Of course, the Calabim were also nerfed by making Vamps weak to Sun sphere spells. Still, they used to be overpowered.
(but I'm definately going to keep modding them to make them a little stronger.
I'll definably carry over 2 changes I've already made: the Blood Guard (Royal Guard UU, with equal strength on the offense and defense, doesn't have Spirit2 or guardsman but does have Vampirism, Law1, Mind1, channeling I and II, and Sorcery, can be upgraded to a Vampire Lord, and uses Rosier's Graphics), giving Losha some poison strength, allowing vamps to feast until no population is left (razing the city when its pop drops below 1), and changing Feed to let slaves be devoured, and to again boost a vampire's movement when Bloodpets are eaten. )
I don't think that Espionage will work quite like it does in BtS; it will mostly be tied to the Council of Esus religion. (Of course, I implemented BtS style Espionage almost 2 moths ago when I got tired of waiting for shadow. It isn't hard to do.)
Shadow will be released in 1 week, with whatever type of espionage it will have (I'm not saying that it won't later be tweaked)