Dominions 3: The Awakening/Independents

Most Dominions 3 games start with each aspiring pretender's kingdom controlling one or just a few provinces; the remaining provinces are neutral.

Just because a province is neutral, however, does not mean that it is undefended. Each province has a population type; this influences both what troops can be recruited locally (and these will be the only troops recruitable there, until a fortress is constructed to allow recruiting 'national' troops, or a magic site is found that provides other troop types), and what troops are likely to be found fiercely defending their autonomy. A province that offers human feudal troops, for instance, is likely to be defended by a mixed force of human longbowmen, heavy cavalry, and heavy infantry.

There are, of course, exceptions. These tend to be highly interesting provinces. :D In addition, should the force be missing or seemingly highly depleted, this may also be a curiosity...

Some forces are much stronger than others. Their territories may make interesting buffer zones, especially for nations with stealth, flight or other abilities that let them bypass them. Keep in mind, however, that your opponents could be doing the same to you, and that you can't patrol to detect enemy spies in a province that you don't control.

Behavior
Independent forces behave differently than normal AI-controlled sides. For instance, they are passive; they do not recruit additional troops, patrol, build buildings, invade neighbors, or so forth. The province defense of an independent province is normally zero -- this means that their army is not backed by 'free' militia that respawn until province control changes. If broken in battle and they retreat, they vaporize completely.

This passivity and lack of province defense does mean that casualties inflicted on them are essentially permanent. In addition, they lack the free commander of the province defense, which means that it is possible to assassinate -all- their commanders in a province. In this case, their leaderless force will break the next time they are in battle.

Only passive factors such as certain random events will replace any losses.

Passive Effects and Random Events
They are affected by random events; however, as Independents, events that cause independent forces to appear augment their forces rather than force battle.

They are affected by any magical sites that have an impact on all units in the province.

They are also affected by any passive effects of magical items. It has been known to happen that an independent commander starts with an item that automatically summons a free demon every turn...

Crystal Amazons
Crystal Amazons all carry Short Bows, and permit the recruitment of generic "Amazon" archers and sacred Pegasus Riders. They're typically found next to border mountains, where the pegasi nest. The Crystal Priestess has H1 +50%S +10%A, while the Crystal Sorceress has A1S1 +10%S.

Atavi
Yup, these are the Atavi from Bandar Log. Your choice of Markata (dirt-cheap skirmishers), Atavi Archers (Short Bows), or Atavi Infantry (Maces and Bucklers), led by Atavi Chieftains (Falchions and Bucklers, oh my). They're all Animals and they all have Forest Survival; the Atavi also have the discipline to be stealthy.

Barbarians
Barbarians are only interesting in that they have a bonus to pillaging, plus Mountain and Wasteland Survival. They get a choice between a cheap Maul, or a more expensive (but better defensively) Great Sword. The Barbarian Chiefs opt for the Great Sword. Not that it matters, since they flee at the drop of a hat.

Cavemen
Just in case you really wanted giant, underequipped humanoids. Basic Cavemen have Fire Resistance 50, Cold Resistance 50, Wasteland and Mountain Survival, and Darkvision 50; they wield Great Clubs, and while their lack of equipment leaves their resource cost low, their not-quite-giant stats leave them demanding large piles of that shiny gold stuff. Caveman Champions are similar, but they managed to pick up Furs armor from somewhere.

Druids
Druidic forests allow for the recruitment of both Woodsmen (with a Short Bow) and their Woodsman Blowpipe cousins. The Druids themselves are N1H1, and also share the Stealth and Forest Survival traits with their Woodsman minions.

Bear Tribe
Bear tribesmen combine Mountain and Forest Survival with increased Hit Points and Strength. Their Warriors get to choose between a Spear/Javelin combo or a Hatchet. The Bear Tribe Shaman packs N1 +10%E, and adds Wasteland to its Survival talents; oddly, it is sacred, but has no Holy skill.

Deer Tribe
Deer tribesmen couple Wasteland and Forest Survival with increased Defence Skill. Their Warriors hold the front (poorly) with Spears and Javelins, while the Archers back them up with Short Bows. The Deer Tribe Shaman gets N1 +10%A, and also gets Mountain Survival; it is sacred, but has no Holy skill.

Horse Tribe
Horse tribesmen, obviously, ride their totemic horses into battle. The troop-level Horse Tribe Cavalry packs Spears and Short Bows offensively, and adds a Buckler and lots of leather armor on the defense. Horse Tribe Chiefs are essentially identical - which makes them much better at the light cavalry role than the default Mounted Commander/Light Cavalry combination.

Jaguar Tribe
Jaguar tribesmen might well be considered escapees from the Mictlan, and all have Forest Survival. Their preference is for Slings and Hide Shields, saving the armor for the actual Warriors. Jaguar Tribe Priests have N1H1 +10%(FWSB).

Lion Tribe
Lion tribesmen draw inspiration from the Impi of Zulu fame, and their troops have mapmove 3 instead of the usual 2. Neither the Archer (Short Bow) nor the Warrior (Spear/Javelin) bother with armor, however. The Lion Tribe Witch Doctor gets N1 +10%(FEDN) and Forest Survival, but a penalty to its research ability.