[Scott Hebert]

Originally posted by Cainehill:
[QB] Seems to me that CotS should start with a Missionary, not a Friar (since they don't recruit Friars anymore).

Quite possibly. The Missionary isn't Stealthy, is he? I could see problems with giving a Sailing Stealthy Priest as an initial commander.

OTOH, Raptor Caelum gets Seraphines with Province Defense.

Also - Holy Pyre seems unsuitable as a starting spell for the theme, given that they have no national mages capable of casting the spell, at least not without using gems.

Holy Pyre, yes, that's a problem. Probably replace it with that low-Evocation Astral attack spell.

Personally, I greatly prefer CotS Marignon to any other theme (or base) Marignon. I think that's because Air and Astral magic are my two Favorites.

But really, CotS's advantage is that it is the only nation to get Air-2/Astral-2 mages. Well, there's 15.625% of Arco's Mystics, but I wouldn't want to bet on 15.625%. Get enough Chartmakers together, and you can outdo Caelum's High Seraphs at Orb Lightning.

The other nice thing is that none of your mages are capital-only.

And you don't lose access to your Inquisitors.

All in all, CotS is a very nicely done theme, to me.