Thanks for the comments, Viatos. I'm going to have to disagree with you (which I'd rather not, because at least you are playing my mod!
).
1) Why no Hero promotion for Master Zho? He would be infinitely improved by a Hero promotion in my humble opinion.
Yes, he would be infinitely improved, which is why he doesn't have it. Originally, he had Hero and also Channeling III, making him BY FAR the earliest Channeling III hero, and making Divination the obvious thing to rush. He was just way too good. As he is, he still comes with Domination - way earlier than you could hope to get Domination by any other means, and Channeling II, earlier than you could get mages. I didn't want to move him back in the tech tree - I wanted him available at Divination, giving the Myu a reason for all 4 of the post KoTE magic techs. So, he's weakened a bit - he only gets XP from his dominated units attacking, and he has low defense so you have to protect him from assassins.
2) Grey Sentries are not available before Hunting and Shadow Chambers, except you start with one. This is a little weird, I guess? If they're a Scout replacement, why not just have them block Scouts, maybe move Shadow Chambers to Ancient Chants or something?
Grey Sentries are basically a slight upgrade on scouts available to Nevos, because he has a recon-unit focus (whereas Zeriadh focuses more on the arcane and melee lines). However, I found that it was rare to ever use Shadow psionics with Zeriadh, so I wanted her starting Scout unit to be able to get Shadow Jaunt with just 1 skill-up. That way, Shadow Jaunt would be a lot more useful for early scouting. (Since Shadow Jaunt is primarily good for scouting, I wanted Scouts to actually use it - which would have been more or less impossible since you don't start with Shadow mana.) I am, however, considering a change to Shadow Chambers to make them available earlier, and NOT provide Shadow mana and not be limited. This is because limiting the building to 3 doesn't work right - it seems to limit it to only 1 (watch out for that!), and just move it around when you build it. If I did that, I'd probably figure out some other way for Nevos to get Shadow mana free - I don't think it's possible to change the palace for different leaders, and not sure I'd want to - Nevos would be crippled without Earth mana, I think...
So, short answer - Grey Sentries are slight upgrades on scouts rather than replacements. You get one to start, because it gives you someone who can get Shadow Jaunt early.
3) Nevos is like a thousand times better then Zeriadh thanks to Grey Sentries. Maybe not a thousand times. But it's an advantage without a clear mirror, similar to Mekara Order's Zaria, who gets vampires and religion and pretty much no downside. Grey Sentries, Shadow Chamber, and Deathtouched are not BAD things, but Zeriadh needs something to compensate. Her traits aren't doing it for her.
Really? Nevos only has Death Seeker and Ingenuity. Ingenuity is a weak trait that the Khazad get free as a third trait. Death Seeker is unique and kind of strong, but is it really stronger than Creative and Philosophical put together? Scouts with Shadow I aren't all that great; Free Shadow mana is okay, but not great until you get to tier 4 units; and the bonuses from Death Seeker are good against undead, but that's about it... I feel like increased cultural radius, reduced cost on some early buildings, and huge bonus to great person production is better.
