[Alneyan]

A SC can serve several purposes, but most can do some fighting early in the game. There are two brands of early-game province-takers: the physical Pretender, relying on protection and brawn, and the magical Pretender, relying on spells for defence. The physical Pretender can start taking provinces on turn 1, while the magical Pretender will need to wait for a few turns to research Alteration 2, and Alteration 3 to safely take more heavily defended provinces.

Some Pretenders will have a harder time fighting however: most notably, the rainbow mage (not uncommon for Ulm), with several paths at low level, and the immobile Pretender (a somewhat common setup for very high levels of magic, useful for powerful bless effects). Rainbow mages *can* take provinces, if you put enough points in the main paths of expansion, but it is quite risky, as the death of a Rainbow mage is a very hard blow (while going from Water 9 to Water 8 is nothing to write home about). If you have the points to spare, you could take a Vampire Queen: with her immortality, she will be much safer and will be able to do some mischief.