[PrinzMegaherz]

Why not just pick a Red Dragon? You get a great "static" Pretender in the form of a sage plus a flying fire-breathing killing machine that can take out entire armies with ease.

The red dragon has not many item slots to power him up, and he might gain afflictions even in early game, depending on the indipendents strength.

Imho there are only 2 ways to have your pretender doing melee at the beginning of the game:

1. Pretender is immortal/recuperating with the first beeing better.

2. Your Nation has strong nature magic for fairy queens and gift of health.

Sadly, those points often go hand in hand with each other. You will have nations like Pangaea with both and Caelum with none.
I actually tried the Nataraja with Caelum, 4 ice swords, some air armor (cant remember which) and some other items you get early game. This worked for 2 or three fights until he lost one arm, and went downhill from here.