Agree about Agarthans being cave salamanders - this also explains why they are amphibious... Though they should have tail in this case!
About origianl topic - I personally would prefer Machakans to retain "sorceror" writing, though of course it should be retained in other Machaka-related texts. And I like them as a nation, it's just that there are so many other cool nations in the game! (and it's just possible that people tend to settle in one nation - expecially if it's present in various ages, which Machaka sadly isn't!)