[Cainehill]

Yeah - they have some good troops ( hoplites & spiders ), decent mages, okay priests, etc. Maybe part of the problem with them is that they don't have any obvious killer strategies : super bless won't get the job done because the sacreds are so expensive, there's no research path that guarantees easy expansion (unlike, say, Abysia : conjuration 3 + evocation 5 and you can pretty much mow through any normal independents without fail, solely with national mages & troops).

Dunno - shave 5 gold off the cost of the mages, give an extra gem / turn from the capitol, something minor like that might give a little boost, but it's hard to think of something really lacking with the nation.