How does one fight the sea?

[Shovah32]

Machaka isnt a blood nation. Are you sure you arent thinking of mictlan(and machaka is MA. MA Mictlan has no blood magic).

[sum1lost]

Whoops.

I misread that- thought it was mictlan.

sorry.

[Edi]

Hordes of undead could do it, but the problem is that most amphibian undead are of the brittle variety. Ghosts and spectral mages would probably be the best bet.

[Chris_Byler]

First of all, fortifying some coastal provinces (or all, if you have the time and gold) can help with the raiding problem. To strike back, though, you'll need some waterbreathing troops or items.

Indies can also help a lot - jade amazons have water, a type of site-based enchantress that comes from a couple of nature sites has random elements.

Some constructs are amphibian or poor amphibian, so one water-breathing mage (including some summonable undead mages, if they have non-Death magic skills) can lead a bunch of Crushers into the sea. However, mindless constructs have the same problem against R'lyeh as mindless undead - the one guy with the mind takes all the mindblasts.

If you can't get anything else sooner, Faerie Court can get you an air mage, which you can then use to Auspex for air gem income and eventually forge some breathing items.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

You may be able to blight their production provinces- given the common nature of amphib indies, not the best strategy. But keep in mind that the only place they can get mages underwater is from forts or magic sites.

Putting aside the fact that R'lyeh doesn't have capital only units, you can often gain quite a few advantages by causing tons of unrest in an enemy capital, the least of which is decreasing their gold income.

[Slough_Gairn]

You can also alchemize some astral gems and empower a commander with water (but that will take 100 gems each).

[Sandman]

Fortified temple provinces on the coast will whittle away at his dominion. Expensive, but as you say, Machaka is pretty hosed for getting underwater. Casting blight is a good idea. Raging hearts as well if you can get it.

[Foodstamp]

There is only one way to fight the sea!