Another new theme idea: Renaissance Marignon

[Sheap]

We already have Marignon-inspired Ulm in the form of Iron Faith; an Ulm-inspired Marignon would be ok too, I suppose.

1) In the Renaissance the power of the church waned. I think holy-3 priests would be plenty, plus Marignon has plenty of strong priest themes already.
2) In the Renaissance technology advanced. Crossbowmen could be replaced with Musketeers or an even less advanced firearm (Arquebus? ).
3) I would suggest that the advance of technology should also reduce magic. In addition to having weak mages, there should be a mandatory magic-0 or worse.
4) I like the forge bonus on the Renaissance Masters, but they shouldn't have Earth so they are different from Ulm. Also note that with 4 picks which may stack, they are still pretty fair mages and spectacular forgers.
5) I think you have to keep the cavalry around. Cavalry didn't really disappear until World War 1.
6) Given the advances in business during the renaissance, I think having well equipped, high cost units is OK (also works with your "expensive cavalry" idea).
7) National heroes: Da Vinci himself, a spectacular researcher/engineer. Machiavelli, who attracts assassins. One of the various Renaissance artists, who could produce money (is this possible?) I like heroes that do things other than just be mages/warriors.
8) Given the advance of science during this period, Astral would be an appropriate choice (and will also have the effect of keeping the Masters - who could probably use a better name - in the lab).

[Sandman]

Priests: A holy-4 priest is an advantage, but on the other hand, some of the greatest works of the Renaissance were religious in nature; the Sistine Chapel and Michaelangelo's David, for example.

Technology: Arquebusiers do fit the theme, but I reckon there's an unwritten law against gunpowder in Dominions. Why wouldn't T'ien Chi and Ulm have it as well?

Low Magic: I like this idea. Don't know if it's moddable though.

Earth Magic: Look at it this way. Most of the water nations are either cold-immune or water-breathing. The two strongest nature nations have lots of stealthy stuff. A forge bonus is simply the earth Version of this. Besides, with their engineering and sculpting skills, it does make thematic sense.

No cavalry: It's true that it not 'historically' accurate, but I just want to give the theme a clear, unambiguous weakness, to avoid kitchen sink syndrome.

Good troops: The way I see it, the Renaissance troops would be a tier above the Marignon troops; like default T'ien Chi and their Imperial troops. With possibly an ultra-elite unit above them. Their leaders (possibly mounted) would be Princes and Dukes.

Heroes: I was thinking the same thing. As well as Leonardo and Machiavelli, you could have Galileo (astral, researcher), Michaelangelo (earth, engineer, bonus to statue-making spells) or Marco Polo (sailing, stealthy, spy, air, water).

Astral magic: I wouldn't want to give them astral magic just so they'd be vulnerable to magic duel; that's annoying enough with T'ien Chi. One idea I had was to split the Renaissance Masters into sculptor, astronomer and artist, with earth, astral and nature respectively. They'd still be limited by low magic levels, partially dependent on lucky randoms.