What faction is most appealing to new players?

[sector24]

For learning a bless strategy and general AI stomping, Niefelheim is the best. But they don't really teach you anything about magic.

For complete security and the freedom to make mistakes, EA Atlantis is great because the AI basically can't attack you. Plus you have a good spread of the straight forward magic paths like Earth, Water, Fire.

For a general experience I'd say the best nations are EA Agartha, EA/MA Arcosephale, and Tien Chi. If the AI gangs up on you (like they do) it's nice to have a ridiculously overpowered unit like Troglodytes, Elephants, etc. There's also very little in the way of tricky combat scripting or micromanagement.

Ultimately you want to pick a nation and pretender that your wife will find interesting, even if it's not that easy to play. If graphics are an issue, the newer nations are generally prettier: Fomoria, Bogarus, Lanka. Older nations tend to have some blurry sprites.