"In the late era the Spanish influence is heavier than the Albigensian. Later Gothic concepts of occultism and devil worship are incorporated along with seafaring and missions abroad." – Illwinter
Let’s start with the good news: Marignon defeated Ermor. It took everything that they had, and each & every Knight of the Chalice perished in the penultimate battle, but Eldregate had finally been put to rest. The Holy Chalice itself was captured and brought to the House of Fiery Justice, posthumously completing the Sacred task. The bad news is that this required a Deal with the Devil(s); as other Kingdoms fell to Ermor, Marignon’s leaders had the Inquisition strike a bargain with infernal forces, and Blood Magic was accepted by the feudal theocracy. Marignon’s army became dependent on the Devils that the Infernal Lords supplied, especially in the face of ever-mounting Undead hordes, and the Infernal Lords themselves were called to smite Ermor after the previously-mentioned penultimate battle exhausted both sides’ forces. Marignon had thus taken on a debt that they could never repay, and anything that might placate the Infernal Lords is now permitted as long as the Inquisition oversees it. Still, blood-spilling is a lot less worrisome for Marignon’s nobles when it’s on their terms, and many of them are now looking for stuff to do. Recent advancements in shipbuilding and navigation have allowed them (and the Priests) to look to distant shores, with God, Gold, & Glory in mind.
Similar to Ulm, Marignon undergoes a bloody transformation in the Late Ages. Instead of the straightforwardly powerful sacred cavalry of MA Marignon, LA Marignon gains a serious blood economy and expertise in Devil-summoning. However, its expansion can be challenging due to its horrible starting army and a complete lack of shields in a crossbow-heavy age. Its magic access is also quite shallow, in line with most nations of the Late Ages.
In the hands of a player who can overcome these challenges, LA Marignon promises enormous scaling potential and overwhelming demon power at bargain-bin prices. Its troop roster is solid, its mages are cost-efficient, and it is just as capable of spiraling out of control as any other blood power.
Race | Military | Magic Access | Priests | Buildings |
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Average Humans High Morale | Two-handed Weapons Expensive Heavy Armor Good Bodyguards | 3 (rare 4) 3 (rare 4) 2 2 2 1 (uncommon, rare 2) 1 (uncommon) National Summons 3, 4, 444, 3 | 3 Cap-only 2 in Forts Good Patrollers Inquisitors +1 Fire Bless points. +1 Astral Bless points. +1 Blood Bless points. Blood Sacrifice | Standard Forts (Citadels) Start with a Grand Citadel Masons (Grand Citadel) |
Marignon is held together (more or less) by its Inquisition, the militant fist of the House of Justice's militant arm, the House of Just Fires. These guys repel hostile Dominion even if you haven't hired them, in provinces and forts that belong to you, having a 30% chance to remove an enemy candle from each of these places each turn (and a 60% chance if there's a Temple). They're less effective at spreading your own Dominion, able to do so only to a maximum of 1 candle (2 where there's a Temple).
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
Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
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Scout 25 4 1 | Stealthy (50) Mountain Survival Forest Survival | National scout. The Late Ages have plenty of indie scouts, making these mostly unnecessary. | |
Assassin 60 7 1 | Stealthy (65) Assassin (1) Ambidextrous (2) Sailing (2,2) | Unlike MA Marignon, LA Marignon has a very potent assassin item in the form of the Lifelong Protection, which makes its assassins a much more significant threat. | |
Troubadour 80 5 2 | Stealthy (70) Seduction Spy | Allows LA Marignon to collect mundane score graphs if desired. A useful tool to help gauge the relative strength of enemy economies. | |
Lieutenant 40 9 1 | 60 leadership commander that cannot sail. | ||
Captain 55 22 1 | Sailing (4,999) | 60 leadership sailing commander. | |
Admiral 100 22 1 Capital Only | Sailing (6,999) | 80 leadership sailing commander. LA Marignon's sole formation-capable commander can only be recruited from the capital, making them a good deal more precious than on many other nations. They are also able to sail up to size 6 units, as opposed to the maximum of size 4 on lower-level commanders. | |
Goetic Captain 65 22 2 | 020% Sailing (4,999) | A 60 leadership sailing commander with a token amount of undead leadership and a small chance to be a blood mage. | |
Missionary 50 1 1 + Foreign Rec | 1 Sacred Sailing (4,999) | A cheap, foreign-recruit priest. | |
Inquisitor 110 1 2 | 21100% 7 Sacred Inquisitor patrol bonus (10) Old Age (55/50) | Extra effective at preaching out enemy dominion. Half will also be able to blood hunt, with the other half casting minor fire magic. | |
Diabolist 65 1 2 | 11 9 | A very cheap blood hunter. Cannot sail. | |
Goetic Adept 115 1 2 | 111100% 11 | A good deal more expensive than the Diabolist for one extra magic path. Often less efficient as blood hunters than the Diabolist on a per-gold basis, but they can unlock some important battle magic in sabbaths. Cannot sail. | |
Chartmaker 70 2 2 Coastal Forts Only | 11100% 9 Sailing (4,999) | Cheap coastal mage, though it has somewhat unreliable combat ability. 1s have little to contribute prior to Frozen Heart at Alteration 6, whereas 1s can lay down the astral buffs or join communions. | |
Plague Doctor 80 2 2 | 020% Resist Poison (5) Disease Resistant (100) Stealthy (40) Disease Healer (2) Plague Doctor (3) | Can be used to cure diseases on old mages or to inflict diseases on an enemy army. They do not need labs to recruit and 20% have some nature magic, which can be added to communions using Crystal Matrices in a pinch. |
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Architect 55 52 1 Capital Only | Siege Bonus (25) Castle Defence Bonus (25) Mason | In the late age, citadels are standard, meaning the Architect no longer unlocks another bonus CP. The Grand Citadel which it provides access to is expensive, but has very high wall strength. The architect doubles as a way to quickly gold-purchase siege strength that can move itself around, though it costs capital recruitment points. | |
Royal Navigator 160 2 2 Capital Only | 1111100% 13 Sailing (6,999) | A more senior Chartmaker with reliable access to all of its paths, and enough depth to make more use of the path which it randoms. | |
High Inquisitor 210 1 4 Capital Only | 31100% 7 Sacred Inquisitor Patrol Bonus (10) Old Age (71/50) | 120 leadership commander and 3 priest, providing access to recruitable throne-claimers and battlefield-wide blesses. Reasonably priced and solid utility, although being slow to recruit makes them more difficult to recruit compared to Bogarus's Eparchs in the same age. 1s can join sabbaths to cast even higher level holy magic, such as Fanaticism. | |
Goetic Master 265 1 4 Capital Only | 2211100% 10% 15 Sacred Old Age (52/46) | An upgraded Goetic Adept. It does not provide much that the Adept lacks in terms of path access, although its increased depth in fire and blood has some forging applications. |
Marignon's main lineup is stronger than Jomon's but suffers the same weakness of lacking shields in the age of crossbows.
Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
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Flagellant 10 4 5 + Foreign Rec | Sacred Start Affliction (75) | Despite being crippled naked men, Flagellants are killy (if fragile) troops. They do lose out to other infantry as mainline expanders and line units as they die too quickly to be cost-effective prior to protection buffs like Marble Warriors. | |
Crossbowman 10 10 9 | Cheap crossbows with low protection. Supported by Marignon's access to Flaming Arrows. | ||
City Guard 8 10 5 | Castle Defence Bonus (1) | Cheap Halberdier that is poorly trained but uses fewer resources. Their low morale, melee stats and protection come together to make them function very poorly as line troops. | |
Pikeneer 10 20 9 | Marignon is able to recruit three kinds of cheap, two-hander infantry, each characterized by medium protection, solid damage output and mediocre combat skills. Pikeneers compare somewhat poorly to the others, lacking the damage output of the other two and having low defence skill, though they are able to repel more kinds of weapons. Halberdiers deal more overall damage and hold walls up slightly better, while Swordsmen have the best melee stats due to their great sword, and have the best protection of all three. These troops are all rather vulnerable to crossbow fire due to lacking shields. |
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Swordsman 10 28 9 | |||
Halberdier 10 22 9 | Castle Defence Bonus (1) | ||
Palace Guard 20 27 31 | Castle Defence Bonus(2) | Elite Halberdier. Better protection and body armor at double the cost and extra fatigue. |
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Royal Guard 20 33 31 | Bodyguard (3) | Well-armored infantry with good melee stats, but comes at a significant premium. | |
Hand of Justice 19 22 21 Capital Only | Sacred Castle Defence Bonus (1) Patrol Bonus (3) | Sacred mixture of Halberdiers and Palace Guards. Cap only but they have less upkeep than Halberdiers while being better a patrolling out unrest from blood hunting. |
Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
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Carmont - Cardinal | 114 9 Sacred Inquisitor | One of the rare few priests that can cast Fanaticism without a communion, and he can still join one to cast Divine Channeling. Luck into a Throne claimer and Preacher without spending 2 cap turns. |
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Tomaso del Monferrada - Witch Hunter General | 322 15 Sacred Fire Resistance(5) Combat Caster patrol bonus(15) Inquisitor Mounted | A one-off thug chassis. Can do some solo raiding with Evocation and proper thug gear. He can make good on the self-protection spells in Astral and make use of the immortality of Phoenix Pyre. | |
Angelique d'Armant - Heroine | Inspirational (1) Mounted Female | Massive army leader. |
At a glance, LA Marignon has access to the following paths for rituals and forging:
Elemental
Sorceries
In combat, all the elements can be brought into communions, though earth and fire communions require slave-expensive sabbaths.
Due to the ease of blood empowerment, Reascendance is an accessible (though research-intensive) route into 3.
Combat
Rituals
Communions are the Basis of your combat magic.
Navigators form lighting batteries including Storm and, Conjure Air Elementals. your army needs Arrow Fend to get them by without shields against crossbows, Though Mist, or Teach men to fly with Gift of Flight as an earlier counter. Poler to your blood mages, Water is cold magic, Freezing Mist, Falling Frost, and Frozen Hearts as an alternative to shock damage.
They also single out enemies with Mind Burn/Paralyze and Soul Slay. Body Ethereal, Battle Fortune and Antimagic make your troops tough along with Fog Warriors, and Quickening.
Your Cultist on the other side provides a flipside for your Navigators, creating Blood communions, Throwing Fire spell, Buffing with earth, sniping with blood, and conjuring Horrors. The sabbath buffs with spell-like Iron Warriors, Strength of Giants, Rush of Strength
Get anti-thug/Supercombatent Curse of Stones, Maws of the Earth, Blood Boil, Agony, Harm, Life for a Life, Magma Eruption, Call Horror, Astral Fires.
Depending on how you set up your scale or in which climate your fighting in, You can lean into Cold or Fire as your main source of AOE damage.
Your Rituals of Summoning Devils. Starting with cultist Bind Devil, then casting Ritual of Five Gates for more diverse summons. Late game conjuring Arch Devils and Heilophagus.
A use of Fire gems is Terracotta Army to replace the human element.
As a late game goal, by Blood 8 you can summon a Fallen Angel to make Vampire Lords.
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)?
Despite being humans, You have access to a lot of good thug items for your Angles and Demons.
Evening Star, Carmine Cleaver, Frost Brand.
Helmet of Heroes and Horn of Valor grants an extra +2 from your Admiral.
Handful of Acorns or Bottle of Living Water for your assassin.
Crystal Matrix with Plague Doctor.
Boost your mage hitting power with combination Eye of Aiming, Eye of the Void, Spell Focus.
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.
A guide to late age Marignon: awake sage into buffed devils by 7thPath
Nations | |
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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 |