Byzantine Pythium - hype/brainstorming thread

[Burnsaber]

For a very long time, I've had very special beef with MA Pythium. You see, Pythium is the closest thing to Byzantine in this game and I'm really into ancient Byzantine lore. But, MA Pythium has a lot of things that I dislike, which prevent me from really enjoying from playing with them:

1) It's really, really powerful. Way beyond the powercurve of nations I like to play.
2) I know that KO was trying to his own thing, but Hydras don't belong here. It's the second rome!
3) The absolutely random and no way explained extra gem income from capitol. It's a small thing, but from a design standpoint it just boggles me. Why pythium? Why have it as the *single* deviation from the norm? It does not help that it has been bugging me since Dom:PPP.
4) Those old mages, although really powerful, are really micro intensive and just annoying.

So what I'm going to do is to alter the basic Pythium.

How?




Commanders
Imperial Alchemist -> Cap only, 1F1W (110% F/E/W), +1 research, 10% chance of starting with an affliction (alchemy is dangereous).
Ambassador -> Spy, nothing else special
Varangain Captain -> Cap only, very good stats, sailing, high leadership
Theurg Artisan -> Cap only, -1 research, 10 forgebonus, 1?1H 100%F/E/W/S/A. Those with fire are glassblowers, air is singer, earth is sculptor, astral is canthor, water are painters.
Divine Emperor -> Starting commander, not recruitable/summonable. S4H3, automatic communion master.

Units
Varangian Guard -> Northern mercenaries that have become a part of normal military with time. Cap only, good stats, especially high morale, forest survival.
Pyrote -> Cap only, expensive in resources, fire AoE melee attack, negative fire resistance.
Kataprakhtoi -> Noble cavarly, good stats, but are hampered by less than optimal equipment (no plate, only light lance, use maces instead of broadswords)
Verdanriotai -> Northern mercenaries that have become a part of normal military with time. Composite bows, waste/forest survival.

New Spells
-> H1 communion slave (note that this will not work on pure H1 priests, only those who have an actual magic pick -> this piece of data is from my Holy War modding days)
-> H2 communion master
-> F2W1 "Greek Fire" combat spell, likely a fireball that leaves a small "Fire Cloud" behind.
-> Awesome H5,6,7 and 8 combat spells
-> "Theosis", Conj level 7, 40 gems, W3S4 (the caster paints an icon so masterful that it allows him to contact the celestial plane and ask for the help of an archangel.)

The Archangels;
Note that these are the archangels of Orthodox Christian tradition, so they may differ from what you know. Statwise, all of them are close to regular Archangles, expect where otherwise stated

-Gabriel "Man of the Lord" -> Divine messenger and warrior S3A3H3, stealth, high mapmove, higher combat stats, wields a mirror of green jasper* on his left hand.
-Barachiel "Blessing of the Lord" -> Leader of all Guardian Angels and holds dominance over lightning, A4F2H3, lighting attacks, can summon "angels of the host", wields a white rose on his left hand*
-Uriel "Light of the Lord" -> F4A2H3, higher combat stats, extra holy fire attacks but only one hand slot since he always wields the orb of fire*
-Jegudiel "Glorifier of the Lord" -> Patron Saint of all labour and arts. S3E2F1H3, reinvigoration, forgebonus, high leadership, lower combat stats, wields a crown on his right hand* to represent the rewards for spiritual labour.
-Raphael "Healing of the Lord" -> Patron saint of medicine and sciences. S3N3H3, healer 100, reserachbonus, recuperation, regeneration, lower combat stats, wields a jar full of medicine in his left hand*
-Selaphiel "Prayer of the Lord" -> Patron saint of praying. S4F1A1w1E1H4, very high researchbonus, attack value 0, no melee attack, greatly lowered combat stats, domsummons angels of the host, automatic communion master.

-Michael -> He will be a unique combat summon from one of the holy 5-8 spells. No magic (since he would then just spam smite or something equally lame). Extremely good combat stats, wields a very powerful holy lance and can banish people to hell (like the artefact "Hell Sword")

* In classic orthodox iconography, this angel is often painted with that item. I might give the item a "dom3" function, depending if I come up with something awesome for it.

Changes to base Pythium
-> Starting commanders to Ambassador and Divine Emperor
-> Battle Vestal no longer cap only
-> Description edits
-> Starting gem income to: 1F 1A 1W 2S
-> Arch Theurgs will be multiheroes and only slightly old age, magic changed to S3 3? H3 (F/A/W -> linked random)
-> Theurgs - not old any more, magic changed to S2 2? H2 (F/A/W - linked randoms), gold cost increase
-> Theurg Acolytes get an additional 10% F/A/W random.
-> Following units no longer available;
Hydra, Hydra Hatchling, Hydra Tamer, Scout, Emerald Lord, Lizard Catapharact, Lizard Lord, Gladiators, the Master of Games multi-hero


Angel Summon Changes (will affect Marignon too)
Contact Harbringer (OLD, level 6, S4, 25 pearls) -> NEW: level 5, A2 S3, 27 air gems
Angelic Host (OLD, level 7, S5, 50 pearls) -> NEW: level 7, F2S4, 55 fire gems)
Others left as they are. This change is so that the player might occasionally *use* these spells. In vanilla it's just better so save up your gems for Angels of Fury or Seraphs.

Of course, if you like the basic Pythium this won't likely be your mod. What I'm aiming for here, is to bring a breath of fresh air into a power nation that has been played to death. Perhaps allowing for a option for those who want the glorious "second rome" instead of just endless Hydras.