"Man is one of the first nations conceived in the Dominions universe. The nation is a conglomerate of medieval English and Arthurian concepts spiced with some fantasy elements from Ars Magica and the books of Robert Jordan. The Irish/Northumbrian monastic tradition, Anglo-Saxon society, and Welsh longbowmen are all inspirational sources. Later on, the nation turns towards scholarship paired with dark tidings. The mood in the movie Sleepy Hollow is a nice comparison. In Dominions 4 steps has been taken to accentuate the influence of invading barbarians reminiscent of the Angles and Saxons. It is not difficult to see an early Ulm or a similar nation in the Logrian backstory." - illwinter

The realm of Man is a feudal kingdom. Their kingdom was established by conquering a race of tall and magically powerful beings known as the Tuatha. When the Tuatha were destroyed, their magic was taken by the Witches of Man. They helped Man to grow in power and influence, but with the great magic came a great Curse and the Witches dwindled in number and magic left the kingdom. To contain the Curse, the Old Magic was banned and a scholarly order of Magisters replaced the Witches of Avalon and their wild ways. The infantry of Man has evolved since the Age of Avalon and the crossbow is common, but knights and longbowmen still make up a large part of the armies. The Wardens of Avalon have escaped the Curse and are the only remnant of the Old Ways.

The Elves are seemingly gone, and the Nature Magic they once used has started to act up. Man has thus totally upended its Magic game to avoid things getting any worse, though the country hasn't benefitted all that much from that. The chorus is gone, the communions are tougher to build, and the castles are now taller to compensate. In a way, Man has become something like yesterday's Ulm, though with worse troops and more magic variety; even Man knows it can't abstain from Magic entirely.

Race	Military	Magic Access	Priests	Buildings
Humans Neutral Temperature	Versatile Infantry Crossbows Knights Sacred Stealthy Hvy. Crossbowmen	2 (uncommon 3) 1 (uncommon 2) 1 (uncommon 2) 1 (uncommon) 1 (uncommon) Mundane Researchers Summons: 2, 1 (25, 25% each) Hero: 12	Average (2)	Castles Starts with a Grand Citadel Masons

Capital Income: 2, 2

The Curse on Man is somewhat minor, and doesn't actually happen in Man Proper. Sometime after your tenth turn (there's about a 5% chance of it happening each turn), you get a rumor about the "Old Ways" still being a thing in a province neighboring your capital, starting an event chain where a girl will be found with the Old Magic; you can either send a Magister of Theology to the province to kill the girl for a Mistletoe Garland, or send a Magister Arcane to cautiously follow the girl into the woods. Through searching, your Magister Arcane can be assassinated by a Werewolf and/or a Vine Ogre, find a single Glen of Verdant Greenery that gives 1 a turn, and/or get a Handful of Acorns. Eventually he'll find and recruit the girl, as a Daughter of Avalon with 11100%; the ultimate cost of this is 10% of the local units being cursed, and/or the province itself being cursed with a literal Cursed Lands site, which will curse 2% of the local units each turn. This event chain happens in multiple steps, and might even repeat in the same province (but never in a different province). It also increases Magic and Growth scales, while killing the girl decreases them.

The capital of Man has chosen to suppress the "Old Ways" to suppress the Curse; for this reason, Man loses Nature Gems, Earth Gems, and Astral Pearls at a slightly-faster rate than other nations with Drain Scales (when it has those scales), through random events.

This section is the longer version of the 'Magic Access' column in National Features. List which paths the nation has access to, what level in each path and the maximum level attainable with common boosters. Avoid discussing in too much depth as much of the information is already covered in MelficeBelmont's Boosting and Access Guide. The length of this section will vary greatly depending on the nation, and does not have to be formatted in the same way as the example below. Some explanation may be required for more complicated boosting methods (e.g. commanderifying a unit with hidden paths). What exactly these paths can be used for can largely be explained in later sections, but pointing out good crosspaths works well in this section too. Mention communion access if applicable.

• Summon Black Dogs, 2 Conj2 8, ( Black Dogx20). Requires a Bean Sidhe to cast. These are stealthy animals, with very little survivability. However, if massed, these fey beasts can deal noticeable damage to lightly armored opponents. They Do their best work when Darkness is cast. Get 3.6 sige strength more then the equivalent in reanimated long dead ( double check math).

• Summon Cu Sidhe: 2 Conj3 6, ( Cu Sidhex7). The Cu Sidhe is a size 3 sacred elvish dog. Their prot and MR are surprisingly high for animals, and their higher hp and decent damage attack can mitigate their low attack density. However, they remain a questionable use of N gems in most situations, lacking the glamour and high def skill which makes your other elf troops strong, and still possessing all the same weaknesses. If you're running a heavy bless, access to summonable sacreds from a fairly gem and mage-turn efficient spell can give them a role, but they are probably best avoided.

• Summon Barghests, 2 Conj2 7, ( Barghestx9). which is basically a stronger version of Black Dogs. It does come later but costs a single gem less. This spell summons improved Black Dogs and Cu Sidhe, which come with defense and protection inferior for the price. However, these hounds can curse enemy units, and do 18 damage + poisonous bites. These creatures can perform decent flanking maneuvers in the midgame but are also relatively easy to amass though this is the Late age and your death gem economy will get a hard time getting off the ground and being saved up to climb death.

• Summon Bean Sidhe, 1 Conj5 25, ( Bean Sidhex1). The spooky banshee is a herald of death, cursing one foe each battle (if you don't have her cast spells). She is also a capable Assassin, given her Etherealness and Fear aura, though she may require some proper equipment. For most, however, the biggest draw for her is her paths: 111100% offers an opportunity to climb the Death ladder, to say nothing of the ability to sweep enemy armies with Wailing Winds. Of course, it might take you 100 or more to get the Bean Sidhe with the right paths, while empowering a 1 Judge for the role costs 5030; the Bean is less likely to die in some freak accident, however.

The dogs are copied directly from MA Man - write original descriptions to account for differences in viability/use between ages, perhaps?

Discuss the top few generic spells that most increase a nation's combat power or synergize with national strategies. These will generally be early-to-mid game spells since individual spells matter much more during those periods of the game. Some examples are Foul Vapors for MA C'tis, Horde of Skeletons + Sabbath Master/Sabbath Slave for the Niefelheim line of nations, Mother Oak for the Pangaeas, Wailing Winds access, etc. For broader advice on magic use, link to Not-Lola's Basic Magic Use Guide.

This is also a good place to point out notable magic weaknesses, such as a lack of nature access making a nation vulnerable to Foul Vapors.

//List and describe any unique national items or discounts in this section, discuss and compare with similar generic items.

Also discuss generic items that are useful and accessible for the nation. These may include://

• Thug gear (if the nation has good thugs)
• Research boosters (particularly if the nation needs help researching or is already very good at researching)
• Other items that synergize with the nation (e.g. Dwarven Hammers for MA Ulm)

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.