Dominions 6 - Rise of the Pantokrator

So, I picked up Dominions 6 a while ago. Only played for 10h so far. I'm just looking for impressions from folks. It's fine if you've played earlier Dominions games. What do you think about it? Any tips? I want to play multiplayer games one day, but I'm still a noob.

The number of variables and theoretical options seems massive. There are over 100 playable nations between 3 ages. Im probably gonna play Middle Ages since it seems the most fun™ and cozy™ I'm feeling a bit of choice paralysis regarding nations and pretender creation.

I'm really interested in nations that use blood magic