Two questions

[Graeme Dice]

Gandalf Parker said:
There is no better, there is only pros and cons.

Of course there is a correct choice here. The solar disc costs 5 points less and gives you a dominion of three instead of a dominion of one. A F9W9 Son of the Sea also costs 645 points, and is available to Oceania, so this is the no-brainer choice for the bless pretender.

For those 5 points you get 10 more points of research to make good use of those high magics. Thats ALOT of research early on. And you get more equipment slots.

It's not a large amount of research, it's about what a single mage provides you. For an underwater nation, who will rarely have to worry about early attacks even from other water nations, I don't see that as much of a concern. As for the item slots, the son of the sea gets the same slots, and can actually be used in the field.