"In the first Dominions, the Ermorian backstory influenced many of the other nations. When the eras were introduced in Dominions 3, the undead empire ended up in the late age and the Dominions history lost some of its coherency. With Dominions 4, I tried to straighten things up and once more placed the Ashen Empire of Ermor in the middle age where its antagonists and splinter empires can be found.

The backstories of Sceleria, Pythium, Marignon and Ulm are all influenced by Ermor. Several other nations have interacted with the nation or its shadow. It would be difficult to imagine the Dominions setting without Ermor." -Illwinter

By the end of the Early Age, a new order of Thaumaturgs emerged within the Empire of Ermor. They foresaw the Cataclysm that would come from the dark arts practiced in Ermor, and urged the last Emperor’s twin brother to declare a civil war to end such practices. Sadly, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy: as Eldregate was held under siege, the Elder Augurs and the Bishops of the Sacred Shroud both turned to Death itself to solve their problems, letting it loose and reducing the capital province to ash. The old empire’s provinces that weren’t reduced to deadlands became kingdoms and rump states, while the twin brother and the Thaumaturgs “reformed” the Empire, naming their new capital "Sceleria” to stand as a reminder of the wickedness that brought Ermor down. At the true start of the Middle Age, the Thaumaturgs had organized into a Death Cult that held absolute reverence for the Dead and the Laws of Death, hoping to hold back the Reawakening Emorian spectre with strict control over their own corpses. They honestly believe that Ermor is their cross to bear, and that no one else would be able to handle it.

Originally MA Ermor when the Ashen Empire was LA Ermor (in Dominions 3), Sceleria has a small-but-effective toolkit. Death & Astral go together rather nicely, Divine Magic & Unholy Rites are both nice to have, and your Cavalry-less Middle Ages Legion can be reasonably effective when the nation's main selling point isn't ready or suitable. The main selling point of Sceleria is its horde of Reanimator Priests, along with the uncanny skill of its Longdead Legions. Sceleria also has the earliest access to Charming in the game through Apostasy, which will piss off most people when it works. If you know what you're doing, you can be a real pain in the butt as Sceleria, bogging down most opponents with sheer numbers. If you can't handle your infrastructure or balance your fort turns well enough to have enough Reanimators, however, you'll be in for it. The AI doesn't know how to use its reanimators, and playing against Sceleria in a single-player game is an oddly underwhelming experience.

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
	Scout 25 4 1	Stealthy (50) Mountain Survival Forest Survival	A generic scout.
	Assassin 60 4 1	Stealthy (65) Assassin (1) Ambidextrous (2)	Assassins can assist in expansion if required. Sceleria also has some access to decent items to equip them with, particularly the Bottle of Living Water and the Amulet of the Dead.
	Centurion 70 21 1		80 leadership commander, providing access to formations.
	Legatus Legionis 110 21 2		120 leadership commander, costing more CP for a stronger morale bonus. Unchanged from the Early Ages (like the Centurions), they're screwed by their lack of shields in the face of crossbow fire.
	Scelerian Cultist 45 1 1	1 Sacred Reanimator Priest	An extremely cheap reanimator priest. Very efficient for this purpose, but lacks the flexibility and research ability of the Thaumaturg.
	Thaumaturg 110 1 2	112 9 Sacred Reanimator Priest	The Thaumaturg can be compared to the Seithkona or Enarie; though it is clearly not as magically capable, communionable astral and death magic is still a potent tool in addition to the potential for high-level holy magic. Combined with its ability to reanimate the dead, Thaumaturgs are a versatile workhorse mage for Sceleria's non-capital forts.
	Censor 90 29 1 Capital Only	Sacred Patrol Bonus (10)	A small-time leader of undead that competes with Grand Thaumaturgs for capital recruitment. Grand Thaumaturgs generally outclass Censors, however, especially given the formers' magic abilities.
	Grand Thaumaturg 300 1 4 Capital Only	2231100% 10% 15 Old Age (55/50) Sacred Reanimator Priest	Grand Thaumaturgs round out Sceleria's mage roster with a versatile and powerful mage-priest. 3 provides full access to Sceleria's repertoire of (un)holy magic (including Apostasy), Astral gives them Communions & out-of-the-box damage with Mind Burn, Death gives them some of the best off-script utility with skeleton-spamming, and being a level 3 reanimator priest gives them higher-quality reanimations. Every random path available to the Grand Thaumaturg brings something neat to the table, especially with communions, though the neat things tend to be far apart in the Research lists.

At some point during each Sceleria game, the Sceleria player (if they have not been annihilated yet) will transcend the need for purchasing troops due to how many skeletons they have at their disposal. Until then, they are available for any expanding and rush-stopping needs.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Slinger 7 2 3		An ordinary slinger with a weak ranged attack.
	Retiarius 10 1 9	levy	One has a net, while the other has two attacks. Due to their leaving after being attacked/attacking, these gladiators are best reserved for particularly tough expansion battles or stopping a rush in its tracks. Both of these are roles in which they excel, due to their extremely low cost and high damage output. If brought along with expansion parties, they can be kept in the back to conserve their numbers for when they are really needed.
	Gladiator 10 1 9	levy
	Velite 10 10 9	Skirmisher	A cheap light infantry option with a javelin.
	Alae Legionnaire 10 20 9		Medium infantry with a javelin. Comes in spear and sword varieties. The Principes are much more expensive than the others for only minor increases in stats.
	Hastatus 11 21 12
	Principe 14 21 20
	Triarius 15 29 25	Old Age (55/50) Formation Fighter (2)	Formation Fighter means that these guys can fight four to a square, which actually ameliorates some of their Old-Age-based stat problems due to increased attack density. Unfortunately, it does not fix the problem of them costing a lot and possibly gaining serious afflictions every winter.
	Praetorian Guard 20 30 35	Old Age (55/50) Bodyguard (3) Joins Injured (50%)	Though most of your high-priority targets can be protected from assassination by Researching Horde of Skeletons and other skeleton-spamming fare, having a Bodyguard or two won't hurt, and these guys are actually the hardest-hitting troops in your off-capital lineup… provided that they don't join with a missing limb or barely-functioning muscles.
	Standard 20 21 21	Standard (1)	A Hastatus with a strangely-uplifting banner. It doesn't hurt to have a bit of extra morale, especially when you might accidentally spook your own forces with Terror and other Fear spells.
	Lictor 26 29 31 Capital Only	Sacred Patrol Bonus (2)	Sacred medium infantry with magic battleaxes that paralyze undead foes. They pack a punch against everyone, not just zombies and spooks.
	Shadow Vestal 45 6 31 Capital Only	Sacred Undead Need not Eat Ethereal Stealthy (40) Spirit Sight	As cool as these ghostly zombie-girls with Magic Spears are, they are pretty much useless for Sceleria. The Reformed Empire doesn't have any stealthy commanders. Its Censors can organize Vestals in formations, but the Vestals won't get a Morale boost due to the Censors' mediocre Leadership. Shadow Vestals also compete with Lictors (who are better damage-dealers) and Undead-horde-printers for attention in your capital, in addition to costing a fortune. You could design a Pretender God that can use them to their fullest potential, but that's a meme in the same vein as Pythium's Battle Vestals.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Mortius - Scythe Wielder	232 15 Sacred Reanimator Priest	Mortius is a weird hero. He is essentially a Grand Thaumaturg with an extra point of Strength in exchange for a lower level as a Priest – his other combat prowess, above-average as it may be, is shared with the others of his rank. What makes him noteworthy, then? Well, his 23-power melee attack banishes the target to the Inferno if it deals damage, and if the target's MR fails to work. He's also a guaranteed 3 mage, in case the 1-in-4 chance hasn't been working out. The popular Worthy Heroes mod makes him a Gem Generator ().
	Zirru - Grand Thaumaturg	242 21 Sacred Poison Resistance(5) Cold Blooded Swamp Survival Swimming Reanimator Priest	Zirru, the last C'tissian in what was once Ermor, is mainly notable for having 4. Your chance of getting a 4 Grand Thaumaturg with your cash is 1-in-160, trying once every two turns at most. Your chance of getting Zirru each turn, as long as you're not 3, is at least 1-in-100. Worthy Heroes gives Zirru 2 as well, making him stand out even more.

Worthy Heroes also provides an 2 mage always accompanied by mercenaries, and a 111 sailor.

Unholy Rites

Sceleria can use both the standard Divine Magic and an Unholy list, the latter of which is a bit of a cross between MA Ermor's and Lemuria's:

• Unholy Blessing has three tiers; the 1 version has an AOE of 1 and a range of 20 squares, the 2 version has an AOE of 10 (the same as a 2 casting of Blessing) and a range of 20 squares (compared to the 2 Blessing's 25), and the 3 version is a full-army effect. All three affect only Sacred Undead. Applying your Bless to only some of your army is of dubious use, especially since you don't really have a mixture of disposable undead Sacreds and valuable living Sacreds; if you do plan on suicide-bombing with a vanguard of Shadow Vestals, however, then having the Death Explosion or Charged Body effects just on them will make it punchier.
• Unholy Protection has two tiers; the 1 version has an AOE of 1 and a range of 20 squares, while the 2 version has an AOE of 10 but a range of only 10. Both apply +4 Magic Resistance to friendly Undead; this prevents being ruined by Control the Dead or Undead Mastery, for instance.
  • Protection of the Sepulchre is sort of a third tier, requiring 3 and affecting all of your local army's Undead. It has the strange catch of being easily negated by Magic Resistance, however; it'll probably work on your skeletons, but not on your elites.
• Unholy Power has two tiers; the 1 version has an AOE of 1 and a range of 20 squares, while the 3 version has an AOE of 5 but a range of only 10. Both apply a +4 Attack bonus, a very rare and coveted effect, to friendly Undead. This can make even your Soulless capable of hitting.
  • Power of the Sepulchre is essentially a third tier, requiring 4 and affecting all of your local army's Undead. If you're using Communions, then this won't be too tough to cast.
• Unholy Command is a 1 spell that enslaves a single Undead up to 10 squares away, though Magic Resistance easily negates the effect. It gives your Scelerian Cultists something to do in battle after the early rounds, should you decide to bring them.
• Apostasy is a 3 spell that flat-out steals an enemy Sacred, allowing them to keep their magic paths and leadership if they're a Commander, from up to 50 squares away. Like with Unholy Command, it's easily resisted by Magic Resistance; unlike Unholy Command, though, it's spammable from a great distance. Even the Mindless can be seduced by this effect, so you could nab a stone Sacred from MA Agartha. Apostasy also terrorizes the Arena when spellcasting is allowed, particularly against high-level Priests who tend to spam Smite to conserve Fatigue.

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?

Sceleria has a very modest start pretty much regardless of the opening build. You have access to armored legionnaire troops as well as sacred Lictor and Shadow Vestal troops. Legionnaire troops are above average, relatively inexpensive human troops that are solid throughout the game as the living backbone of your army. Early on, Velite and Gladiators will make up the bulk of your expansion parties, aided by the good leadership levels of your starting Centurion commanders, which give a morale boost to up to 3 squads. Unless you have a nation build that has a very strong bless specifically geared towards Sceleria's sacred troops, Lictors and Shadow Vestals are seldom used for expansion.

In the Early Game, Thaumaturg and Grand Thaumaturg are very strong mage-priests despite only having guaranteed Death/Astral paths. An early Grand Thaumaturg is an excellent site searcher as it will have guaranteed 2A/2D with a chance for a third path. Thaumaturgs serve as your main researchers and can cast Reanimation to bolster your early expansion parties with Longdead.

Scelaria’s first power spike comes after it can field enough mages to form communions to support its armies. This allows groups of mages to cast higher level spells or spam low and mid-level spells. One common mid-game tactic is to use communions to continually cast the spell Horde of Skeletons to continually reinforce an army through big fights at thrones or with other players. (see Communions)

Sceleria begins to get exponentially more powerful once it has access to communions and is able to utilize groups of Scelarian Cultists and Thaumaturgs to freespawn Longdead armies. Backed by large communions with Grand Thaumaturgs as Communion Masters, these armies become very powerful. Other powerful spells that communioned Grand Thaumaturgs can cast include Soul Slay, Enslave Mind, Wailing Winds, Fog Warriors, and Mass Flight. They can even cast Undead Mastery and Master Enslave if they research all the way to Thaumaturgy 9. In the extreme late game, Sceleria has the potential to cast virtually any combat spell in the game as they can add indie mages and summons with diverse magic paths into their communions.

Thanks to Roman Legion style troops that are relatively inexpensive and have good protection, Sceleria typically doesn't have trouble with expansion. Expand with Velite and Gladiators to start, then mix in undead once you have Enchantment 1 and can cast Reanimation and Revive King. Don't forget to use your Longdead and Mound Kings early to take any available water provinces! Send out a mage to site search as soon as possible. Death gem income is essential to early ramp-up as you need them to cast Reanimation (using your priests' reanimate ability is too slow for early game and is only good once you've been able to mass Thaumaturgs and Cultists). A mobile, awake pretender will definitely help with both expansion and early survival but it's not an absolute necessity. A Dormant pretender with better Order/Prod/Growth will scale well into late game if you believe you can expand well and survive early without it.

Keep an eye out for provinces that allow you to recruit Lizard Shaman. They have Astral/Nature cross paths, so you can use them to incorporate Nature magic into your communions. This combo is very, very strong for Sceleria, so if you see such a province, put a fort/temple/lab on it immediately. Other indie mages are usually not particularly worth it unless they have 2 or more paths or have lvl 2 or higher in a path that Sceleria can't natively access.

National overview by LucidTactics

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