Dominions 3: The Awakening/Nations/Marverni

The Marverni are a tribal nation of chiefdoms guided by Druids and religious magistrates. The tribes have a long history of war and infighting, but recent developments have joined the tribes in pursuit of a single goal. The most prominent tribes are the Marverni, the Ambibates, the Eponi and the Carnutes. The Sequani, though a small tribe, are influential due to the large number of Druids among them. The smiths of the Marverni tribe are reputedly the inventors of chainmail and most nobles of the tribe use it. Low born warriors fight bare-chested. The Ambibates are known for their martial skills. The Eponi nobles fight on horseback and are the only cavalry available to the nation. The Carnute tribe guards the sacred Forest of Carnutes where the Druids gather every year. The Carnute warriors are able to go berserk when wounded. Boars are a sacred symbol to the Marverni nation.

The Marverni have skilled bare-chested fighters led by druids and nobles. Only the nobles can afford chain mail or horses. Its people have a powerful connection to the Earth, Nature and Astral magic and weak access to Water magic. They exist only in the Early Age.

Background
See the manual on page 121: Marnervi is inspired by the celtic gauls as described by Julius Caesar in his report The gallic war and by other Roman historians. See also the comic Asterix for visual inspiration.

National Features
Your national troops are composed of several light and heavy infantry types, supported by javelin throwers and slingers. Most infantry types exist as a low-resource variant without armor (bare-chested warriors) and a better armored resource demanding noble variant. Your cavalry is expensive, but quit good for Early Era.

Your Druids have powerful Earth, Astral, Nature and Water Skills and can enhance their battlefield magic with powerful Communion Master/Slaves combinations. You have no access to Blood, Death, Fire or Air magic but you can sacrifice Blood Slaves at your temples to push your Dominion.

Your only sacred unit can go berserk and is capital-only.

Your province defense consist of 1 Slinger and 2 Javelin Throwers per point; at Province Defense 20 you one additional Marverni Noble Warrior. The province defense gives you a lot of ranged attacks for your Gold and can be effective against raiders.

Starting Sites
Carnutes Gives 3 Astral, 2 Earth and 1 Nature Gem each turn and allow to recruit Boar Warriors and Boar Lords.

National Spells

 * Sounder of Boars
 * Conj-3 N2 Summons 20 sacred great boars (sacred, animal, size-3 trampler, 22 hp, map-move 3/16, forest survival, prot-6).


 * Contact Boar of Carnutes
 * Conj-5 N1E1 Summons a sacred monster boar commander (command 40, sacred, animal, size-5 trampler, 81 hp, map-move 3/20, forest survival, prot-10) that in turn occasionally auto-summons sacred great boars and can prevent bad random events from happening in the province in which it is currently located.


 * Monster Boar
 * Conj-5 N3 The caster summons a monster boar and sends it to a distant province to ravage the land. Imagine sending a single elephant to capture an enemy province and you get the idea of the chances of success.

Units
Marverni's infantry all have Mapmove 2, even the armored ones. This further translates to a +1 bonus movement rate in battle. Some types also have forest survival, allowing your nation a mobile posture in most terrain.

Auxiliaries

 * Marverni Horn Blower: Gold 20, Resources 1, Dagger
 * The horn blower increases the morale of nearby troops (Standard 12) and is a bit slower than all other infantry types (Battlefield movement: 9). When deployed correctly, he substantially decreases the chances your troops will turn and flee. This counts for your weak-morale PD as well. He is only armed with a dagger and does not wear armor though, meaning certain death if he ever comes face-to-face with an enemy. He often outruns javelin throwing comrades, so it is best to deploy him with warrior infantry types where he tends to fall to the rear and perform his role safely protected by blockers. Alternatively you can set hit to 'guard commander' on a leader who in turn is set to 'stay behind troops'.


 * Marverni Slinger: Gold 9, Resources 3, Dagger, Sling, Shield
 * Your default missile troops, the Marverni Slinger is mass-recruitable in times of need and wields a dagger and shield (but no armor). In practice, the shield does little to increase their survivability and their morale is low (Morale: 8) without a Hornblower nearby. They work well when deployed behind armored melee blockers (bare chested troops remain vulnerable to friendly fire). While they certainly meet expectations, you will probably find Indy or Jaguar Tribe slingers offer superior value for the money.


 * Marverni Javelineer: Gold 9, Resources 5, Spear, Javelin, Shield
 * This unarmored mass-recruitable javelin-thrower has shaky morale (Morale 9) and fights with spear and shield. While providing better stats than most miltia units, his lack of armor provides scant survivability in combat. In large numbers though, mass javelin volleys can still prove effective vs non-shielded troops and to pop glamours. They are somewhat overshadowed by the Marverni Bare Chested Warrior, who fulfills a similar role but comes armed with a superior melee weapon. Even if you don't actively recruit these, you will still see them often because they make up a main component of your PD. As such, you probably want to figure a way to boost their morale using hornblowers or priests. To maintain a cohesive active component in your army, the fire and flee command might be better suited than fire closest.

Bare Chested Troops
None of your bare chested troops wear armor, although they all have decent weapons and wield shields: offense vs defense. In general, even with decent defense skills, their lack of armor protection proves costly: many are often killed after only one hit. Bare chests should never be deployed against enemy archers/slingers without other troops to serve as missile magnets to draw enemy fire: veteran archers will decimate your ranks. Protective magic and clever tactics increases your potential dramatically, however. Also, in the mid/late game where lots of AN magic and weapons come into use, lack of armor becomes less of an issue anyways.
 * Note that the Const-3 spell Legions of Steel does NOT affect bare chest warriors, as it only improves EXISTING armors. Other spells such as Protection, Wooden Warriors, Mossbody, Body Ethereal and the like do work. Protection/Wooden Warriors increases their armor to 12.
 * Spells that incapacitate the enemy such as Sleep, Tangle Vines, Stellar Cascades, etc. are great ways to press home the advantages of your bare chested troops.
 * Marverni Bare Chested Warrior: Gold 9, Resources 9, Broadsword, Javelin, Shield, Iron Cap
 * A crossover between the javelineer and your hard-fighting bare-chested melee troops, they are able to serve both roles. Low gold cost and upkeep, although they demand a surprising amount of resources for an unarmored trooper. Still, they remain better armed (Broad Sword, Shield, Javelin) than most comparable Indy light troops, and when used in large numbers the javelins can be a devastating opening volley vs non-shielded enemies. A decent fighter, however their sub-par morale (9) and only minimal protection (3) proves vulnerable in prolonged fights without magical support. Summon Marverni in large numbers when trying to keep your gold/upkeep costs down.


 * Ambibate Bare Chested Warrior: Gold 11, Resources 8, Broadsword, Shield, Iron Cap
 * Slightly better stats and more gold cost than the Marverni tribe, they compose your most skilled fighters. Good on attack, but lack of armor means they are just as squishy as the other bare chests in tough brawls. With some magical protection, they can prove to be quite capable fighters. While it can often be a toss-up between choosing which tribal warriors to muster, the Ambibates are the wiser option if you know javelins will not work well against their likely enemy.


 * Carnute Bare Chested Warrior: Gold 13, Resources 6, Axe, Shield, Iron Cap
 * This unit fights with axe and shield, can go berserk and can freely move through forests. Costing the most gold but least resources of your naked melee-ers, they are quite spammable and have the highest morale of all bare-chested warriors. When wounded their morale, attack, protection and strength all increase while their defense (12) decreases. However the tendency to succumb to one-shot-kills means not many survive to berserk, in spite of having 12 hp. They can be deployed in independent formations or mixed in with your other bare-chested troop-types to improve overall morale. With magical support from Gutuaters, these are the goto troops for fighting in and around forested lands.

Armored Troops
Marverni HI comes in 4 flavors, although one type can only be recruited at your capital. The backbone of your threat-projection, each has it's niche role to play:
 * Marverni Noble Warrior: Gold 11, Resources 17, Broadsword, Chain Mail Cuirass, Iron Cap, Shield
 * A solid EA heavy infantry unit, superior to indy HI, especially due to Mapmove-2. At 80% and 67% the cost of their Ambibate and Carnute Noble counterparts respectively, sometimes you are simply tight for gold (or saving to built forts/labs) but still want to maximize use of available castle resources. If that is the case, buy these.


 * Ambibate Noble Warrior: Gold 14, Resources 17, Broadsword, Chain Mail Cuirass, Iron Cap, Shield
 * Better attack, defense and morale than the Marverni Noble Warrior for 3 more gold. Those extra stats really seem to make a difference, too. THE mainstay EA heavy infantry unit of your nation. Mass armies of these from your many forts.


 * Carnute Noble Warrior: Gold 17, Resources 15, Axe, Chain Mail Cuirass, Iron Cap, Shield
 * Initially less proficient at fighting than the other two Noble Warrior types, this unit has high morale, can go berserk and has the forest survival ability. The berserker-effect has much better chances of coming into play if they are fighting under a Protection spell, or pitted against missile troops. But where the Carnutes really shine over the other two types is their strategic mobility on forested maps.  A possible side-use to make use of the high morale and the berserk effect is to mix Carnute Noble Warriors in with independent Elephants (or any other unit that tends to flee, at least 5 Carnute Nobles for each Elephant). Carnute nobles are much less likely to break and flee, but are slower than the Elephants. The Elephants will run forward trampling over the enemies while the Carnute Nobles catch up. Morale is always checked for the entire squad, and as long as you have enough Carnutes alive, the Elephant will fight to the death before considering fleeing.


 * Boar Warrior: Gold 35, Resources 15, Sacred, Axe, Chain Mail Cuirass, Iron Cap, Shield
 * The sacred Boar Warriors are only recruit-able in your capitol. Fighting with axe and shield, this unit is capable of going berserk (3) and can be blessed to higher stats. Without a bless, the Carnutes offer the same stats for half as much gold. With a modest N-bless alone, a group of Boar Warriors can offer a viable expansion-army strategy, although tbh your Ambibates also serve well for this. Once you have researched Body Ethereal (Alt-3), the possibilities for using ethereal blessed warriors starts making the Boar Warriors interesting in spite of the high cost.

Cavalry

 * Eponi Knight: Gold 30, Resources 18
 * Maybe the best unit in your arsenal. Not very expensive for a mounted unit, and having the unique combination of good armor, shields and javelins. Like most mounted missile troops, the precision is low (precision 8) but the Eponi Knights are excellent melee fighters with shield and broadsword. Unfortunately, the horses are not trained to use their hoof in battle like other heavy cavalry.
 * Remember that in one combat square can fight 3 infantry units (size 2) but only 2 mounted units (size 3). Depending on the foe you are facing, it can be better to use the Eponi Knights as flankers or second line troops behind your Ambibate Noble warriors instead as shock troops in the first line.

Commanders

 * Marverni Scout: Gold 20, Resources 2
 * A simple Scout with bad morale (9), no armor, no shield and a spear. Use independent scouts instead if available. A niche role is tagging alongside your main armies while hidden to act as a gem-carrier.


 * Marverni Chieftain, Ambibate Chieftain: Gold 40/50, Resources 17
 * Both are Leadership 40 commanders armed with broadsword, chain mail, shield and increase the morale of nearby troops (Standard 3). The only difference between them is the Ambibate Chieftain has attack value 13 instead of 12, of questionable value for 10 more gold. With defense skill 15 for 40 gold, the Marverni Chieftain looks like a potential candidate for a cheap thug.


 * Carnute Chieftain: Gold 60, Resources 15
 * Similar to the other two foot commanders, but capable of going berserk and having the forest survival ability. He is your go-to leader-type on heavily forested maps. His low defense for a commander (11) makes him unlikely to survive very long if forced to trade blows in battle.


 * Eponi Chieftain: Gold 60, Resources 18
 * Your best commander to ferry huge armies, with excellent leadership (80) and good strategic movement (3). Having the highest defense skill (18) of any of your commanders, makes him your primary thug candidate. As a thug, give him a frost brand and stack him with a astral mage who can cast Body Ethereal along with a bodyguard of Eponi Knights set to Guard Commander so he doesn't get mobbed.


 * Vergobret: Gold 50, Resources 1, Magic: 1H, sacred
 * Your standard priest suffers from low precision (9) as well as from old age (that will in turn lower his precision even more). For the same amount of gold you can recruit a younger independent priest.


 * Sequani Stargazer: Gold 80, Resources 1, Magic: 1S
 * With high Magic scales, this mage is a dirt-cheap researcher and a useful communion slave for battlefield magic. Recruit lots of these, as Astral magic offers a good way to make early-game thugs out of virtually any available unit (Alt-3 Body Ethereal). Their major downside is Map-Move 1, which completely gimps your otherwise mobile MM-2 armies. But for defending/expanding home turf close to their labs, they excel. In an emergency, research to (Thaum-2) for Communions so the masters can cast Mindburn. To get the most out of your Stargazers' communion potential, research Power of the Spheres (Conj-4) and Light of the Norther Star (Conj-5), and use reversed-communions, then spells like Paralyze (Thaum-4), Enslave Mind (Thaum-6), Solar Rays (Evoc-2) and Stellar Cascades (Evoc-5). Even better is when you can forge Eyes of the Void and Spell Focus (Const-4) to leverage the effectiveness of your mind attacks, and Banner of the Northern Star (Const-6 S4) to further boost all your astral magi in battle.


 * Gutuater: Gold 120, Resources 1, Magic: 1H1N 100%(WESN), sacred
 * A versatile Mage-Priest and also a very cost-effective researcher. Once you feel safe enough with sufficient Stargazers to fend off an early rush, start buying Gutuaters to diversify your magic. This will open up many useful combat spells and magic items for thuggery (Frost Brand, Eye Shield, Vine Shield, Horned Helmet, Hydra-Skin Armor, Ring of Regeneration, Amulet of Resilience, etc.). Their precision is good (11) and can be further improved by self-buffing Eagle Eyes (Alt-1 N1). With forest survival ability as well as good strategic movement (2), the Gutuater has the mobility to keep pace with your main troops. He can perform any role calling for an H1 priest, as well as blood sacrifice to expand your dominion if you find some blood slaves.
 * Interesting spells for the 4 Gutuater types:
 * (1S1N1H) - these can fulfill the same role on offense that the Stargazers do on defense, with Nature buffs mixed in to boot. In addition, they can Curse (Thaum-1 N1S1) any SC that is too tough to kill outright.
 * (2N1H) - Early on, both Sleep Cloud (Evoc-3) and Haste (Ench-4, use an extra N-gem to cast) are very realistic goals. A single casting of Sleep Cloud doesn't do much, but a half dozen casts at the same location give your broadsword-wielding warriors a field day. Haste of course allows 2 attacks per round, which buffs Ambibates to chop through hordes of enemies. Breath of the Dragon (Evoc-4) is a lackluster spell, but if you are fighting against glamoured troops, the poison damage can pop the glamour to even the odds. After some deeper research we can cast Wooden Warriors (Alt-5) and Storm of Thorns (Evoc-7, also pops glamours). With a Thistle Mace (Const-4) or an extra N-gem we can script Mass Protection (Alt-7), boosting your entire army's armor, then Charm (Thaum-7) or Polymorph (Alt-8).
 * (1W1N1H) - More anti-glamour tactics using the poison clouds from Moss Body (Alteration 3) plus Cold Resistance for fighting in Cold scales. The unscripted AI loves to spam Frozen Heart (Alt-6) in battle. Summon Bog Beast (Conjuration 4, summons 3 poison-spitting beasts) offers more poison-cloud magic, but by the time you can cast it (you'll need to boost to W2) you probably will have better uses for your gems.
 * (1E1N1H) -
 * Considering that you have easy access to Dwarven Hammers (Const-2), loads of E+S gems, and all of your Druids can forge Crystal/Slave Matrices (Const-4), it is very realistic to mass produce those items and have all of your Gutuaters join a communion in combat to boost their paths for even more powerful magic.


 * Druid: Gold 380, Resources 3, Magic: 2E2S2H 100%(WESN) 100%(WESN), 10%(WESN), sacred
 * The Druid is a powerful sacred priest mage. The druid suffer from old age but has excellent precision (12). If he is lucky to have a nature pick old age is less of a problem and he can also cast the spell eagle Eyes on his self to further increase his precision. If your Druid has no nature pick you should take care of his old age problems if you want to use him as a battlefield mage. He can also perform blood sacrifices. Druids can command cast Communion Master and use the cheap Stargazers as Communion Slaves.
 * Interesting Spells for your Druids:
 * Summon Earthpower (Conjuration 3) E2, Fatigue 20, Earth Magic +1, Reinvigoration 4 (also to Communion Slaves).
 * Troll King Court (Conjuration 6), E3, 55 Earth Gems, Gives you an E3 Troll King and a army of Trolls
 * Legion of Steel (Construction 5), E3, Fatigue 40, AoE 25 x 5, Precision 0: Raise Protection +4
 * Weapons of Sharpness (Construction 7), E5, Fatigue 20, Aoe 25, Rrecision 0, Range 10: Gives Armor Piercing !
 * Solar Rays (Evocation 2), S2, Fatigue 20, AoE 1, Precision 100, Range 35+, Damage 12+ AP
 * Blade Wind (Evocation 4), E3, Fatigue 80, AoE 1 Person x 52+, Precision 0, Range 30+, Damage 14
 * Gift from Heaven (Evocation 5), E3S1, Fatigue 50, AoE 1 x 3, Precision -3, Range 100, Damage 150 !
 * Strength of Giants (Enchantment 3), E3, Fatigue 40, AoE 25, Precision 0, Range 10: Gives +4 Strength
 * Interesting Items for your Druids:
 * Crystal Shield (+1 to all magic paths in Battle, including Holy)
 * Crystal Matrix (autocast Communion Master at the start of combat)
 * Slave Matrix (autocast Communion Slave at the start of combat)


 * Boar Lord: Gold 100, Resources 15, sacred
 * The Boar Lord bears no standard and is recruitable only in your capitol. He is sacred an can be blessed to higher stats. He is also capable of going berserk.

Heroes

 * The Wanderer
 * In the depths of Carnutes lives an ancient man of unknown origin. He is simply known as the 'One in the Woods' or the 'Wanderer'. No Druid has trained him, but he appears to be a master of the Druidic Arts. He is often accompanied by wild beasts and seems to prefer their company to that of men. Animals in turn avoid attacking him unless severely stressed. With the awakening of the God, he has reluctantly left his forest to aid the Druids of Canutes.


 * A sacred druid E2S3N4H2 armed with a magical poisonous Thistle Mace and the Animal Awe (+3), Forest Survival, Supply Bonus (40) skills.
 * Antlered One
 * Carnon


 * Blinded
 * Coriax

Useful Spells
If you take magic scales and/or an awake pretender, it is possible using Druids to get to level 3 within a single school within 7 months on 'normal research' setting.

Early Game
Those spell paths can work for an emergency if you get rushed early, and all of them can help assist your expansion. Otherwise once you feel confident you can research deeper into your chosen magic path:
 * Conj-1 Tanglevines and Alt-1 Eagle Eyes, Earthgrip. Those are quite useful to give your bare chested warriors the upper hand in battle when spammed, also against tough Indies. As a bonus, if you are rushed by Neifelheim or Abyssia your W randoms can buff Cold Resistance/Resist Fire on units that are set to 'Hold and Attack'.
 * Thaum-1 Farstrike (combos well with Alt-1 Earth Might) plus this school sets you up for boosting your S-magi using Communions.
 * Evoc-1 Starfires admittedly is a weak spell, but it gives your Stargazers something to cast. Later on Arcane Bolt works well vs magical seasonal spirits.
 * Alt-2 gives your expensive druids AoE Earthmeld then Alt-3 allows the defensive buffs Body Ethereal, Protection and Mossbody. This is the first step towards turning your low-resource bare-chested warriors and inexpensive Stargazers and Gutuaters with random N and W picks into an asset. Set up your warriors to 'hold and attack' in groups of 8 led by a mage who in turn is set to cast their buff spell three times. Ethereal warriors are much tougher to hit by normal enemy infantry, and ethereal Eponi Chieftains outfitted with some basic magic items can serve as (squishy) mini-thugs. Protection bumps your bare-chests' armor up to 12 and your noble warriors to 19. Mossbody likewise increases armor, which should be enough to prevent your bare-chests from succumbing to one-shot kills.
 * Const-2 to forge Dwarven Hammers and Boots of Giant Strength (for boosting Farstrike even more). Other useful thuggery magic items gained at this level are Eye Shield (N2) and Crystal Shield (S3 E2), along with clams, fetishes and soul contracts if your Pretender has the right paths. Then on to Const-3 so your E-random druids can cast Legions of Steel, a good AoE buff for your noble warriors or indy troops, but it doesn't work on bare-chests.
 * Conj-3 allows Summon Earthpower and Power of the Spheres. Both boost your E/S spell-casting power and lessens fatigue for Druids and Stargazers in battle. If Stargazers join in a communion first, a Communion Master casting PotS will boost all Communion Slaves to S2. Most early summons are pretty weak, but Sounder of Boars might be useful to help defend a besieged castle or when combined with Alt-3 buffs.
 * Thaum-2 for Mindburn (S2, combos well with Conj-3 LotNS) and Sleep (N2). The AI also likes to cast Berserkers, which can backfire if it randomly targets one of your own magi. Then on to Thaum-3 for Teleport (strategic mobility for Druids) and Panic (another favorite of the AI).

Mid Game
Construction 4 is a must (Wine Bags) to avoid supply problems and form simple items like Vine Bows and Ethereal Crossbows for your Eponi Chieftains.

Thaumaturgy 2 is important for site searching and Communion Master/Slave. Higher Thaumaturgy gives you Soul Slay, Enslave Mind and Charm.

Evocation 2 is necessary for Arcane Site searching and Combat spells, Evocation 4 gives you the deadly Blad Wind spell.

Construction 6 let you forge all path boosters (Ring of wizardry) and useful items for your commanders (Heraldic Lance).

Construction 7 allow Golems (great Raiders) Weapons of Sharpness (great Mass Buff) and Forge of the Ancients which let each of your mages forge as if he had +1 of every magic skill (so even your stargazer (S1) can an forge an Fever Fetish (F1N1, gibes 1 fire gem each turn).

Later on, research either Evocation/Thaumaturgy spells for more battlefield magic or concentrate on summons (conjuration)

If you have Golems:

Alteration 3 (Personal Luck, Body Ethereal) and

Enchantments 3 (Astral Shield) are important.

Golems have two Levels of Astral Magic, and which just a skull cap (Construction 6) can Teleport (Thaumaturgy 3) themselves on top of enemy armies (magic movement phase comes before normal movement phase).

Conjuration 6 allows you to cast Troll King Court and Sea King Court. Troll Kings make excellent battlefield buffers with spells like Legions of Steel, Strength of Giants and Weapons of Sharpness. Sea Trolls allow you to go underwater.

You have Astral/Nature mages. Equip them with path boosters and make good use of the Spell Winged Monkeys. Very funny in combination with charm.

Gift from Heavens is a vital part of your arsenal for demolishing thugs and other heavy units. Use with Eagle Eyes and/or Eye of Aiming or other precision booster abilities to make this spell actually connect with it's targets.

Nation Design
Marverni's power rests on large armies backed by magic, so we need good scales for both money and research. Take Order and use Sloth to pay for it: spread recruitment of noble warriors between your many cheap forts always built in mountains/forests, so can can get away with some Sloth. Magic should always be set at 3; this is not debatable, since Marverni needs as much research ASAP to be able to bring out the heavy combat magic, and your high magic scales also reduces enemy MR when fighting in friendly Dom. Growth is also important, so that our economy grows into the mid-game, and some of our old-age Druids won't catch afflictions in winter as easily. Misfortune 2 to pay for Growth is quite tolerable; you still can get gems and occasional boons, generally the worst events involve losing some gold or barbarian invasions, which our PD set to 20 in key provinces can easily handle. Order tones down the frequency of random events, plus later on, our Great Boars of Carnutes national summons can help prevent unlucky events by spreading them around your kingdom to blood hunt. Misfortune 3 by comparison can be brutal and is not recommended.

So that gives us suggested scales of Order 2, Sloth 2, Growth 2, Misfortune 2, Magic 3; to furnish good money and growth plus max-out our research, for an overall cost of 120 design points, which still leaves us plenty for a decent Pretender.

Try to put magic skills on your pretender that your Druids can not reach, like Blood, Death, Fire and Air.

Use nobles and lots of slingers / javelin throwers until you find independent archers. Build large armies, you have the commanders to lead them. Build Enough Stargazers and use the Druids with Nature Skill (no old Age problems), as deadly accurate Combat Mages (cast Communion Master, Eagle Eye, Combat Spells). Try to field at least 4 Stargazers for each Druid. Forge useful items for your Eponi Knights. Build lots of castles, your castles are cheaper than the castles of other nations and your troops are recruitable everywhere.

Strategy A: Take a Forge Lord and good Scales
This strategy concentrate on researching construction 7 as soon as possible to summon Golems. Your pretender has a bonus on forging items (even more if he forge himself an dwarven hammer) and can equip your golems / undead thugs with decent armor. Later in the game he can summon Spectres to get mages with random magic skills.

Pretender Design
Take a Lord of the Forge with Earth 4, Fire 2, Death 2. Invest all other Points in scales and medium Dominion strength.

Expansion
At the beginning, use your pretender to help expanding (don't send him out alone) and for site searching. Later, let him forge equipment or summon black servants. Black servants have the life-drain weapon and make good thugs if equipped with a good armor. Your druids are sacred and profit from the Earth-4 blessing. Make sure to bless your druids.

Research Order
Race toward Construction 7 (Golems, Weapons of Sharpness). At Construction 4 forge yourself a bunch of Skull Mentors if you have enough Death Gems. Only stop researching Construction to pick up site-searching spells. Conjuration and Enchantment gives you good undead Mages / Thugs, while Evocation and Thaumarturgy gives you good battlefield spells.

Strategy B: Take good scales and Fountain of Blood
This strategy try to make most use of your good national troops and allow a little blood / devil factory for raiding. It also gives you an interesting Bless Effect (+3 Strength) which is useful for independent amazon provinces.

Pretender Design
Give your Fountain of Blood 6 skills in Blood Magic and 2 Skills in Fire Magic. If you need more magic or better scales, try a imprisoned or dormant pretender. Take Productivity 3 and Growth 2, Dominion 7. You can gamble and take Turmoil 3 as well as Luck 3 to have less income, but more positive random events (some of them will give you gold). Or you could take Order-3 and Misfortune-3 to receive no heroes and a greater percentage of bad events, but more gold. Either choice is a net 0 points.

Research Order
Race toward Construction 2. Now you can forge a Dwarven Hammer (gives 25% forging bonus), a crystal shield for your prophet (+1 to all magic levels in combat, including holy). With an crystal shield, every Druid can cast divine blessing (blessing for all sacred units) so search for amazon provinces.

Switch your Fountain of Blood to Blood slaves hunting as soon as possible. Watch the unrest rate in your Blood Hunting province and lower taxes / patrol if necessary. You can only hunt for Blood Slaves here for a long time so do it. As soon as Construction 2 is researched, build a Soul Contract (gives you 1 devil each turn). It is important to make this as soon as possible because the soul contract pays off more if he is in the game longer. Now split your research as needed between Conjuration, Evocation and Construction.

But your ultimate research goal is Blood 7 (Arch Devil, Fire Magic) and even better, Blood 8 (Bind Heliophagus, a Flying Blood Mage and one of them is also a Death Mage as well).

Strategy C: Take an Oracle with insane good scales
The oracle is cheap and has some astral magic skill. Sit at home, research or cast "Acashic Record" and out-produce everyone with your insane good scales.

Pretender Design
Take an Oracle with medium Dominion Strength and invest in magic scale +3 (gives +2 Research points) and other good scales. The Oracle has already 3 levels of Astral Skill. Prefer good scales over good magic skills.

Research Order
Concentrate on spells that can resisted by magic resistance. Your Magic+3 dominion make it harder to resist such spells. Research the "Enslave Mind" spells and let your army grow as it move !

Strategy D: Scales + Bless
Marverni's Druids are sacred... your best and most expensive magi... so give them a bless to empower them even further. But you want to buy good scales too, so you will need to take an imprisoned pretender to achieve both. You can use blood sacrifice to help spread your dominion, so you can get away with weaker dominion.

Pretender Design
Take an Imprisoned Crone with E4 D4 N4, Scales: O2 G3 L3 M1 Dom 3. This gives you great scales plus a nice multi-bless for your spell-casting Druids (or any other sacred) that will remain useful throughout the game. Nature 4 cures the Crone of her old age, and she can be boosted to summon Lamia Queens for D/B magic diversity and endgame Tarts. Or substitute the Crone with the Arch Druid and you get a very mobile stealthy pretender with recuperation - he should prove to be very tough for your enemies to locate and kill.