"Erytheia is the late era development of Pelagia. It is a nation heavily inspired by Ptolemaic Egypt. Like Ptolemaic Egypt, it is a nation of foreign conquerors adopting local traditions forming an isolated kingdom desperate to keep its royal blood lines and avoid foreign influence. I wanted the Ptolemaic practices of royal sibling marriages represented in the game and this led to some new mechanics developed for Erytheia. I also wanted Erytheia to be more of a contender for the closed realm, Pelagia's name for dry land. The idea of a merman kingdom of both worlds started to take form when I worked on the Dominions 4 UW-patch. The pairing with Ptolemaic concepts fit well and Erytheia became a nation quite different in feel from previous underwater nations." - Illwinter

Erytheia, Greek for "the red one", takes its name from one of the three Hesperides (Greek Nymphs of the setting sun). It's the name of the Red Land, an idyllic place where the sunset strikes its river with an exquisite red color. While Arcoscephale held the Land at first, it later became the site of a prosperous Pelagian colony of Mermen, strange amphibious humanoids who trade their fish tails in for legs when they reach dry land. Eventually the Old Kingdom of Arcoscephale collapsed into an (until-recently) ineffectual heap, and the Merman colony united with the Human colony through the marriage of their governors.

Merman Erytheia was still nominally a part of the Triton Kingdom of Pelagia, however, until a curse was laid upon the sea. The Tritons are a strong race, but they are unable to breathe air. Pelagia was in a part of the ocean that had been relatively-unaffected by catastrophes thus far, and even benefited from crises that staggered or outright crushed their rivals, so their lack of flexibility was a political and economic nuisance at worst. But then came a disaster beyond our understanding of physics and reality, one that Pelagia itself only witnessed through its mighty Kings and much of its population falling to an endless sleep. Those still awake broke the Kingdom as they disagreed upon how to go on, and many Tritons and Mermen decided to turn to Erytheia for stability. The former colony had thus become a "Kingdom of Two Worlds" – that of the Surface, and that of the Sea.

Has Erytheia benefited from the collapse of the Middle Age world? Yes, but whether or not it can sustain its good fortunes is another story. The Humans are locked from positions of influence, the Tritons have been more-or-less forgotten by the surface-dwellers (though they're eager to serve the King if it means he'll visit them), and only one family is good enough for the royal family to marry into. On the other hand, the merging of the two worlds has led to interesting new technologies, and the Red Land's Magic is quite powerful on a good day.

In case you're wondering if Erytheia was a label for an actual place, it wasn't exactly; various portions of the Indian Ocean have been referred to as the Erythrean Sea (with Erythrea also meaning "red"), and the Red Sea inherited that label in modern times. Eritrea was named after the Erythrean Sea, too, as a colonial nation.

Erytheia is essentially the LA Atlantis for the Pelagia line: it is a land nation that would like to get back into the water. Although Erytheia has better off-cap land mages while Atlantis has proportionally better troops, the premise is largely the same. Erytheia is more akin to a water nation that starts on land, in fact, as most of its good units and mages can only be recruited underwater or on coasts.

Erytheia is notable for its mages, the best of which have a high degree of randomness and can form powerful and balanced communions.

Race	Military	Magic Access	Priests	Buildings
Prefers Heat 1 Some Average Humans Mermen: Amphibious Base 1 PROT +2 MR vs. Humans Slow on Land Fast underwater Tritons: Aquatic Base 1 PROT High HP vs. Humans +2 STR & MR vs. Humans +1 ATT & MOR vs. Humans Fast underwater	Iron & Heavy Bronze Some Coral & Pearl Gear Imitation Hoplites Amphibious Crossbows Sacreds with Magic Gear Mediocre Leaders	3* 2 (rare 3) 2 (rare 3) 2 (uncommon, rare 3) 2 (uncommon) 1 (uncommon)* Heroes: 12, 1 Summons: 31 & 30: 4 (rare 5) 3 (rare 4) 31 & 30: 3 (rare 4) 2 (rare 3) 1 (uncommon, rare 2) 31 & 35: 332	Decent (2) Recruit-anywhere (1 UW)	Standard UW Forts Coastal Recruits

*The 3's & 1's are primarily/only found underwater. If you are not underwater, you will not find 1 (except for on those uncommon Shaman Indies), and 3 will be about as rare as 3. These mages can also convert to at a one-for-one ratio, though at a limited rate per turn.

Erytheia starts with no King or Queen. Your first Prince of the Setting Sun will be promptly coronated to a King of Both Worlds in the capital, giving him a +1 pathboost, 120 base Leadership (as opposed to 80), and an additional point of Awe in sunlight. The King must then be married to a Princess of the Setting Sun in the same province, who will get the exact same bonuses when she becomes the Queen of Land and Water; otherwise, your capital will periodically generate Unrest. The marriage ceremony also comes with significant gifts, such as a decent amount of Gold. You can do this in reverse order, by the way, getting the Queen first (by hiring a Princess first) and then moving a Prince to her location to get the King.

Since there can only be one King and one Queen at a time, the King and his Princes (as well as the Queen and her Princesses) hate each other; if two Princes (or two Princesses) are in the same province when Random Events happen, one may assassinate/execute the other. This can also happen between the King and a Prince, and between the Queen and a Princess.

General description of the units in the nations rooster, any standouts, shared qualities aka temperature, any foreign rec, what makes a good basis for planning around

description of the workhorse options, for the sake of sanity better skip the clearly subpar and generic stuff (no h1 unless special qualities, no 40, 60 leadership dudes that are average, no scouts

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Erytheian Scout Erytheian Scout 25 6 1 +Rec Underwater Fort	Stealthy (50) Sea Shape	Amphibious Scouts, no terrain survivals.
	Machimos Commander 40 16 1		Inland national commander of 60 ld.
	Triton Priest 65 2 1 Rec Underwater Fort Only	1 Sacred Aquatic	Aquatic mage, only used in UW Expansion parties when resources are tight or need to banish lots of undead in the water.
	Erytheian Commander Erytheian Commander 70 31 1 Rec Coastal or Underwater Fort only	Formation fighter (2) Sea Shape	80ld commander with a magic weapon.
	Nomarch 75 2 1	2 Sacred Tax Collector Patrol Bonus (15) Inspirational (-1) Sea Shape (Nomarch)	Not a great leader in combat, but has some uses outside of it in priestly duties and patrolling. Their description talks about their role in landlocked areas, as they can be recruited inland. But a nomarch can also shine by sitting in a lake cut off from your territory, collecting taxes to pay for his upkeep.
	Mystic 90 1 2	11100% 10 Adept Researcher (1)	Decent communion mages and researchers. The only recruitable mage from inland forts.
	Mermage Mermage 95 1 2 Rec Coastal or Underwater Fort only	11100% 9 Sea Shape	Offers nothing new compared to Daduchoi and isn't as efficient as Mystics, but has cheaper access to some crosspaths and may be useful in an underwater war.
	Triton Noble 110 32 1 Rec Underwater Fort Only	Mounted Recuperation Aquatic	Tough aquatic leader with formations.
	Daduchos Daduchos 180 2 2 Rec Coastal or Underwater Fort only	113100% 50% 50% 50% 15 Sacred adept researcher (2) Sea Shape	The versatile workhorse of the nation. Efficient researchers thanks to their sacred upkeep. All Daduchoi study fire and astral magic, with most choosing one or more other elemental paths as well. Their guaranteed random can make them specialize by giving them 2 in one path. 20% are 2, and 20% 2. The rarer specializations are each 10% chances: 2, 2 or 2. The remaining 30% with just 1 level in 3-5 paths are still necessary to form stable communions that can create many problems for your opponents who don't know what to expect with so many different paths. Especially the Daduchoi with 1 in all 5 paths are perfect communion slaves. Beware that the more random paths they get, the older they become. Luckily you have access to disease healing Hesperides and Golden Apples.
	Pearl Mage 175 1 2 Rec Underwater Fort only	211100% 13 Pearl Cultivator (3) Aquatic	The prime mage for water magic. Can climb nature with Contact Naiad, and convert water gems to pearls.
	Prince of the Setting Sun 210 2 4 Capital Only	1123100% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 15 Sacred Sun Awe (2) Insane (5%) Starting affliction chance (20%) Sea Shape ( Prince of the Setting Sun)	The insane nobility of Erytheia are the nation's most versatile casters and potentially best mages money can hire. Their paths are even more random than of the Daduchoi who train them. If they were to gain all of their random paths, they would have 11 total levels in magic (+2 priest levels), more than a big mage from the Early Age… Or they might be worse than your average Daduchos. The Prince/Princess of the Setting Sun has a roughly 14% chance of having at least one level 3 path. There's three options, with one of them being less likely. For the Prince: 6% 3 and 3, and 2% 3. For the Princess: 6% 3 and 3, and 2% 3. They can gain two or all three of these paths at the same time, but that is extremely unreliable. The Pearl Mage can much more reliably get 3, albeit with fewer crosspaths. Chance of 2 for the Princess is 15%, or 8% 2. The Prince has 8% for both. The Daduchoi are faster to recruit in case you wish to gamble for a mage with these paths. The nobility serve as good leaders to your troops, but if there is one thing worse than an important mage disobeying your orders, it's having them do that while also forcing an entire army to stop. In other words: if you use them as leaders, have other leaders ready to take over the troops. Then you can move on while leaving the insane prince/princess behind.
	Princess of the Setting Sun 210 1 4 Capital Only	1123100% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 15 Sacred Sun Awe (2) Insane (5%) Starting affliction chance (20%) Sea Shape ( Princess of the Setting Sun)

description of the workhorse options, for the sake of sanity better skip the clearly subpar and generic stuff (common indie like units with no gimmicks), merge units into a single description entry if functionally similar battle roles with only minor differences in gear.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Machimos 9 9 7		A "pugnacious" human, made useful by his Javelin. They are the only troop option inland, where they can help with battles and sieges.
	Thyreophorite Thyreophorite 10 8 9 Rec Coastal or Underwater Fort only	Sea Shape	A "shield-bearing" merman, made useful by his Javelin. Also for expansion.
	Erytheian Crossbowman Erytheian Crossbowman 10 7 9 Rec Overwater Coastal Fort only	Sea Shape	The coolest thing about this guy's "belly bow" is that it might force him to hit something, due to its low range. It shoots even underwater. Javelins will do more damage with a Strength buff, although without armor piercing. They are cheap, but not the easiest to amass since only coastal forts can queue them.
	Erytheian Hoplite Erytheian Hoplite 12 29 14 Rec Coastal or Underwater Fort only	Formation Fighter (2) Sea Shape	If you're driven off-shore, at least you'll still have this guy. At least he's not wearing iron. They are durable but painfully slow on land.
	Erytheian Phalangite Erytheian Phalangite 14 20 18 Rec Overwater Coastal Fort only	Formation Fighter (2) Sea Shape	Your one professional, off-capital troop, who can breathe air. Not having him inland really sucks; go for coasts. It doesn't help that he's a slow marcher, like the Hoplite.
	Soldier of the Setting Sun Soldier of the Setting Sun 30 36 31 Capital Only	Sacred Formation Fighter (2) Sea Shape Sun Awe (1)	This guy's main feature is his Awe, which functions on land. Having a Magic Weapon is nice, too. He could really use a stat Bless or two, if your Scales allow; he's not very punchy.
	Triton Militia 8 2 5 Rec Underwater Fort only	Aquatic	Dec
	Triton Soldier 10 21 9 Rec Underwater Fort only	Aquatic	Dec
	Triton Hoplite 13 27 16 Rec Underwater Fort only	Aquatic Formation Fighter(2)	Dec
	Triton Knight 50 25 48 Rec Underwater Fort only	Recuperation Aquatic Mounted	Dec

national spell or summon cost and usecase, judgment if it's good.

Pride of Lions: Conj 3 10, 2( Great Lionx10+) Fast animal chaff with two high damage attacks. Erytheia rarely has nature gems or mages on land to spare for these.

Summon Hound of Twilight Conjure 5, 21 4, ( Hound of Twilightx1) A big Fear monster with a Patrol bonus of 20. Cheap for an Empowered 2 in death to spam and remove your fort's unrest. Decent patroller.

Summon Hekateride Conj5 31 30. ( Hekateridex1) the amphibious sister of the Hesperide. They can be summoned by one with a Thistle Mace and a single Empowerment in water, or by a Naiad summoned by a nature random Pearl Mage. Allows Erytheia climb higher in nature with 3 or 4 and an UW nature mage and Foul Vapors caster.

Contact Hesperide Conjure 6, 31 35, (summon Hesperidex1) A useful mage who not only removes a lot of Diseases and Unrest but also breaks you into Nature for rituals and communions. Gets level 3 in astral and fire in case gambling for randoms with princes and princesses didn't work out. Can forge Moonvine Bracelets.

Call Ladon Conjure 6, 32 15, ( Ladon - Drakon Hesperiosx1) Summon a big unique monster with a Hesperide. He may be decent(by the standards of a big monster commander with only head and misc slots), the real purpose is to keep him alive so your can get an event in the spring that has a good chance to gives you a Golden Apple, a Decent morale booster and a way for important mages to remove 10 years when they get hold to increase their game relevance.

Summon Daktyl Conj6 31 30. ( Daktylx1) A master smith dwarf. Doesn't always offer you anything new in terms of magic, but the Air random can forge up to 3 and the Death random breaks you into the path, letting you summon the Hound of Twilight and even forge Skull Staffs. The Earth randoms are also higher in the path than what you usually get without a lucky Princess. As for the remaining 2/5 Daktyls, gaining another level of Fire or Water does not make them special compared to your recruitable mages, aside from forging higher earth.

Craft Keledone Construction 7, 22 5, (summon 1 Keledone) Situational, Summon a Hard to kill immobile communion slave in case a fort gets besieged.

Forge Brass Bull Construction 7, 33 30, (summon a Khalkotauros) A big Hard to kill Trample monster that breaths fire. Often a Skip as that Research and gems could be used for thugging.

Sow Dragon Teeth Enchantment 6, 2 1, ( Spartae x10) Combat Summons for only 1 Earth Gem, giving 10 hoplite magic beings with decent stats and magic gear.

What magic path/mages define your nation, what can you level, e.g., thunderstriking, astral, elementals, earth buffs, blood, what is recruitable anywhere and good, what are some summons you are likely able to get and are useable

What is the best spell you can use in combat. What spells the best support your national lineup, Is there weakness that you need to fix? Any tricks you should be aware you have?

What is the best ritual you could cast. Are there any globals you want up, any units you should be summoning? Are there any Generic rituals few nations can cast?

Do you have any National items(Construction Level, Price, and required Paths). Any unique generic items few other nations can forge? What item would be useful on your unit lineup (non-standard recommend thug gear)?

nation exclusive items

items you get national Discounted on (Reduced Price and required Paths). Any Reasons your nation may want to forge it?

do you have a game plan? Anything you should always be working toward? Any National weaknesses?

What kinds of scales does your nation like? Do they require any to function? Any blesses your sacreds would like? Do you desperately need an awake expander? Examples of Pretenders?

How to expand, potential pitfalls and how to get around them, obvious weakness strength, how much do you have to focus on war/infrastructure

what is the first big research rush, what is the first big powerspike, where do you shift recruitment to? what are the big magic diversity issues, are there particular globals you should gun for

How do you close out the game if you are in it, is the high-level research stuff you can do uniquely well, does your nation fall off, aka do you have to force things to conclude swiftly

Basic Nation Analysis by GeneralConfusionPlays (2018)

Dominions 5 - LA Erytheia - Overview and Basic Strategy by Attica

Dominions 5 LA Erytheia Overview by Zan (2021)

Dominions 5 Nation Guide by Perun (2021)

Nations
Early Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Ulm • Marverni • Sauromatia • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Mictlan • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Agartha • Tir na n'Og • Fomoria • Vanheim • Helheim • Niefelheim • 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 • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Asphodel • Vanheim • Jotunheim • 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 • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia