Table of Contents

EA Muspelheim, Sons of Fire
Lore
Far away in the frozen lands of the jotuns lies a vast valley of fire and ash. This is Muspelheim, a gloomy land lit by streams of lava. The acrid air is thick with soot and glowing embers, and the skies are dark and covered in clouds of smoke and sulfur. From the fires of Muspelheim primordial giants once emerged and now their descendants make the valley of fire and ash their home. The muspel giants have allied themselves with jotuns of the surrounding lands and most of the population is of jotun stock, but in the ashen fields of Muspelheim descendants of the first fire giants still live. The jotuns in general prefer cold climates, but the jotuns in Muspelheim are resistant to fire and do not suffer from the extreme heat of their ancestral home.
"[Muspelheim] sprung from old Norse myth. The Poetic Edda and some later tales, combined with general conceptions of Iron Age Scandinavia, are the main sources. Vanir, Aesir and Giants are ancient antagonists in these myths. The Aesir, being perceived as gods, have been made pretenders in Dominions. Not that Vanir weren't, but they seem less so than the Aesir in most instances. As with most nations of supernatural origin, it seems fitting that their magic fades with each passing age as humans become more and more numerous.
Niefelheim, Muspelheim, Jotunheim, and Utgård are part of the history of a single nation through the ages. Vanheim, Helheim and Midgård also share a common ancestry and development. In the middle era Helheim merges with Vanheim and disappears as an independent nation. Only the valkyries remain as reminders of the legacy of Helheim.
Muspelheim was added in Dominions 6. I've wanted to make the nation for a long time, but haven't had the tools or inspiration to finish the nation. I wanted to convey the idea presented in the creation of the world in norse myth, with the flames and heat from Muspelheim meeting the frost and ice of Niefelheim. In Dominions 6 new mechanics were added that allows a nation to prefer cold lands, while the capital is exempt from the effects of severe heat. Thus I could make Muspelheim a land of ash and flames ruled by fire giants, surrounded by icy lands inhabited by jotun giants." – Illwinter
General Overview
A long-awaited new addition to Dominions 6, Muspelheim has gained a reputation for being an all-round excellent nation. Its early game is secured with oppressive sacreds, while great mages and supercombatant Muspel Jarls round out the mid-to-late game. However, it runs into the same issues other giant nations have: high gold costs that rapidly constrain its economy as the game continues.
National Features
| Magic Access | Alt. Access | Unit Summary | Core Abilities | Buildings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Summons (req. | Giant Infantry and Skinshifters Niefel Giants | | Capital Forts reduce Other Forts reduce |
**Capitol Gems: **3
1
1
1
Cold Limit + 1
Prefers
Cold Scale + 2
Home Province Prefers
Heat Scale + 3
The Rift of Surtr: Increases
heat in the capitol by a maximum of Seven.
The Gygjor (plural for Gygjas) get two 100% randoms and one 10% random, each with the same paths (![]()
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). Thus, each of those Mages has a 42% chance of having at least
2, a 7.03135%? chance of having
3, and a 0.15625%? (1/640) chance of having
4. Gygjas can also get
3 or
3, but the former is more common on Muspel Jarls (who have a 16/45 chance of
3 and a 1/90 chance of
4). On the other hand,
1,
1, and
1 are not guaranteed on any of your mages.
Most residents outside Muspelheim Proper are Jotunar, snow Giants of Size 6. To give a sense of how mighty the Jotunar are, untrained Jotun men still have 31 HP, 5 Natural Protection, 19 Strength, 9 Attack Skill, 9 Defence Skill, 12 Magic Resistance, and 11 Morale. These stats (other than MR) each vary for Jotun troops, but all have 16 Map Movement and 15 Combat Speed while naked. As snow Giants, the Jotunar are totally fine walking through
Snow and have
15 Cold Resistance, but they also have
-5 Shock Resistance due to the eternal grudge of an absent Thor.
The Jotunar of Muspelheim Proper, not given a specific name (though the females are Muspeldottirs), are fairly similar to the Jotunar of the outlying provinces. They are soot Giants; they have
-5 Shock Resistance like all Jotunar, but they possess
15 Fire Resistance and
Wasteland Survival instead of the snow Giants' cold resistance. Compared to the snow Jotunar, the soot Jotunar generally have 1 fewer HP and 2 less Strength, but 1 additional point in Attack Skill & Defence Skill.
The Muspel ("world-destroying") Giants are Size 9 beings, similar to titans but not quite as resilient. They are fire Giants, and they're far more capable in heavy
Heat scales due to their
Fire Power. Such is their affinity for fire that they're surrounded by a
Heat Aura. Lastly, they have
25 Fire Resistance, and ignore
Snow &
Wastes. However, the Jotunar's unfortunate
-5 Shock Resistance applies to the fire Giants too, since the two families share a common ancestor.
National Units
:
Cold Resistance (15),
Shock Vulnerability (5),
Snow Move
:
Fire Resistance (15),
Shock Vulnerability (5),
Snow Move,
Wasteland Survival
Commanders
| Image | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jotun Scout 60 No Capital Recruit | | An extremely expensive and less stealthy Scout. It is better to recruit Scouts from independent provinces, but making some of these might be necessary if there are no other options. Summoning Shadow Servants (Conjuration 1) might be preferable. |
| Jotun Herse 105 No Capital Recruit | | A durable sacred commander, but with only 75 leadership. |
| Jotun Gode No Capital Recruit | | A |
| Jotun Jarl 180 No Capital Recruit | | Jotun Jarls have both good leadership (100) and good melee skills, on top of being sacred. They are potentially useable as wading army thugs if relying on a skeleton spam strategy; otherwise, they are mostly just good army leaders. |
| Muspeldottir | Female Lich Shape (Lich Hag) | Muspeldottirs have wide paths, but their randoms bring them up to either level 2 in Fire, Air, or Death, or add a level of Astral for joining communions/casting Power of the Spheres. This makes Muspeldottirs capable casters of battlefield magic, throwing out Evocations, summoning elementals, spamming skeletons, or even just buffing with Body Ethereal and Mistform. They are always useful for something, though what that is exactly depends on their randoms. |
| Gygja No Capital Recruit | 100% 10% Female Lich Shape (Lich Hag) | Gygjas bring Glamour, Nature and Blood magic to the nation, greatly opening up Muspelheim's options for utility spells. They are always able to form Sabbaths due to their guaranteed Blood path, and although Muspelheim lacks the Skrattir of Niefelheim, Gygjas themselves can act as reasonable turbo-sabbath slaves with a cast of Personal Regeneration. |
| Muspel Herse 180 | | Muspel Herses are essential Jotun Jarls with slightly better stats. They are probably not worth recruiting in the capital over Muspelheim's other cap-onlies. |
| Muspel Gode | | Muspel Godes are Jotun Godes with slightly better stats and a bit of magic. They mostly lack the combat capability of Muspeldottirs and are much more expensive for the holy paths compared to Jotun Godes. |
| Muspelgygja | 100% 10% Female Lich Shape (Lich Hag) | Muspelgygjas have unpredictable paths, but many of them will be able to enter communions, and they have the potential for very high Fire and good Air magic. Their crosspaths allow for powerful utility spells like Wailing Winds, while their potentially high base paths can be used for devastating Evocations. They are also significantly less expensive than Muspel Jarls and faster to recruit, meaning they are often the better choice to recruit before there is enough research to make Muspel Jarls properly scary. |
| Muspel Jarl | 10% | With the right research and gear, Muspel Jarls can be powerful supercombatants. Their magic is well-suited for the role: Death randoms can use the Phoenix Pyre/Soul Vortex combo with their Fire/Death paths, while Air randoms can Cloud Trapeze. Fire randoms are maybe less desirable: while they can cast powerful evocations, this is nothing Muspelheim's other mages are not capable of. Their base melee stats (in Heat scales) and gear are enviable too; their Flame Blade deals AoE 1 Fire damage, making it essentially a discount Fire Brand. They can also be Twiceborn to gain a second life as undead, Size 9 Wight Mages, though this process is expensive. These so-called "wightans" (a portmanteau of "wight" and "titan") are the subject of much theory-crafting in the community, and with the right bless and gear are very difficult to kill. All that said, Muspel Jarls are extremely expensive and slow to recruit, and they require a good deal of research and gear to come online. They are far too pricey to be used merely for thugging PD! |
Troops
| Image | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jotun Bondi No Capital Recruit | | Jotun Bondi are the militia of the Muspelheim roster. They have low melee skills and are lightly armed and armoured, but they have a lot of HP for the cost and can function as evocation bait. |
| Jotun Warrior No Capital Recruit | | Jotun warriors and light, giant infantry. Of the two types, the axe-javelin type is more likely to be useful early on due to its fairly high-damage javelin attacks. |
| Jotun Warrior No Capital Recruit | |
|
| Jotun Hurler No Capital Recruit | | Jotun Hurlers are cheap, recruitable sources of high siege strength, allowing Muspelheim to quickly crack forts early on. |
| Jotun Huskarl No Capital Recruit | | Jotun Huskarlar and Godihuskarlar are medium giant infantry with the Bodyguard ability. They have slightly higher Attack/Defence skill than Jotun Warriors but are otherwise pretty ordinary, and cost a bit more. regular Huskarlar have an axe, while Godihuskarlar have a spear and ranged javelin attack. |
| Godihuskarl No Capital Recruit | |
|
| Muspel Huskarl | | Muspel Huskarlar are very similar to the Jotun equivalent, but have +1 attack skill and are cap-only. |
| Jotun Hirdman No Capital Recruit | | Jotun Hirdman are heavy giant infantry with good Attack/Defence skill, but for a premium compared to the basic Jotun troops. |
| Muspel Hirdman | | Muspel Hirdman are very similar to Jotun Hirdman, but have +1 Attack/Defence skill and are cap-only. |
| Muspel Giant | | Muspel Giants are one of the generically strongest sacreds in the game. Although they are expensive and cost two holy points each, they have excellent melee skills, a magic weapon and high protection and HP. Their Heat Aura fatigues enemy units in melee, while their Fire Power makes them a true menace in Heat Scales. These sacreds are so threatening that taking Cold Scales is a serious consideration if Muspelheim is in the game. Just keep in mind that Muspelheim is not just Muspel Giants: the nation. There are a lot of excellent tools (albeit expensive) tools in this nation's kit, and the best Muspelheim players will have a build and a strategy that can make use of all of them. There are a few common bless builds for Muspelheim: Defence stacking with Awareness, which is more scales-friendly; and Fortitude/Regeneration, which is very expensive but also super nasty to face. |
National Spells
Summons
Ritual
| Summon Spell | Unit | Special Attributes | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sloth of Bears (Conjuration 3) | Great Bear x 15+ | | Summons high strength blobs of hitpoints. Can work as evocation bait, as the bears have more HP than your troops and even lower MR, but otherwise unremarkable. |
| Summon Glosos (Conjuration 3) | Gloso x 9 | | Commentary here. |
| Awaken Jotun Draugar (Conjuration 4) | Jotun Draug x 3 | | Commentary here. |
| Brood of Garm (Conjuration 4) | Jotun Wolf x 5 | Wolf | Commentary here. |
| Summon Dwarf of the Four Directions // (Conjuration 8) // | Dwarf of the North or Dwarf of the South or Dwarf of the East or Dwarf of the West | Common Attributes: Dwarf of the South has: Dwarf of the East has: | Summons one of the four Dwarves of the Four Directions, powerful mages who have significant combat, ritual-casting and forging capabilities ( Also increases the likelihood of Hurricanes ravaging the world for each dwarf summoned. If all four dwarves are alive at once, the world is plunged into a Perpetual Storm and all battles will have Darkness over them; this is a somewhat roundabout manner to apply what amounts to two Global Enchantments at once, but the only way to dispel them is to kill one of the dwarves. |
Other Spells
Ritual
- Seith Curse (Thaumaturgy 5)
1
1 and 3
Commentary here.
Magic Access
See Magic Access. These guides supplement the summaries at the top.
8 can Bind Demon Lord. While most reliable at getting
Death and
Glamour, the demons it summons may be strong in any path except for
Water and, (unnecessarily,)
Blood.
Fire
4 Muspel Jarl (1 in 3), with
1, makes it easy to climb
Fire.
Air
The Muspelgygja has a (1 in 25) chance at
2 and
1. It needs
2
2 for the unique Tome of High Power. With an
Astral booster from an
2 Gygja (1 in 25) or Muspelgygja (1 in 25). Without it, more empowerment is necesary.
Water
No native access.
2
5 for Contact Lamia Queen and a 7 in 16
1.
3 for Summon Spectre and a 7 in 16 at least
1.
1
4 for Faerie Court not in cold with 1 in 3
1 and, in cold, certain
3.
Earth
No native access.
4
5 can create The Magic Lamp for Al Khazim - Jinn who has
3.
5 can cast King of Elemental Fire for a 1 in 2 chance of
1.
1
4 for Faerie Court not in cold with 1 in 3
1 and, in cold, 1 in 2
1.
3 for Forest Troll Tribe and a 1 in 4
1.
5 for Awaken Treelord and 1 in 3
1.
Astral
With the useful crosspaths for
Astral in the same
Random paths as the
Astral itself, getting any booster that requires a crosspath is tricky. Just getting
2 is a 1 in 25 chance for the Gygjas and the MuspelGygjas.
Death
3 Gygja (1 in 25) still requires two boosters to get to
5. The Skull Staff is easy, of course, but the only other one reachable is the unique The Black Book of Secrets, which requires
2
2.
If a
2 Gygja (9 in 25) is the strongest available, with a Skull Staff it can still Summon Mound Fiend, which has
3.
While possible, it is difficult to get Abominable Arms. They are useful for holding multiple
Death booster staves.
Nature
2 Gygja (1 in 25) can create a Thistle Mace. Getting to
2
3 for Armor of Twisting Thorns requires boosters. (The
Blood boosters require a
3 Gygja (1 in 25).) Getting to
3
1 for the Moonvine Bracelet also requires a (1 in 25) Gygja
1
1.
While possible, it is difficult to get Abominable Arms. They are useful for holding multiple
Nature booster staves.
Glamour
3 Gygja (1 in 25) can make a Gossamer Veil. The other
Glamour boosters EA Muspelheim has the crosspaths for also require more than just a Gossamer Veil to get to. So, empowerment is required to get to
5 for an attempt at the unique Tome of Legends.
Blood
3 Gygja (1 in 25) can start up the path of
Blood. With boosters. Gygja potentially have the crosspaths to get the other unique
Blood boosters but most likely require boosters to get there.
Strategy
How to win as the nation. Feel free to use the following sections, or delete them, or change them.
Expansion
Different expansion options.
Early Game
Early game options.
Mid Game
Mid game options.
Late Game
Late game options.
Example Pretender Builds
Chassis: Awake Titan of Crossroads
Paths:
4
5
7
Bless: MW/Arcane Finesse, Invuln 10, Regen.
Scales:
6
2
0
3
1
2
3
Weaknesses
What are the nation's weaknesses?
See More
Add links to guides or other overviews for this nation here.

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