[Taqwus]

If memory serves, the Prince of Death already had some notoriety as an early expansion weapon for Ulm as a zero-enc commander with good combat stats. PoD + full plate is good early, could add a better weapon (Rod of Death was strength-not-added, not too impressive; even a Sword of Sharpness would arguably be better for a physically strong pretender against ordinary troops) if you like.

Without native astral, nature, or death, but with the usual dominion rules; hm. Note that you'd only need to empower -one- blood-2 mage to blood-3 and then give him a dwarven hammer to crank out brazen vessels, athames, even armor of souls if need be, and you wouldn't need to divert slaves to maintain or expand dominion. Mictlan would have easier Crossbreeding, 'tho, for rapid reinforcement. Intriguing. If I wanted a Blood nation, I'd probably prefer this Version for the drastically reduced micromanagement (until Illwinter adds a 'sacrificers don't pool slaves' or equivalent rule, that is).

Heroes might need tweaking, but I can't remember them except for Orokestes.