[Molog]

The carrion lord is most efficient in reanimating carrion critters. 25 nature gems for 3 vine critters pro turn.

You don't need a dominion of 10 as carrion woods, as the chance to reanimate a carrion thing is 10*(dominion+1+growth+magic). As you are forced to take growth 1 and magic 1 anyway, a dominion of 7 would do.
Both growth and magic scale increase the chance to recieve a strong carrion creature by 1. Growth isn't really needed, magic scale is nice for research.

I suggest sloth 3 and turmoil 3 and cold/heat 3 because your people are dieing anyway. Take luck 2 or 3, or you'll suffer from lots of bad events.

The free carrion reanimations aren't all that nice. The manikin and mandragora only spawn if unburied corpses are present in a province. Additional the carrion beasts can spawn once a turn in forests.

If you take 5 nature on your pretender you could cast mother oak around turn 15. But the berserk+1 is nasty on sacred mages.

Satyr hoplites with protection cast on them become very durable.