"The Machaka of the early age is influenced by the old pen and paper RPG Powers and Perils. In the fantastic campaign setting of this game there was a nation of African stock led by great men that were released from a great sleeping city. The notion of a released race of superior men was attractive. Various myths, tales, films and "African" fantasy concepts have been mashed together and mixed with the middle age Machaka ideas. My first idea of clans based on body parts like liver, heart, hand, head and leg, did not feel right and was replaced with animals, more fitting with the spiders of the middle age.

The nation evolved side by side with Berytos, but it took a bit longer to finish. Creating two nations together and intertwining their history gave them both additional life. It is probably something I want to do with more new nations in the future." - Illwinter

Machaka is an old sacral kingdom divided into totemic clans. The clans follow their totemic spirits and worship them as bringers of civilization and tell myths about their interactions with men. For centuries the Lion Clan has dominated the others and formed a unified kingdom under their wise rule. The Lion Clan is blessed by Lion and they are superior to other men. The Great Men of Mababwe, called ’Colossi’ by Arcoscephalean historians, have ruled the plains since Hyena was coerced to teach metalworking to men and Rhino was defeated by spears longer than his. From Great Mababwe, the semi-divine Colossi of the Lion Clan rule their lesser kin as sacred Kings and Queens. There are many totemic clans, but some have been more influential. Hyena, Rhino, Elephant and Spider all serve Lion with their totemic masters’ skills and guidance. Recent contact with Berytos and other nations has seen the rise of ambition among the Colossi royalty and the Lion Kings are preparing for the Awakening of Lion. Machakans prefer hot lands.

Machaka is a weird nation. It has a ton of variations of the same few soldier types, most of which aren't worth using, and a ton of specialists and powerful mages restricted to four paths. Almost all of your mages have two or more magic paths, and most of them have three. Research is unfortunately hampered by your Mages being either expensive, subversive, slow-to-recruit, or inept researchers, so you'll have a strange late-game if you're not planning for it from the start.

Machaka has some cool guys, but it lacks super-good Leaders and super-cheap Research.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Machaka Scout 25 3 1	Stealthy (40) Mountain Survival Forest Survival	Scout for scouting.
	Rhino Clan Commander 40 13 1		He'd be a lot better if he could lead 80. Leading 60 is still kinda respectable, though.
	Lion Clan Commander 75 8 1		Your more-expensive leader of 80. Even if you're not hiring tons of troops, you'll want the line formations and the morale boost.
	Voice of Spider 75 3 1	Sacred Stealthy (40) Forest Survival Spy	One of the cheapest Spies in the game, especially since his upkeep is halved. Spies tend to provide more thorough information than scouts, and they can be used to stir unrest if you're bored.
	Voice of Lion 80 2 2	11 7 Sacred Supply Bonus (10) Beastmaster (+2)	A decent expansion commander and leader of animals. He's also your cheapest research monkey in the long-term (due to his reduced upkeep costs).
	Spider Clan Witch Doctor 80 1 2	111 7 Resist Poison (5) Inept Researcher (-4) Supply Bonus (10) Forest Survival	Your cheapest non-sacred mage. His odd-looking set of paths is a potentially dangerous combo using evocations en masse. Eagle Eyes helps with precision on landing evocations, and you can then have these guys spam Bane Fire Dart, Frighten, or (with a gem) Phoenix Power and Fireball. He's also your best short-term Research Monkey (he ties with the Lion Priests in gold-per-point, but those guys need Temples).
	Hyena Clan Witch Doctor 165 1 2	112 13 Disease Healer (1) Heretic (1) Wasteland Survival	Your fast Researcher (fort-turn-wise) and your minor skele-spammer. They're old, but their disease healer trait will typically cover for that problem. They also lower dominion a little, but the effect isn't very noticeable.
	Bouda 215 1 4	1221100% 17 Forge Bonus (1) Cause Unrest (+2/Month) Heretic (1) Wasteland Survival Shapechanger: Werehyena	The powerhouse of the nation. They're not just great forgers who can craft Dwarven Hammers; their Werehyena form gives them amazing mobility and puts their Raider-ready paths to use. Don't keep them in territory that you care about, though.
	Spider Clan Sorcerer 175 1 4 Capital Only	1112100% 100% 10% 15 Poison Resistance (5) Supply Bonus (10) Forest Survival	The cheapest of your slow-to-recruit mages. He doesn't do anything special, but he has no negative effects, and he's only slightly-less Gold-efficient than your Spider Clan Witch Doctors in terms of Research (11.667 gold-per-point vs. 11.429).
	Lion Queen 320 8 4 Capital Only	3121010% 17 Sacred Fire Resistance (5) Supply Bonus (20)	Your 3. Climbing Fire is as simple as crafting a Skull of Fire, giving it to this lady, and having her craft a Flame Helmet. She can then summon a King of Elemental Fire. You don't need a lot of these girls, unless you favor Elemental-spam or see yourself bullying a nation without Fire Resistance in your future.
	Lion King 350 11 4 Capital Only	2132010% 17 Sacred Poison Resistance (5) Supply Bonus (30)	Your 3. Most of your guys are unarmored or under-armored schmucks who could use Nature's buffs, such as Mass Protection. They go well with their Queens in that sense. Like with the Queens, you don't need that many, though every army you have will probably want one for at least the Sermon of Courage.

Machaka doesn't have anything not worthy.

• Herd of Elephants: 2 Conj 3 for 25 ( Elephantx5 + 1/2 [lv]). Use Natue gems instead of gold to get Elephants for expansion parties.

• Pride of Lions: 2 Conj 3 for 10 ( Great Lionx10 + 1/2 [lv]). Turn nature gems into lowterir killing power. Ok if your getting rushed in the early game but they don't do much after that.

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 their 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?

With all the cross paths, and Budas, Machaka is a Forging nation, able to get a great discount on items with Dwarven Hammers and have all paths for some of the better thug items.

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

• Kithaironic Lion Pelt: Const2, 11, 32. A cheap Low encumbrance item gives both body and head prot. Defiantly something you would mass-produce to give to all your mages.
• Totem Shield: Const4, 11, 44. Need outside help since astral is not a national path. Couses the attacker to become Cursed, will lose out to a Vine Shield in most situations.
• Spirit Mask: Const4, 21, 84. Gives some MR, and auto-cast Frighten. in the Midde game having a commander passively spamming fear spell can swing a fight in your favor.

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

What kinds of scales dose 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

youtube of someone discussing the nation
guide page on steam??
forum thread or AAR