I'm not a fan of double 9 blesses, except for the S9X9 blesses via Oracle, because of the horrible scales that come with them. So with that in mind I used an imprisoned E9N6 great mother in my Marverni test run (first 12 turns). Dominion strength was 7 and scales were order3/sloth2/misfortune1/magic1.
I really liked that particular setup. By the turn 13 I had conquered 22 provinces, had two forts under construction and really nice gold income. My expansion forces, which I recruited every other turn, were made of Gutuater + 6 to 10 Boar Warriors. I didn't recruit any other units because this was a simple test, with additional recruitment I might have been able to snag one or two extra provinces. Indy strenght was 5 and there was plenty of room on the map.
E9N6 bless has great synergy with Boar Warriors because berserk goes very well together with regen and high prot.
E9N6 has also very good synergy with Maverni's mages because it gives reinvigoration and regeneration lessens the effect of old age somewhat.
For some early research I think the best choices are alteration 3 (eagle eyes & protection), evocation 4 (arcane probing & blade wind), thaumaturgy 3 (site searchers & teleport) and construction 4 (clams, hammers, thistle maces & shrouds of the battle saint). The research order depends on game situation but evocation 4 first is probably the safe choice.
EDIT: Looks like my thoughts about Marverni are pretty similar to fantasma's, except for the bless part. I think N9 doesn't give big benefits compared to N6 and berserk is a real liability with sacred human mages. N9 also cost a lot more of design points. Other than that, what was that saying...great minds think alike.
Re: Marverni
Threaded Mode