[Nikelaos]

i would stick with ulm to be fair, man just ain't worth it, nice things to know also to get you started (and hopefully have you contribute more to and awesome game), you're national mages are completely unaffected by drain (though the lack of high power mages means you may like to take magic anyway)

and you're gaurdians aren't sacred (unlike their LA counterparts) but are still armed with those lovely halberds with the bane of heresy (also they are heavier hitters than you're other infantry and cost slightly less resources than you're other 20 protection troops so they may very well make the core of you're armies along with sapper/arbalest support and later mages casting you're national earth/holy evocations.)