Hemah looked at the sea. It was calm, the waves gently washing the shore down the cliff. He heard footsteps behind him. The man slowly approached him and stopped by his side. Hemah realized that he was expecting that man, that it was why he came here in the first place.
What are you thinking about? The man asked.
Hemah hesitated for a moment.
Aifons? A question rather than a statement. Was he really thinking about them? But theyre gone.
They have never been truly gone.
Hemah wanted to turn his head to see the mans face but something stopped him. The sea . It was no longer calm. The waves were now reaching up to his feet, the wind was growing stronger the sound of thunder echoed under the dark sky. He felt the presence of something evil in the water.
You have to find us.
Hemah opened his eyes. The sea was calm again and the man was gone, but the feeling of evil presence remained.
Two water dwelling civilizations: Aifnos and Strange Creatures Without a Name at the Moment
The Aifons were not destroyed (at least not all of them) but rather captured and used as SCs slaves until recently they rebelled against their masters and now they seek retribution. Both civs are at war with each other.
Aifons are more Kuriotatesque, with small number of cites while SCs prefer plenty of smaller cities (probably only able to work first circle like the Jotnar).
Their ocean cities are invisible for anyone but the other aquamen. Most of their units are also inwisible on water. To be able to see their ocean cities you have to research Message from the Depth or Optics. Their ocean cities can be attacked by water walking units and most ships and are automatically razed. They can settle on land and their land cities act completely normal, but they get -1
and
from land tiles.
There should be a number of ocean-based resources that would only be visible to Aifons and SCs (and Lanun in case of pearls). I suggest that ocean and coast tiles yield should be changed for them (ocean 1
1
, sea (new) 2
, coast 2
1
all + 1
from sailing, coral unique feature gives -1
+ 1
with no effect on yield for land dwellers) with a bunch of special improvements (like kelp farm) and special worker unit.
Ocean cities do not gain culture at all; instead Aifons have a special building that gives a one-time boost of 10
so they can work the second ring.
Most units would be unique and they would all start with water walking and a promotion that would give double movement in ocean/sea, -% strength on land and would make it impossible to enter desert.
They would not be able to adopt any religion, and they would not spread to they lands. Aifons would have a ritual Awake Danalin, which would give them some bonuses and allow OO leaders to choose their alignment giving new units based on their choice (it would also affect heroes somehow).
Oh, and how about a submarine hero available for everyone (or rather the first civ to complete it to be exact)?