An interesting twist is if you make the Eater of the Dead your pretender, it will eventually turns against you too. That's the only way I've found so far to create a true independent pretender (I mean, with the 'pretender' flag). But I've not pushed the experiment far enough to see if this kind of pretender exsudes its own dominion, or is affected by yours, etc.
'Revolutions' is an MP game idea I'm toying with, where every nation would be given an EotD pretender you'd use for early expansion and abandon in a place where it'd hinder your enemies more than yourself.
Oh, BTW, don't try to control a pretender EotD turned independent (Charm, Control the Dead, etc.), it doesn't work.
