Dominions 3: The Awakening/Nations/Lanka

Overview
In the Early Age, the Demon Land is ruled by Demons and enslaved apes.

Units

 * Unit: Gold x, Resources y
 * Description

Commanders

 * Unit: Gold x, Resources y
 * Description

National Summons

 * Unit: Gems z
 * Description

Pretender Design
Great Mother or Cyclops

Magic: Earth 9 / Nature 9, Awakening: Imprisoned, Dominion: 5, Scales: Turmoil 3 / Luck 3, Growth 3, Sloth 1, Drain 2, Heat 2

Magic: Lanka's Palankasha (capital only) and Kala-Mukha Warrior (available everywhere) sacred troops are ridiculously durable with an E9/N9 bless. They never become tired, never retreat, hit extremely hard, and can absorb preposterous amounts of damage. These are your bread and butter, ultra-heavy troops you will use for just about everything (along with screens of reanimated Longdead). Later, you will complement these with Lanka's excellent national blood summons - Rakshasa Warriors are quite comparable to the above, while your higher level blood summons are natural SCs (a E9/N9 Dakini with Mistform and Mirror Image, plus a moderate investment in items like a Horror Helm/Spirit Helm, Star of Thralldom/Snake Ring+Snake Bladder Stick, and Vine Shield, can often defeat whole armies single handedly).

Scale selections: Drain 2 is there in part to pay for the other scales, but also to protect your extensive selection of demon and undead troops (national summons are invariably one or the other, and Lanka lacks MR boosting spells such as Protection of the Sepulcher, so they are quite vulnerable to banishment). While the research hit is regrettable, Lanka's easy access to Skull Mentors, cheap sacred researchers to hold said Skull Mentors, and excellent mileage out of a single magical research line (Blood magic) means that they can maximize benefit for a minimal cost.

Turmoil/Luck/Growth 3 are nice choices for a blood nation, allowing for good random income opportunities and sustained blood hunting, long term income growth via population increases, as well as grooming smaller provinces for the desired 5000 mark for blood hunting. Lanka benefits from a hybrid blood approach, converting medium/poor income provinces to blood while keeping a moderate number of gold producing provinces, since its sacred troops are useful all the way to the endgame.