"Oceania and Pelagia are nations inspired by medieval bestiaries abundant with creatures of the sea corresponding to beings living on land. As most of these creatures are half-men and fish-beasts, Oceania as a nation became quite similar to Pangaea. The development of the Triton Kings incorporated modern concepts and imagery of mermen, and in Dominions 4, Pelagia was made a nation of its own, less Pangaean in style. Knights armed in mother-of-pearl armor, Triton Kings on hippocampoii-drawn sea-shell chariots, and golden tridents are all part of the Pelagia setting.

"With the release of the Dominions 4 UW-patch the backstory of Pelagia was developed. It became intermingled with Berytos and my first ideas on later developments for the nation emerged. I prefer if nations are primarily culturally defined, and secondarily racially defined. Pelagia always felt more like a race thing and less like a kingdom with its own cultural setting. The changes in the patch was a step in this direction, although I find the new nation Erytheia more interesting." –Illwinter

Pelagia was the first kingdom to form under the sea, though it's technically the fourth undersea faction added to the game (after Atlantis, R'lyeh, and technically Oceania). It's the nation of the Tritons, the undersea equivalent to Mankind, with amphibious Mermen as middlemen between them and men. Achieving civilization first (though some carp-men in Uruk hotly debate this) and/or over the most-valuable waters, Pelagia prospered as the only undersea trading partner for nations such as Therodos & later Berytos. The Early Ages brought rivals, but they were short-lived; living in shallower waters than Early Atlantis and Aboleth R’lyeh, Pelagia was less affected by the Fall of the Star, and was immensely relieved to hear that their enemies beneath them had been crushed by what must have seemed like divine intervention. Pelagia still had to evolve somewhat, but the coming changes were further away and far more manageable than before. The Triton Kings (formerly the Pearl Kings) were no longer viewed as divine, and relinquished their Priest-King responsibilities in favor of mastering their Water Magic. The Turtle & Shark Tribes became fully integrated with the greater Pelagian culture, while the once-secretive Amber Clans relinquished their sovereignty after what their wars with Atlantis did to them. Though Berytos was destroyed, the Mermen traders brought bronze down to the Tritons from other trading partners, and most Pelagians outside of the Amber Clans abandoned their primitive undersea armor for armor made out of that bronze. Speaking of the Mermen, their curiosity for the surface (known to them as the Closed Realm) grew with the final rest of Therodos, and a semi-heretical order of Fire Mages & iron-wearing fighters was born. Though not eager to sow the seeds for a possible rival or replacement for their power, the Triton rulers nurtured their own division of that order for the purpose of claiming the Closed Realm as theirs.

In the age with arguably the most competitive underwater scene, MA Pelagia is notorious for sitting at the top of the fishy food chain. MA Pelagia gains a diverse and deadly toolkit over its Early Age predecessor, including sacred cavalry, good infantry, and a stronger (though by no means decisive) ability to reach above the waves. Though the Middle Ages are less abundant with gems, the ability to field masses of Water Elemental summoners remains powerful and pearl farming opens up some strong late-game plays. MA Pelagia is well equipped to seize control of the seas early on and utilize the resulting defensive advantage to build for the late game, quietly setting up its Wish factory in peace while keeping an eye on land-nation affairs.

Some of your Mages can convert into at a 1-for-1 ratio, but at a limited rate per turn.

Race	Military	Magic Access	Priests	Buildings
Very Fast Base 1 PRO Base 12 MR Tritons Aquatic Mermen Amphibious	Bronze Some Magic Gear Strong Triton Infantry Weaker Mermen Sacred Triton Cav & Iron-clad Mermen	4 (rare 5) 2 (rare 3) 2 (rare 3) 2 (rare 3) 2* 1 Summons: With 31 & 30: 4 (27.5%, rare 5) With 31 & 30: 3 (22%, rare 4) 2 (22%, rare 3)† 1 (22%, rare 2) 1 (22%, rare 2)	2 in UW Forts 1 in Coastal Forts Fire Cultists	Castles Coastal Mages & Warriors

*2 is actually more common than 2 (25% chance per guy vs. 13.6%), but technically has a lower ceiling due to 10% randoms.
†You're a bit more likely to get 3 from the Summon than from your Recruits (1/250 vs. 1/360). Hoping for either is a bit farfetched, but still.

Provide a brief overview of commanders and units and what tools they provide you with. Outline any peculiarities across the roster (e.g. the animal tag, cold blooded). Highlight any particular strengths of the roster and describe their roles (e.g. high-quality infantry, thugs, powerful mages).

The following commanders can be recruited underwater:

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Merman Scout 25 4 1	Stealthy (50) Amphibious Land Shape ⇔ Merman Scout	It's an amphibious scout! Since there are no indie scouts underwater, consider spending a fort turn or two making these if you have underwater neighbors or are otherwise in need of scouting info.
	Wave Lord 40 21 1	Amphibious Land Shape ⇔ Wave Lord	An amphibious 60-leadership commander for when you need to move units onto land. This function can generally be fulfilled with indie leaders, however.
	Pelagian Captain 40 26 1	Aquatic	A slightly beefier (but purely aquatic) version of the Wave Lord. The Pelagian Captain's slightly lower map move does not actually amount to much, since move costs are generally higher underwater.
	Amber Clan Noble 80 36 1	Aquatic	According to lore entries from independent Amber Clans, these guys were a lot more rebellious in general before Atlantis came around. 80 Leadership is a lot better than 60, since it gives Morale boosts and special formations.
	Merman Priest 45 1 1 +Coastal Fort Rec	1 Sacred Amphibious Land Shape ⇔ Merman Priest	Important temple-builders and potential sacred expansion leaders.
	Amber Clan Priest 65 2 1	1 Sacred Aquatic	A 40-leadership priest. The Amber Clan Priest is much more expensive than his Merman equivalent, but can lead sacreds without a morale penalty.
	Pearl Clan Priest 80 2 1	2 Sacred Amphibious	A 2 for casting Sermon of Courage and banishing the occasional Longdead wave from Ermor or Sceleria.
	Pelagian Mermage 95 1 2	11100% 9 Amphibious Land Shape ⇔ Pelagian Mermage	This guy strikes a balance between the other Merman mages and your Triton mages in terms of research efficiency; the other Mermen favor gold-efficiency, of course, while the Tritons favor fort-turn-efficiency. Somewhat lacking in actual combat power, at least prior to Frozen Heart.
	Pelagian Mystic 130 3 4	1111100% 15 Adept Researcher (2) Amphibious Land Shape ⇔ Pelagian Mystic	Another gold-efficient Merman research monkey that's slow-to-recruit. Heck. If you're not starved for Mages, you can queue in the hopes for an 2 that'll get you Earth Boots.
	Pearl Mage 175 1 2	211100% 13 Aquatic Pearl Cultivator (3)	Similar to their EA equivalent, Pearl Mages continue to be Pelagia's best source of the vital Water Elemental, beating out their Amber Clan competitor by 10 gold. Pearl Cultivation is still a neat ability, even if Water Gems are a bit tougher to find than they were before. They will often be recruited old.
	Amber Clan Mage 185 1 2	121100% 13 Aquatic	Amber Clan Mages are slightly overshadowed as Water Elemental summoners by Pearl Mages due to being more expensive, but provide access to spells such as Geyser and Acid Spray You might consider dragging one on-land so he can Manifest Vitriol.
	Triton Prince 200 32 2 Capital Only	Sacred Recuperation Aquatic Mounted	Your glorious 120-leadership commander.
	Conqueror of the Closed Realm 130 32 2 Capital Only	11100% 7 Sacred Amphibious Land Shape ⇔ Conqueror of the Closed Realm	Your 80-leadership commander for the surface. He carries a random magic level that's frankly a little wasted on his 13 HP, but that has a higher chance of being whatever you want it to be than with your off-cap randoms.
	Triton King 390 7 4 Capital Only	42100% 100% 10% 17 Sacred Resist Cold (7) Aquatic Pearl Cultivator (4) Dominion Attraction/20 (Hippocampus).	Your glorious big mage. Compared to his EA incarnation, he's missing a level of sorcery magic (and all those priest levels), but he's also cheaper and much more likely to have 2. The 2 guys have a surprising amount of Combat Magic at their disposal, even when stuck underwater. None of it compares to burning out on Living Water and resting for the remainder of the battle, but it's not like you start with that spell known.

The following commanders can only be recruited from coastal forts.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Merman Commander 40 30 1	Amphibious Formation Fighter (2) Sea Shape ⇔ Merman Commander	A standard 60-leadership commander. Did you know that bronze is typically harder than iron? Bronze is a lot pricier, though, and it's nothing compared to steel.
	Daduchos 65 2 4 Requires Temple	11100% 11 Adept Researcher (2) Amphibious Sea Shape ⇔ Daduchos	Daduchoi are cost-effective research monkeys on the gold scale (costing a little under 6 bucks per RP), and it's not like you can recruit other mages from most of your coastal forts; however, they are slow-to-recruit.

The following units can be recruited underwater.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Pelagian Militia 8 2 5	Aquatic	Naked militia for chaffing it up. The Merman militia costs 25% more gold per unit, but comes with the significant advantages of being amphibious and wielding a disposable net, which massively reduces the defence of netted opponents.
	Merman 10 3 9	Amphibious Land Shape ⇔ Merman
	Pelagian Soldier 10 21 9	Aquatic	The Pelagian Soldier is the efficient infantry option between chaffy militia and premium Clan troops, costing only 10 gold for decent stats, prot and a 17 pierce-damage weapon. However, it can only operate underwater and has relatively high encumbrance due to its bronze armor.
	Wave Warrior 13 20 16	Amphibious Land Shape ⇔ Wave Warrior	Wave Warriors are MA Pelagia's primary nonsacred amphibious troop. They are a strong option for an initial incursion onto land, since they are much hardier than amphibious indies and come with a powerful 19 pierce-damage trident. They are accordingly 33% more expensive per unit than the aquatic Pelagian Soldier.
	Coral Clan Hoplite 13 27 16	Aquatic Formation Fighter (2)	The Coral Clan Hoplite is the first of MA Pelagia's premium aquatic troops. Their formation fighter ability combined with their 18 protection makes them the most durable of Pelagia's troops; however, like other hoplites, they lack decent damage output. Their heavy armor also results in a hefty 9 encumbrance, meaning they are much more likely to fall asleep within the bounds of an ordinary battle.
	Amber Clan Guard 14 35 18	Aquatic	Amber Clan Guard are essentially Pelagian Soldiers+. They have much better protection (17) and slightly better stats overall. However, their cost reflects their premium status; the Amber Clan Guard are 140% the gold cost and around twice the resources and recruitment points of Pelagian Soldiers.
	Champion of the Closed Realm 23 30 27 Capital Only	Sacred Amphibious Land Shape ⇔ Champion of the Closed Realm	The Champion of the Closed Realm is MA Pelagia's amphibious sacred option. They have an impressive 19 protection and generally decent stats, apart from lackluster damage output. While they are much weaker individually than the Knights of the Deeps, they are also natively capable of going on land, meaning they may be worth recruiting once the underwater realm has been secured.
	Knight of the Deeps 70 25 48 Capital Only	Sacred Recuperation Aquatic Mounted	The Knight of the Deeps gives Pelagia a significant combat advantage over other underwater nations. For cost, these sacreds outcompete the best of their underwater competitors and can even put up some resistance against Water Elementals; whatever bless you layer on top will make them even scarier. They are capable of very fast underwater expansion with a typical rainbow bless.

The following units can only be recruited in coastal forts.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Merman Hoplite 13 29 16	Amphibious Formation Fighter (2) Sea Shape ⇔ Merman Hoplite	A serviceable hoplite for holding the line on land. Like other hoplites, it is not particularly dangerous on its own and merely protects the mages that do the real killing.
	Apostate of the Closed Realm 15 21 21 Requires Temple	Amphibious Sea Shape ⇔ Apostate of the Closed Realm	15 gold is a lot to pay for what is effectively human light infantry with a javelin.

MA Pelagia does not get any national heroes in vanilla.

MA Pelagia's magic access is quite diverse, with some access to all of the elements and two of the sorceries. MA Pelagia is particularly competent at water, earth, and astral magic.

For rituals, Pelagia has access to the following paths:

Elemental

• 1 on a variety of mages
• 2 on Pelagian Mystics (and technically Triton Kings, though those are unreliable and very expensive)
• 4 on Triton Kings, 7 via a Water Bracelet, Robe of the Sea and Queen of Elemental Water
• 2 on Pelagian Mystics, 4 via Earth Boots, Troll King's Court

Sorcery

• 2 on Pearl Mages, 4 via Starshine Skullcap and Crystal Coin
• No death magic
• 1 on Pearl Mages. There is a 12.5% chance of getting 2 on Triton Kings, but they are very expensive in both gold and fort turns to roll for this path if you don't get lucky.
• No blood magic

Combat

• MA Pelagia does not have any national combat spells.

Ritual

• Conjuration 5 31 for 30: Summon Hekateride ( Hekateride×1)
  Summons an awesome 2321100%
  10% mage. MA Pelagia doesn't have the magic to cast this spell unless it gets a lucky 2 Triton King, but this can be a good way to unlock more nature magic for battlefield casting. A more accessible alternative is the generic Contact Naiad.
• Conjuration 6 31 for 30: Summon Daktyl ( Daktyl×1)
  Summons 1121100%
  10% master smith. Can open up further diversity by building elemental boosters, though it might take some boosting itself to get to a Staff of Elemental Mastery. Also a potential path into some minor death access; any death random Daktyl can forge a Skull Staff due to their master smith ability. Decent in combat, though it doesn't have strong advantages on the battlefield over an earth-random Pelagian Mystic

Summon Water Elemental at Conjuration 5 is as important to MA Pelagia as it is for any underwater nation. Full-size Water Elementals are monsters in underwater combat, gaining 20% regeneration on top of their physical resistances and quadruple AP attacks. If you can figure out how to buff them as they are summoned, they can be made even scarier with spells like Quickness and Body Ethereal at Alteration 4. These buffs also work very well on Knights of the Deeps.

While Wishing (Alteration 9) for gems usually produces only as many astral pearls (via alchemy) as it costs to cast, Pelagia's unique pearl cultivator ability allows it to generate a 12.5 astral pearl profit on each Wish casting. These extra pearls can be used to fuel further Wish casts or empower more mages into being able to cast Wish. This means that Pelagia can completely destroy the gem economy if the game goes late, eventually being limited only by the numbers of pearl cultivators it has produced and 9 mages it has empowered into. Having infinite resources is, of course, a major advantage for winning the game. This potential for infinite pearls also makes Pelagia one of the nations more well-suited for casting the oppressive Arcane Nexus.

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)

• Construction 2 11 for 44: Clam of Pearls: This clam provides 2 for battles, and ONLY for battles. It's very handy if you want to save Astral Pearls on, say, Power of the Spheres; from there, the other Pearl can be used to help cast Soul Slay if the mage was 1 at first, or one of the few neat 3-&-1 army-buffs if they were an 2. It also pays for Light of the Northern Star, if your mage is 3.

Although MA Pelagia's power curve varies a bit depending on the map and whether or not you have underwater neighbors, several elements remain common to most games.

MA Pelagia's powerful sacreds ensure fast, easy expansion underwater. Knights of the Deeps will rarely take attrition unless they are extremely outnumbered by independent troops, allowing expansion parties to simply keep going and combine when required. By contrast, Pelagia's on-land expansion is below average because recruiting amphibious troops competes with massing more Knights of the Deeps for faster expansion and/or early wars.

This easy expansion phase provides Pelagia with an excellent foundation for early game aggression against underwater neighbors before magic comes online. The onus is on Pelagia's opponents to find an answer to its Knights rather than the other way around! Its ability to mass Water Elemental summoners means it retains its combat advantage even when research comes into play.

Once Pelagia has finished its early UW wars (if any), it can make use of the underwater advantage to massively ramp up research into the mid game. However, the aquatic nature of the Knights of the Deeps means Pelagia loses its combat advantage once land opponents become relevant. At this stage, it is important to keep an eye on land affairs and diplo appropriately to ensure that no other player gains a decisive advantage.

In the late game, Pelagia has an unparalleled ability to scale using its pearl cultivation abilities in combination with Wish and Arcane Nexus. Pelagia can abuse its near unlimited resources to grab land thrones with impunity, safe in its underwater stronghold. However, you have to pick your timing carefully to ensure that no one else wins first!

Pelagia's expansion is very straightforward due to the strength of its Knights of the Deeps. It only takes 5-6 Knights to conquer the majority of indie provinces, even with a light bless; the real risk comes from opponents circling around the Knights to snipe your commander. Consider splitting up the starting army to provide later expansion parties with a small chaff squad to guard against flanking independents.

A fast and reliable expansion party might consist of:

• 1×Merman Priest in a far back corner; bless a couple of times, then hold.
• 5×Pelagian Militia slightly in front of the commander; hold and attack
• 5×Knight of the Deeps mid-forward, sitting in the middle of the second line on the right in the squad interface (this allows the priest to still be able to bless them from a distance); hold and attack

Land expansion is less easy for MA Pelagia than it is for its competitors, since its primary expansion unit is aquatic (compare Ys's Morvarc'h Knights or MA R'lyeh's Meteorite Guard). This is especially true if you have underwater neighbors and want as many Knights as you can get. A quick expansion underwater can sometimes give you enough time to produce Wave Warriors to take land indies, but the viability of this strategy depends on the expansion of your land neighbors.

List some example pretender builds.

Dominions 5 Nation Guide - MA Pelagia 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