What's a good starting nation for newbies?

[Foodstamp]

Ermor is a great nation to learn with, I know first hand. I was almost turned off of Dominions 2 until I tried Ermor Ashen Empire. I could never get far enough into the game to experience more than getting stomped by the AI after conquering a few independents until I tried Ermor.

I won a few games with Ermor, was able to understand the game a bit better beyond the initial conquering of my indy neighbors, and then I moved on to other nations. I still used death summons mixed with "live" troops and eventually I was weened away from the summoned fodder troops completely.