I've played a game with this nation. The fear aint that bad considering the low protection and the rotten admin from hillforts that limits recruitment potential. Even the ethereal warriors arent that great, all they have is a paralyze melee attack. If you are up against a strong archer nation you'll get killed quickly, particularly if they have flaming arrows or magic support.
I'm going to update this today, taking away the fear from several units and giving them some nice forts. That's all I'll do, but it should make them more playable.
I do intend to do a CBM version of them eventually, but that's a long way off.