Worst Nations in Each Era

[thejeff]

No, a better starting fort would let you get more Pillars earlier, but they're still not worth the massive bless you need to make them useful. S8 just to bring them up to par with most sacred's base mr?

A cheap research mage would help. (A reef dweller mage, recruitable in coastal forts?)

A price break on Mages of the Deep would be nice.

[P3D]

Basalt kings have similar stats to the Niefels (or the other recruitable SCs) without the cold aura and less HP (50 or so).
Magi of the Deep are OK thugs but they are expensive for research.
A 10HP-ish Reef Dweller Mage with W1+100%FEW for 80gp is indeed what they need, as they cannot recruit anything useful in coastal forts.