archon (1 in 8), but 2 Cyclope Smith (1 in 4) effectively has 3 for the purpose of crafting boosters. Both need a level of empowerment to get to Flame Helmet.

Oppressor Archon has the right crosspaths for the Forbidden Light but it's a lot of boosters.

Highest Starting: 2 Oppressor Archon (1 in 8), but 1 Cyclope Smith (1 in 4) effectively has 2 for the purpose of crafting boosters.
Even with Tome of High Power, a level of empowerment is necessary to get to Winged Helmet.
The hero, Steropes - Elder Cyclops, only needs the Tome of High Power or a level of empowerment to get to Winged Helmet.

Tome of High Power Unique
21 Oppressor Archon (1 in 8) + Astral

Highest Starting: 2 Oppressor Archon (1 in 8), but 1 Cyclope Smith (1 in 4) effectively has 2 for the purpose of crafting boosters.

Trident from Beyond Unique
21 Oppressor Archon (1 in 8) +

Orb of Atlantis Unique
21 Oppressor Archon (1 in 8) +

Highest Starting: 3 Oppressor Archon (1 in 8), but 2 Cyclope Smith (1 in 4) effectively has 3 for the purpose of crafting boosters.
The hero, Steropes - Elder Cyclops, has 3, effectively 4 for crafting boosters.

Oppressor Archon has the right crosspaths for the Atlas of Creation but it's a lot of boosters.

Highest Starting: 2 Oppressor Archon (1 in 8)

Coin of Meteoritic Iron
12 Oppressor Archon (1 in 8) +

Tome of High Power Unique
21 Oppressor Archon (1 in 8) +

Golem Construction
12 Oppressor Archon (1 in 8) +

Oppressor Archon has the right crosspaths for the Atlas of Creation or the Forbidden Light but it's a lot of boosters for either of them.

No national access.

No national access.

No national access.

Troll King's Court
3 Oppressor Archon (1 in 8) +
Troll King has 1

No national access.

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 • Zemaitia • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia