In ages past, a distant star inhabited by a great race of strange, alien beings was struck with an unimaginable catastrophe. The star fell from the heavens, breaking into tiny shards. One such shard fell through the Spheres and down upon the world.

The shard came to rest on the ocean floor and there a remnant of this great race adapted and survived. They multiplied and enslaved a race of fishlike humanoids by sheer strength of mind and conquered the underwater realms of the world. In the halls of R'lyeh the Starspawns, the Great Ones who survived the Fall opened a gate into the Void and unleashed its horrors upon the world. But the Void was not to be controlled even by the Starspawns. The very fabric of the Veil was weakened and madness struck the inhabitants of mighty R'lyeh.

Only the most powerful of the Starspawns were able to keep their minds intact. The Empire crumbled as insanity took the leaders and the former slaves and servants of the Empire were able to lift the yoke of R'lyeh.

But now a God is awakening, and it is a God Dreaming of the Void. The mind-breaking Dreams of the Sleeping God plague the inhabitants of coastal and underwater cities and with the Dreams come the horrors. Strange, cannibalistic cults worshiping the Void call them from Beyond. The Dreamlands of R'lyeh threaten to destroy the world.

All coastal forts of R'lyeh have a special well where women can submerge themselves in the hope of being impregnated by a Great One. However, most will be taken by Deep Ones instead and the women's offspring will be strange, fishlike humanoids instead of the noble Starchildren they wanted. These half-human hybrids are usually devoted to the cause of putting mankind below the sea and often join the army of R'lyeh free of charge.

"These two nations 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. The early era is more heavily Lovecraftian, while the middle era is more influenced by fantasy concepts and ideas. Atlantis is another nation devastated at the end of the second era. Late Atlantis incorporates Inuit concepts apart from the earlier Lovecraftian elements.

R'lyeh is the other nation heavily influenced by the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. While Atlantis represents the more tellurian aspects of the Cthulhu mythos, R'lyeh represents the stranger aspects and beings of the Lovecraftian universe. Starspawns, strange openings and beings of the Void are mixed with a bit of fantasy role-playing game clichés. The nation progresses from a D&D-ish nation of Aboleths to an insane nation of dreaming madmen, mutated lunatics and mind-defying void beasts. F’tagn." -Illwinter

R'lyeh is the odd man out of the Late Ages. It's an Underwater nation. It has the only 4 mages in the era. In fact, its magic access is broader than before. And those are just the easy-to-understand differences!

The madness of R'lyeh is in its Popkill Dominion, which converts some of the Population each turn into raving lunatics who don't contribute to anything. A fair amount will become "free" troops; but no, they're not free, because most of them expect a monthly salary. The yearly upkeep is 0.8 Gold per goober, 1.6 Gold per random Priest/mage, or 4 Gold per Mad Deep One (who at least has some flexibility). Most of them are Mindless or Magic, so you can't even leave them in provinces as padding alongside the Province Defense. Some are Sacred, though. You can get Commanders, Priests, and possibly a mage or two from this "freespawn" to at least shuffle these guys around, provided that their Insanity doesn't interrupt them.

The Insanity of R'lyeh is tied to its Dominion as well. Each turn, Commanders within R'lyeh's Dominion go insane, as long as they aren't the Pretender God. This does not affect Magic Beings, so R'lyeh's infamous Starspawn aren't affected, but their best Commanders (the Traitor Princes who abandoned Middle Atlantis) are. Supposedly those without any Underwater Traits (other than perhaps Water Breathing) are less impacted by the Dominion; regardless, few players would dream of risking Insanity on their favorite commanders, so R'lyeh's Dominion is as much of a deterrent as it is a headache. It helps that some of R'lyeh's Insane may become Prohpets, even if R'lyeh already has one, and that the Insane from other nations may subvert their local provinces (in R'lyeh's favor).

Ultimately, R'lyeh is a strong nation (only barely different from Middle R'lyeh) with an anchor tied around its neck. If left completely alone, R'lyeh's Dominion will eventually crash its own economy, though when that will happen in Dominions 6 has yet to be tested; this will happen at a quicker rate than for its foes, as long as the crazed hordes can't successfully wash over the high-end late-age troops. Whether R'lyeh is a nuisance, or a serious dilemma, depends on how far the eclectic nation can spread and how many Thrones it can get early – and on how many Temples it builds, of course.

AQUATIC

Magic Access	Alt. Access	Unit Summary	Core Abilities	Buildings
4 (Rare 5) 3 2 (Rare 3) 1 (Rare 2) 1 2	Heroes 251 342 Summon 4 (req. 3)	Atlantian and Oceanian Slaves Hybrids Illithids Priests can summon Void Beings.	Aquatic Amphibious Slave Darkvision Spirit Sight Magic Being Void Sanity Insane	Standard Forts

Capitol Gems: 31

Magic Limit + 1
Sloth Limit + 1

The Void Gate: In the capital, a priest can enter the site to summon void monsters. See below for details.

Dreamlands: Dominion kills population. Creates dreamers and madmen, who eventually become void dreamers. Makes all non-Void Beings apart from the pretender insane. Humans in R'lyeh are slightly protected. Dreamlands also effects disciples, to a lesser extent.

[Data from Dominions 5]

Summary:

• One Astral mage may summon per turn.
• The mage's chance of succeeding increases with each attempt, then resets when successful.
• A higher Void Summoning Ability leads to stronger units summoned, and each successful attempt increases the ability.
• The summons may attack the summoner, or the summoner may become Feebleminded, be lost completely, or go insane. Void Sanity offers some protection from the last two.

The Void Gate may be entered by one Astral mage per turn. (Even a mage from an enemy nation that's conquered the capital.) Each mage has at least a 20% chance to summon something, increasing by 20% for each attempt until something is summoned. Then it resets to 20%. The chance persists until the mage is killed.

If successful, what the unit summons is determined by this roll:
Summon Roll = Void Summoning Ability + 2d6 (not open)
If Astral Corruption is up: There's a 50% chance the roll is ignored. Instead, there's a 75% chance of a Horror attack and a 25% of Eater of Dreams.

Higher Summon Rolls are generally better. See the Gate Spawn Table below.

Looking at the Gate Spawn Table, a mage with a Void Summoning of two will not be attacked by Horrors. The highest result a mage can hope for is their Void Summoning Ability + 12, the most common result is Void Summoning Ability + 6 or 7.

AFTER the roll, the unit's summoning ability is increased by a value between .5 to 1.5. Only the rounded down value is displayed, but the extra .5 is still counted.

By default, there's a 20% chance the summons will attack the summoner. The chance of being attacked is multiplied by four if your nation isn't R'lyeh. If Astral Corruption is up: Increased chance of attack.

With each summon attempt, there's a 2% chance for the mage to become Feebleminded. There's also a chance of going insane or getting lost in time and space. The chance is 65% divided by the Void Sanity and rounded down. So a mage with Void Sanity of 10 has a 6% chance. The percentages are independent and so both can happen at once. If the mage goes insane, a value of d(65 / Void Sanity) (open roll) is added to their Insane value.

Although the summons are Sacred, there are generally too few to base a bless around.
Each summon has a 20% Chance to attack unless otherwise stated.

: Sacred, Poison Resistance (15), Blind Fighter (1), Void Sanity (20), Magic Being, Amphibious, Spirit Sight

Image	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
Horror	Summon Roll (2 to 3)	100% Chance to Attack	Commentary here.
	Lesser Otherness x d6 Summon Roll (4 to 6)	Regeneration (10%) Fire Resistance (15) Cold Resistance (15) Shock Resistance (15) Slash Resistant Blunt Resistant Pierce Resistant Trample Need Not Eat Mindless	A hard to kill regenerating slime with resistence to the main elements. Can also trample. Wreaks havoc in the enemy lines.
	Vile Thing x d4 Summon Roll (6)		Commentary here.
	Thing of Many Eyes x d3 Summon Roll (7)	Sacred Fire Resistance (15) Darkvision (100%) Eyes (10) Void Sanity (20) Unsurroundable (5) Immobile Magic Being Amphibious Need Not Eat Spirit Sight	Weakest of the spawn. Slow and only two weak tentacle attacks with no special damage type.
	Thing From The Void x d3 Summon Roll (8)	Regeneration (25%) Cold Resistance (15) Shock Resistance (15) Need Not Eat	Anotherr mediocre, slow unit. Has 3 tentacles and a Slime attack.
	Elder Thing x d3 Summon Roll (9)	Paralyze on Death (10) Need Not Eat	Free Illithids with no upkeep. Not only does it Mind Blast, it also punishes backline attackers with additional Paralyze Damage, stalling long enough for other units to make an offensive.
	Formless Spawn x d4 Summon Roll (10)	Regeneration (10%) Fire Resistance (5) Slash Resistant Blunt Resistant Pierce Resistant Need Not Eat Mindless	Hard to kill regenerating slime. Stalls and crushes chaff.
	Otherness x d4 Summon Roll (11)	Regeneration (10%) Fire Resistance (15) Cold Resistance (15) Shock Resistance (15) Slash Resistant Blunt Resistant Pierce Resistant Trample Need Not Eat Mindless	A hard to kill regenerating slime with resistence to the main elements. Can also trample. Wreaks lots of havoc in the enemy lines.
	Thing From Beyond x d3 Summon Roll (12)	Immobile Ethereal Need Not Eat	Like the Vile Thing, a defensive mind blaster and with 3 tentacles for melee combat.
	Dweller-In-The-Deep x d2 Summon Roll (13)	40% Chance to Attack Sacred Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (15) Shock Resistance (15) Blind Fighter (1) Void Sanity (20) Poison Barbs (10) Magic Being Ethereal Aquatic Need Not Eat Spirit Sight	Similar to Elder Things but can't leave the water. Has Poison Barbs and Life Drain + paralyze attack for defense.
	Greater Otherness x d4 Summon Roll (14)	Regeneration (10%) Fire Resistance (15) Cold Resistance (15) Shock Resistance (15) Slash Resistant Blunt Resistant Pierce Resistant Trample Need Not Eat Mindless	A hard to kill regenerating slime with resistence to the main elements. Can also trample. Wreaks lots of havoc in the enemy lines.
	Thing That Should Not Be Summon Roll (15)	Sacred Cold Resistance (15) Fear (5) Blind Fighter (1) Void Sanity (20) Magic Being Amphibious Spirit Sight	Commentary here.
	Vastness Summon Roll (16)	311 Cold Resistance (15) Shock Resistance (15) Damage Reversal (14 vs. MR) Innate Spellcaster (1) Unsurroundable (10) Affliction Resistance (99) Ethereal Teleporter Storm Immunity Need Not Eat Spiritform	One of the greatest terrors to come out the gate. A monstrous creature that starts fights with 4 mind blasts, then blinks around the battlefield and attacks with its strength stealing melee attacks, having Damage Reversal for protection.
	Greater Otherness Summon Roll (17)	See Above.
	Shubejc - Visitor Summon Roll (18) If already summoned, get Greater Otherness instead.	1415 Unique Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (15) Shock Resistance (15) Blind Fighter (1) Void Sanity (20) Unsurroundable (1) Magic Being Ethereal Teleporter Amphibious Need Not Eat Spirit Sight	Not much of a fighter but Ethereal protects him. Adds Air to communions. Teleporter is its true power. Able to ferry gear and gems to your front line. Can also do light raiding if paired with a Vastness
	Greater Otherness Summon Roll (19)	See Above.
	Vastness Summon Roll (20)	See Above.
	Greater Otherness x d2 Summon Roll (21+)	See Above.

Provided by user iRFNA¹⁾

• Dreams of R'lyeh (Thaumaturgy 6)
  31 and 4
  Commentary here.

• Anemone Mace (Construction 3)
  1 and 5
  Commentary here.
• Jellyberd (Construction 7)
  11 and 55
  Commentary here.

• Armor of Meteoritic Iron (Construction 5)
  11 and 44
  Commentary here.

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

Ring of Sorcery
4 Starspawn (Capital) (7 in 16) or the hero, Auluudh - Aboleth +
5 The hero, Cthugul - Stargazer +

Ring of Wizardry
4 Starspawn (Capital) (7 in 16) or the hero, Auluudh - Aboleth + Ring of Sorcery +
5 The hero, Cthugul - Stargazer + Ring of Sorcery +

No National Access.

No National Access.

Highest Starting: 3 Slave Mage (1 in 4)

Trident from Beyond Unique
22 Slave Mage (1 in 4) +
31 Slave Mage (1 in 4) +

Orb of Atlantis Unique
21 Slave Mage (1 in 4) +

Highest Starting: 1 Slave Mage (1 in 4), Starspawn (1 in 4), or Starspawn (Capital) (7 in 16). 2 Starspawn (Capital) (1 in 16).

Summon Bluecap
11 Starspawn (1 in 4) or Starspawn (Capital) (7 in 16) +
Bluecap has 2.

Highest Starting: 4 Starspawn (Capital) (7 in 16). 5 Starspawn (Capital) (1 in 16). The hero, Cthugul - Stargazer, has 5, and the hero, Auluudh - Aboleth has 4.

Coin of Meteoritic Iron
21 Starspawn (1 in 4) +
31 Starspawn (Capital) (1 in 16) +

The Trapped Dreams of Hruvur Unique
32 Starspawn (Capital) (7 in 16) +
51 The hero, Cthugul - Stargazer +
42 The hero, Auluudh - Aboleth +

No National Access.

Forest Troll Tribe
1 Slave Mage (1 in 4) +
Troll Shaman have at least 1.

Highest Starting: 1 Slave Mage (1 in 4)

Moonvine Bracelet
11 Slave Mage (1 in 4) +

Contact Naiad
21 Slave Mage (1 in 4) +
Naiad has 3.

Summon Gnome
11 Starspawn (1 in 4) or Starspawn (Capital) (7 in 16) +
Gnome has 2

Highest Starting: 2 Starspawn (1 in 4) or Starspawn (Capital) (7 in 16). 3 Starspawn (Capital) (1 in 16).

Mirage Crystal
11 Starspawn (1 in 4) or Starspawn (Capital) (7 in 16) +

The Trapped Dreams of Hruvur Unique
32 Starspawn (Capital) (7 in 16) +
51 The hero, Cthugul - Stargazer +
42 The hero, Auluudh - Aboleth +

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 • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia