A faction is four decisions: the form your race takes, the culture, two society traits, and the tome line you research. Each one is fine in isolation. The reason most home-made factions feel slightly weak is that they were each chosen for a different reason.
What makes them agree is affinity. You start with six affinity points — one or two from culture, two from each society trait — and the tome tiers are gated on them: 3 for tier III, 6 for tier IV, 8 for tier V. Point all three sources at one affinity and you are standing on the tier IV gate at turn one. Spread them and you are below tier III when the AI is fielding tier IV units.
The three builds — ranked
| Rank | Build | Culture and society traits | Why it ranks here | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Awakened Order | **High** (2 Order) + **Devotees of Good** (Order) + **Chosen Uniters** (Order) | Six Order at turn one. Order's channel is Spirit damage and High's Awakened effect already adds +4 Spirit to base attacks, so culture and affinity multiply the same number instead of pulling apart. Devotees of Good pays +10 Gold and +5 Imperium per good alignment level, and High grants +10 alignment for free — the two feed each other without any play on your part. | It commits you to good alignment to get the payout. If you intend to raze cities and break oaths, half the build's economy evaporates. |
| 2 | Industrious Materium | **Industrious** (2 Materium) + **Ancient Wise Ones** or a Materium trait + a second Materium trait | Six Materium at turn one, with the most forgiving battlefield package in the game: every unit gains Bolstered Defense and Bolstered Resistance once per turn and melee units get an extra retaliation attack. Materium channels Physical damage, which needs no setup and is never resisted into uselessness. Scouts prospect for nodes, so the economy runs itself. | The lowest ceiling of the three. Nothing in Materium scales the way summoning or Awakened stacking does — it wins by never being behind rather than by pulling ahead. |
| 3 | Astral Summoner | **Mystic** (1 Astral) + **Mana Channelers** (Astral) + **Gifted Casters** (Astral) | Five Astral at turn one and the highest ceiling on this list. Mystic's school sets the magic attacks of **all** your units, Mana Channelers halves summoning spell mana cost and adds +30% experience to magic-origin units, and Gifted Casters adds +10 world map and +10 combat casting points with -20% combat spell mana. The Astral tome line is built around summons and meta-magic. | Mystic gives 1 point rather than 2, so you reach the tier IV gate one tome later than the builds above. Your early army is genuinely thin while the engine is assembled, and summons cost upkeep the moment you want them standing. |
If you are not sure, build the Awakened Order faction. It is the only one of the three where the culture's own mechanic and the affinity's damage channel are the same number, it reaches every gate on schedule, and its economy pays out for something (alignment) you were going to have anyway. Everything below is the reasoning — what each decision is actually buying, and why the order you make them in matters.
Make the four decisions in this order
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1
Affinity
This is the only decision that constrains all the others. Order is Spirit damage, Chaos is Fire, Nature is Blight, Materium is Physical, Astral is Lightning, Shadow is Frost. It also decides which tier IV and V tomes you will ever be allowed to research.
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2
Culture
Now pick the culture whose points land on that affinity. Architect is two points in an affinity you choose, so it fits any answer. High is 2 Order, Industrious is 2 Materium, and the rest are one point each — Barbarian is the only split, at 1 Chaos and 1 Nature.
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3
Both society traits
Two points each, so this is usually four of your six starting points. Point both at the same affinity unless you are deliberately running Empire of the Cosmos, which rewards the opposite.
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4
The first four tomes
Tier I and II have no affinity requirement and their spells are the cheapest you will ever buy, so spend those two freely. From the third, take single-affinity tomes in your affinity for +2 each.
What society traits are actually buying
They are the largest levers in faction creation and the easiest to pick for the wrong reason. A representative spread:
| Society trait | Affinity | What it does | When it is the right pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| Devotees of Good | Order | +10 Gold and +5 Imperium per good alignment level, +10 good alignment, and +10 per stat at Pure Good | Any Order build that is not planning to raze cities. The alignment income compounds with High's free +10 |
| Chosen Uniters | Order | +30% income from vassals, +1 rank for Rally of the Lieges units, +10 good alignment | Vassal-heavy play, and it stacks alignment with the above |
| Gifted Casters | Astral | +10 world map and +10 combat casting points, -20% mana on combat spells | Any caster-forward build. Casting points are the real constraint on spell-heavy play, not mana |
| Mana Channelers | Astral | -50% summoning spell mana cost, +30% experience for magic-origin units | Summoner builds specifically. The experience bonus matters more than it reads — summons that rank up stop being disposable |
| Empire of the Cosmos | Astral | Removes affinity requirements at 1, 2 and 3 points of **every** affinity, paying +20 Mana, Knowledge and Imperium | The only build where spreading affinity is correct. Slow, wide and strong in long games |
| Prolific Swarmers | Chaos | -10% Food to grow population, -20% upkeep on non-magic units, +1 rank for tier I units | Wide aggressive empires that field cheap units in volume |
| Adept Settlers | Nature | -25% Imperium cost to found cities, +1 population for new cities | Expansion-first play. Conflicts with Imperialists and Chosen Destroyers |
| Fabled Hunters | Nature | +75% resources from clearing infestations, wonders and nodes, +5 HP regeneration per turn | Maps dense with infestations, and any build that plans to clear rather than expand |
Several society traits exclude each other, and a few exclude a lot. Chosen Destroyers cannot obtain new cities at all — conquered cities can only be razed — and it locks out seven other traits. It is a coherent plan, not a bonus, and taking it because razing pays +40 gold, mana and knowledge per 3 population is how people accidentally build an empire that cannot expand.
Why all three builds look the same from a distance
Because the affinity math does not care what you are playing. Six starting points is the tier IV gate. Single-affinity tomes are +2 and duals are +1 each. One tier V per game. Those constraints are identical for a summoner and a phalanx, which is why every strong faction in this game is "culture, two traits and a tome line all pointing the same direction" and every weak one is four good ideas that do not add up.
That is also the honest criticism of faction creation: the interface presents eleven cultures, dozens of society traits and six affinities as an open canvas, and the underlying rules reward a much narrower answer than the presentation implies.
If you want the open canvas the interface promises, run Empire of the Cosmos and take it seriously — one point of every affinity, then two, then three. It is the one configuration where dual-affinity tomes are efficient and where a wide, strange faction is mechanically correct rather than just charming.
For where each culture's points land, see the culture tier list. For the gates and the research cost curve in full, see the tome guide. If this is your first faction, the beginner guide covers the opening turns, and the honest review covers whether the DLC is required.
