I am not sure where to put it so I have suggestion of a nation set regarding some of the myths of my people, the Turks.
Early age nation (Name what you wish, may be similar to the word, Turan)
, similar to Turkic Tribes of Middle Asia:
Cavalry oriented, horse archery extremely popular with most units, with very cheap foot soldiers with spear,shield and furs from conquered, smaller tribes integrated into the Khanate. Since the G�kt�rks invaded China and absorbed much from it as culture and architecture, a similarity to Tien Chi in regular foot soldiers and Astral Magic for Shamen may be well put.
(Turkic Tribes used the same Chinese animal calendar and had astrologers learned from them)
*Very cheap militia Spearmen with spear, buckler and fur
*Regular Spearmen with Full Tien Chi leather armor,Shield,spear and 1 Javelin (just one)
*Very Cheap Cavalry with Furs , Spear and Shield
*Cheap Cavalry with Full Tien Chi leather armor,Falchion,Fur Helm and 2 Javelins
*Regular Cavalry with Studded Leather,Fur Helm, Lance, Composite Recurve Bow
*Expensive Cavalry with Blue colored Scale Mail cuirass, Composite Recurve bow, Buckler and Lance
*Sacred elite troops,trainable everywhere, may be named Tarkhan, equipped with :
*Falchion, Gilded Scale Mail hauberk, Winged helmet , Buckler and shortbow
Here is a picture for references:
Male Shamen named "Kam" having 2 Air 2 Astral 1 Clergy,
Female Shamen curing afflictions, 4 Nature,2 Air,2 Water and 1 Clergy,
War Shaman with 4 Air 2 Astral (The Stars foretell victory my Khan!),1 Death and 1 Clergy
with an expensive Elder Shaman with 5 Air 3 Death 2 nature 3 Astral and 2 Clergy.
Summonable creatures may be "Albiz" (Turkic equivalent to Bakemono-Changelings) and "Shurale"(Hairy woodland creatures with claws, like yeti), and the legendary Grey Wolves, who led the last dying Turkic tribe to freedom and safety, not to mention with mating a turkic woman, thus making a breed of half-wolves. Werewolf myth isn't unpopular with Turkic legends, and wolves aren't considered evil but benevolent, courageous warriors of nature)
As Archonsod Puts it, Deer are also considered Sacred, but this may be a part of supply bonus enchantment like "Sacred Herd" which generates 75 supply until dispelled in an army.
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Middle Age nation : (Historically, Turkic tribes ran away from unified Qin Dynasty and emigrated to Middle East, adopting a bit of Arabic culture and literally ruling the Caliphate itself as extremely well-favored mercenaries, thus giving birth to the Seljuk Empire.)
Having Run away from Ti'en Chi empire when it unified, the **** came to the lands of Abysia, and worked for Abysians as Mercenaries, as well as donors of human blood for the weird experiments of the Warlocks. Some of the Khans have found favor with Abysian nobles and intermarried with half breed Abysian women. Metalsmithing for armor is more common, putting a greater strain on resource requirements, and magic is considerably less sighted, though astrologers and air mages remain, with Tien Chi ancestral worship and Turanic Nature worship all but banned as a part of integration in Abysian lands,religion and culture
*Slingers
*Archer without any armor save a white shirt,and dagger (desert is so f***ing hot)
*Spearmen with considerable resource cost(13 maybe),Spear,Shield and Scalemail
*Light Cavalry with light leather armor, Scimitar and short bow
*Light Cavalry with same stuff, bow replaced with javelins
*Middle Cavalry with chainmail, composite recurve bow, lance and mace
*Heavy Cavalry with Heavy Scale mail cuirass, Scimitar, Lance and shield
*Heavy infantry with Mail Hauberk, Scimitar, Shield, Full Helmet
The Death and Astral Magic wielding Shamans are almost gone,
Only a lesser shaman of 1 Death and 2 Nature can be recruited, NOT clergy skills
*Lesser shaman of 1 Death 2 Nature, no clergy
*Cheap and young "Fire cultist" ( 1 fire 1 clergy )
*Middle aged "Spirit torch" ( 2 fire 2 clergy )
*Old aged "Soul Master" ( 4 Fire 2 Clergy 2 Astral)
*Reconciler cleric of young and old religion, with patrol bonus and stealth , 2 Astral 1 Fire 1 Nature 1 Clergy
NO sacred units, as the Khans adopted the "new religion" in a pragmatic way, and religious schism and decadence shatters the tribes from within, revealed in late age
Summonable units may be Djinni(Astral), Efreeti(fire) and Marid(Water), all flying units with 3 magic skill in their own path.
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Late age
Based on 15th Century Ottomans.
The Turanic hordes from the ages of old are vanished. The title "Khan" is all but lost when a splinter horde of Barbarians of Tien Chi Khans overran the corrupt Khanate of (Middle Age name for faction). Now, the shattered smaller tribes are unified under a new warrior Sultan, and he has conquered the crumbling last part of Pythium Empire. With Pythium administration and magocracy adopted into the old Turanic nobility, the new empire shied away from the dying fire of Abysian nobility. The old religion of the Abysians are incorporated into the Pythian palatial culture, thus forging the roots of a new Turanic empire with ancient horse-glorifying traditions all but gone.
*Basibazouk, simply irregular volunteers for fresh plunder.
May have random weapons, a rusty falchion maybe,club,sling,crude spear, and increases unrest like hell.
*Short bow,falchion,shield infantry with full leather hauberk and stealth (Based on fresh Levend levies), can pillage very effectively
*Chainmail, Spear and Shield, Full helm infantry. ( Basic foot soldier)
*Very Cheap Cavalry of Leather,Spear,Bow and shield, but only fighting for a single battle before leaving.( based on Turcoman tribed following the Ottoman to battle once per campaign), can pillage very effectively
*Timariot Cavalry, with more equipment like mail armor,large shield, scimitar,Full helmet but no missile weapon, may be either expensive to recruit or recruitable maximum 10 per territory owned(they just received a portion of land for payment, and the loot they earned during combat)
*Sacred Troops: Janissary. Comes in 3 Varieties,
One in leather cuirass, scimitar, shortbow, horsehair helmet, small shield, intended as a skirmisher.
One in Plate mail cuirass, no shield, large halberd,horsetail helmet, very good at defending keeps.
One in Scale mail cuirass, no shield, but a scimitar and an arquebus (a primitive one, with low accuracy and fire rate of a crossbow, armor piercing and effective)
Sacred Cavalry : Sipahi. Plate and chain mail, Large Shield, lance, mace,Large shield. Effective at patrolling and pillaging. Palace only Ghulamm Cavalry may be added, sacred, that is.
With shying away from Abysia, the old magic culture is reawakening, but Nature magic is no more used. With the Pythium court integrated in society, Astral magic is reborn with more fervor, as every fortune teller and astrologer has found favor either with a hamlet,village elder,palace or a noble's manor. However, there are rumors of Death and Nature practices amongst the Machaka-descendant Palace Eunuchs and some older Machakan harem midwives, and fire and astral magic is widely used amongst Palace magii. Clergy is isolated from magic usage, though some Imams(name may be changed, just cleric maybe) practice star-reading(level 1 astral) for the future of the Sultan.
*Sipahi Lord : Patrol bonus, 80 Leadership
*Astrologer : level 2 Astral
*Fortune teller : Level 3 Astral, occasionally 1 Earth
*Qatib : 1 Astral 1 Fire, but very good at research
*Vizier : 2 Fire 3 Astral, expensive, 120 Leadership, Palace only
*Eunuch : no magic, 80 Leadership, Patrol bonus, Palace only
*Djinni Tamer: 3 Fire 2 Astral 1 Water, can summon Djinni as "Allies", rather expensive. Old Aged.
*Shehzade : Palace only, 120 Leadership, Heavy Cavalry.