The Markgraf might be one of the funniest factions in Conquest of Elysium 5, because the whole faction feels like someone looked at a battlefield and said:
“Waste not, want not.”
Most factions see dead soldiers as a tragedy.
The Markgraf sees them as future assets.
Dead enemies? Raise them.
Dead Hoburgs? Raise them too.
Spare corpses? Stitch them into a Flesh Golem.
Little undead Hoburgs? Put armor on them and send them back to the frontline.
Even your own Nekromants can be turned into undead versions of themselves so they can keep the corpse-processing operation running for longer.
And if that was not enough, the Markgraf can eventually become a vampire, then start turning other Hoburg lords into vampires too.
That is what makes the Markgraf so entertaining. It is not just a necromancer faction. It is a full-scale body recycling program with crossbows, vampires, Flesh Golems, undead commanders, Ghoul Guardians, and tiny zombie Hoburgs in heavy armor.
And honestly, that is beautiful.
What Is the Markgraf? 🏰
The Markgraf is basically what happens when Hoburgs get into necromancy.
Instead of being a straightforward kingdom of small folk with farms, soldiers, and crossbows, the Markgraf adds a much darker twist. You still have Hoburg-style troops and mass recruitment, but now you also have Nekromants, undead rituals, corpse-based summons, and the possibility of turning your noble commanders into vampires or ghoul lords.
So the faction sits somewhere between the Burgmeister and the Necromancer.
You are not quite a full Necromancer faction, but you are also not a normal Hoburg kingdom anymore.
You are something stranger.
A small aristocratic horror state where the soldiers are tiny, the nobles are suspicious, the casters are unstable, and the dead are expected to keep contributing to society.
That is the key to understanding the Markgraf.
The faction is not just about death.
It is about turning death into value.
The Markgraf Does Not Waste Bodies ♻️
The most entertaining part of the Markgraf is that almost everything can be reused.
Your army does not just fight battles. It creates future resources.
A normal faction wins a battle and moves on.
The Markgraf wins a battle and looks at the ground.
Because the ground is now covered in potential recruits.
That is where the faction’s dark humor comes from. The Markgraf is always thinking one step ahead:
- If your soldiers survive, great.
- If your soldiers die, they may come back as undead.
- If the enemy dies, they may also come back as undead.
- If enough corpses are lying around, they may become a Flesh Golem.
- If your Nekromant dies properly prepared, he may come back better than before.
- If your noble commander finds the right ritual path, he may become a vampire.
- If a lord becomes a Ghoul Baron, you can start recruiting Ghoul Guardians.
This is why the Markgraf feels less like a normal military faction and more like a medieval corpse economy.
The battlefield is not just where you lose troops.
The battlefield is where you manufacture tomorrow’s army.
The 15-Soldier Recruitment Problem 👥
One of the funniest parts of the Markgraf is that many of its Hoburg recruitment options come in large groups.
You are often recruiting batches of tiny soldiers rather than a few elite warriors.
That fits the faction perfectly.
The Markgraf does not usually win because one Hoburg is amazing.
The Markgraf wins because there are suddenly fifteen of them.
Then fifteen more.
Then another fifteen.
Then some of them die, get raised as undead, get armored, and continue working under new management.
This is one of the reasons the faction has such a strong identity. The Hoburg side gives you numbers. The necromancy side gives you a way to turn those numbers into something even stranger after they die.
That is the Markgraf experience:
“Congratulations, you have been recruited. Also, death is not a valid resignation.”
Hobmark Crossbows: Tiny Soldiers, Serious Output 🏹
The Markgraf’s basic troops are not exactly terrifying on their own.
They are Hoburgs.
They are small. They are fragile. They are not the kind of soldiers you want taking the first hit from a giant monster, a demon, or a heavily armored enemy commander.
But Hoburgs with crossbows are a different story.
Massed Hobmark Crossbows are one of the faction’s most important early tools. Individually, they are not heroic. But in large numbers, they can put out a lot of ranged pressure.
The trick is keeping them alive long enough to fire.
That means the Markgraf needs a frontline.
And that is where the faction’s recycling program starts to matter.
You do not want your crossbows getting smashed in melee.
You want something else standing in front of them.
Preferably something dead, disposable, heavily armored, or stitched together from several former employees.
Raise Dead: The First Recycling Program 🧟
The first major Markgraf mechanic that sells the faction’s identity is Raise Dead.
This is where the Markgraf starts turning battlefield losses into future assets.
After a fight, corpses can become undead. That means battles are not just about territory or gold. They are also about creating raw material.
The Markgraf sees a battlefield full of dead bodies and thinks:
“That is not a disaster. That is a supply chain.”
Raised undead help solve one of the faction’s biggest early problems: your living Hoburg troops are fragile.
Undead units can stand in front, absorb attacks, and give your crossbows time to do their work.
Are they always amazing? No.
Are they glamorous? Definitely not.
But do they stand there and get hit so your useful troops do not have to?
Yes.
And in Markgraf terms, that makes them valuable members of society.
Nekromants and the Sanity Problem 🧠
Of course, necromancy is not free.
The Markgraf’s Nekromants can suffer from sanity problems when they keep raising the dead.
This is one of those mechanics that makes perfect sense.
If your entire job is walking around battlefields, muttering rituals, and forcing corpses back into service, eventually your mind is probably going to suffer.
That creates an interesting problem for the faction.
You want to raise undead.
You need to raise undead.
But your living Nekromants are not always built for endless corpse management.
That is why one of the faction’s best tricks is not just raising dead troops.
It is recycling the Nekromants themselves.
Twiceborn: Recycling Your Own Nekromants 🔁
The Twiceborn ritual is one of the most Markgraf mechanics in the whole faction.
It allows a Nekromant to come back after death as an undead version of himself, depending on where and how the ritual is used.
This is such a perfect mechanic for the faction because it takes the Markgraf’s logic and applies it to commanders.
Dead soldiers are useful.
Dead enemies are useful.
Dead commanders?
Also useful.
A living Nekromant may struggle with insanity over time. But an undead Nekromant can recover sanity, which makes him better suited for long-term necromantic work.
That means Twiceborn is not just a defensive tool.
It is a promotion pathway.
The Markgraf looks at a living Nekromant and says:
“You are doing good work, but have you considered dying and coming back as a better employee?”
That is the kind of management culture we are dealing with here.
Corpse and Wight Nekromants: Better Dead Than Alive 💀
A Twiceborn Nekromant can eventually become an undead caster such as a Corpse Nekromant or, with a stronger Nekromant, a Wight Nekromant.
This matters because these undead Nekromants can recover sanity over time.
That makes them extremely useful for a faction that wants to keep raising the dead, creating undead armies, and eventually producing more advanced corpse-based units.
This is one of the strange but important Markgraf lessons: once you have cast Twiceborn on a Nekromant, you usually want to get that Nekromant killed deliberately and safely so they return in their undead form as soon as possible.
That sounds backwards, but it makes sense.
A living Nekromant is useful, but a living Nekromant is also vulnerable to insanity from repeated corpse-raising. An undead Nekromant can slowly recover sanity, which means he can keep raising the dead more sustainably over the long run.
So instead of treating Nekromant death as a mistake, the Markgraf can treat it as part of the upgrade path.
The basic plan is:
- Cast Twiceborn on your Nekromant.
- Do not wait until they are completely ruined by insanity.
- Get them killed in a controlled way.
- Let them return as an undead Nekromant.
- Use the new undead caster for long-term Raise Dead work.
- Later, use stronger undead Nekromants to support Flesh Golem production and other rituals.
This is peak Markgraf design.
The dead feed the army.
The army creates more dead.
The Nekromants process the dead.
Then the Nekromants die and become better at processing the dead.
The only caution is that you should not throw away your only important caster at the wrong moment. If that Nekromant is holding your main army together, wait until you can afford the transition. But once you have Twiceborn prepared and a safe opportunity to get them killed, turning them into a Corpse or Wight Nekromant quickly is usually the better long-term move.
Why Undead Nekromants Fit the Faction So Well 🪦
This is one of the reasons the Markgraf has such a satisfying progression.
At the start, you have fragile living casters.
Later, those casters can become undead specialists.
Then those undead specialists can help produce even more undead tools.
It is a loop.
The dead feed the army.
The army creates more dead.
The Nekromants process the dead.
Then the Nekromants die and become better at processing the dead.
It is disturbing, efficient, and extremely on-brand.
It also gives the faction a real gameplay rhythm:
- Early game: use living Nekromants carefully.
- Mid game: cast Twiceborn and convert them into undead casters.
- Later game: use undead Nekromants more aggressively because they can handle repeated necromantic work better.
- Late game: combine them with Flesh Golems, stronger undead, vampire commanders, Ghoul Guardians, and major summons.
This is why Twiceborn deserves to be explained properly. It is not just a funny ritual. It is one of the key ways the Markgraf turns a weakness into a strength.
Little Soulless Defenders: Tiny Armored Zombie Hoburgs 🛡️
One of the funniest and most useful Markgraf upgrades is turning Little Soulless into Little Soulless Defenders.
This is exactly the kind of thing that makes the faction brilliant.
A Little Soulless is already a sad little undead Hoburg body.
Then the Markgraf puts armor on it and sends it back to the frontline.
That is not just necromancy.
That is workplace retraining.
And mechanically, it is very useful.
The Markgraf needs a better frontline. Regular Hoburg troops are fragile, and your crossbows need protection. Little Soulless Defenders help provide that.
They are not flashy. They are not elegant. They are not noble knights riding into glorious battle.
They are small undead Hoburgs in armor, standing in front of your army because someone has to take the hit.
And honestly, they are doing important work.
Why Little Soulless Defenders Fit the Faction So Well ⚔️
Little Soulless Defenders are such a good example of the Markgraf’s design because they show the faction’s whole philosophy in one unit.
First, you have weak little bodies.
Then those bodies die.
Then they come back as undead.
Then those undead get upgraded into armored defenders.
Then they protect your living crossbow troops.
That is the Markgraf’s entire economic plan in miniature.
Nothing is wasted.
Not even a tiny dead Hoburg.
The result is a faction that feels ridiculous, but also strangely practical.
You are not just making undead because undead are spooky.
You are making undead because your army genuinely needs a frontline, and the dead are available.
Little Bane Fire Crossbows 🔥
The Markgraf can also turn Little Longdead into Little Bane Fire Crossbows.
This is another excellent example of the faction taking weak undead material and turning it into something more specialized.
The Markgraf already likes crossbows. Hobmark Crossbows are one of the faction’s key early tools.
But Little Bane Fire Crossbows add a more supernatural layer to that ranged game.
Now the faction is not just using living Hoburgs with crossbows.
It is using undead Hoburgs with cursed firepower.
That is a fantastic image.
A normal faction develops better weapons.
The Markgraf develops a workforce of tiny undead crossbowmen.
Again, nothing is wasted.
Even the skeletons are expected to contribute to ranged support.
Flesh Golems: Corpse Recycling Taken Literally 🧟♂️
If the Markgraf has one unit that perfectly captures the faction’s theme, it is the Flesh Golem.
The Flesh Golem is not subtle.
It is not symbolic.
It is not metaphorical.
It is a big creature made from corpses.
This is the Markgraf’s recycling program at its most obvious.
The battlefield fills with dead bodies, and instead of leaving them there, the Markgraf turns them into one large, durable frontline unit.
That is both horrifying and very practical.
Because the Markgraf needs exactly that: a bigger body to stand in front of the army.
Your Hoburgs are small.
Your crossbows need protection.
Your Nekromants should not be taking hits.
So what do you do?
You stitch together a large corpse monster and put it at the front.
Problem solved.
Flesh Golems Can Heal ❤️🩹
One of the important practical points about Flesh Golems is that they can heal.
That makes them more than just disposable meat shields.
A basic undead unit might take damage, fall apart, and be replaced. But a Flesh Golem can potentially survive battles, recover, and keep serving as a frontline anchor.
That means a Flesh Golem is not just a temporary body.
It is an investment.
And if you find anything that improves healing in an army, that can make Flesh Golems even better.
Certain spells, magic items, or other effects that improve recovery can make a healing Flesh Golem much more durable over time.
This is where the unit becomes especially useful.
A Flesh Golem standing in front of your army is already good.
A Flesh Golem that can recover and keep standing in front of your army is much better.
That is peak Markgraf logic:
“We built it out of corpses, and somehow it has better long-term employment prospects than the living soldiers.”
The Proper Role of Flesh Golems 🧱
A Flesh Golem should not be treated like a solo army.
Its job is not to wander around by itself solving every problem.
Its job is to be a frontline anchor.
Put it in front of your crossbows.
Support it with other troops.
Let it absorb punishment while the rest of your army does damage.
This is where the Markgraf starts to become more than just a strange collection of Hoburgs and undead. Once you have Flesh Golems, upgraded undead, crossbows, and Nekromants working together, the faction begins to feel much more complete.
You are creating layers:
- Flesh Golems and undead in front.
- Crossbows and Bane Fire Crossbows behind them.
- Nekromants providing ritual support.
- Commander upgrades and summons adding late-game power.
That is how the Markgraf goes from fragile to frightening.
Old Castle Ruins: Where the Nobles Get Worse 🏚️
One of the most important locations for the Markgraf is the Old Castle Ruin.
This is where the faction’s late-game identity starts to open up.
The Markgraf is already strange with its undead troops, Nekromants, and Flesh Golems. But Old Castle Ruins allow the faction to lean even harder into undead aristocracy.
This is where your commanders can begin transforming into more monstrous forms.
And that is important because the Markgraf is not just a faction about undead peasants and corpse soldiers.
It is also about corrupted nobility.
The ruling class does not simply command the undead.
Eventually, it joins them.
That is what makes the faction’s progression so satisfying. The horror does not stay at the bottom of society. It climbs all the way to the top.
The Vampire Markgraf 🧛
One of the best late-game payoffs for the faction is turning the Markgraf into a vampire-like undead noble.
This is the point where the faction’s theme really comes together.
At first, the Markgraf is commanding necromancers and Hoburg troops.
Later, he can become part of the undead machine himself.
That is a great piece of faction design.
The Markgraf does not just exploit death from a safe distance. Eventually, he embraces it.
The faction starts with tiny soldiers and corpse-raising.
Then it moves into undead upgrades and Flesh Golems.
Then the Nekromants themselves can become undead.
Then the noble ruler can become a vampire.
That is a full narrative arc.
It is not just mechanics. It tells a story through gameplay.
And the story is:
“Everyone is replaceable, including the boss.”
Blood Servant: Flooding the Map With Vampire Hoburgs 🧛♂️🦇
Turning the Markgraf into a vampire is not the end of the faction’s vampire plan.
It is the beginning.
Small terminology note: the ritual name appears to be Blood Servant, not Blood Kiss. That is the name I would use in the article so players can find the correct ritual in-game.
Once the vampire Markgraf is upgraded further, he can unlock Blood Servant, which allows him to turn Markmeisters into vampire commanders.
This is where the Markgraf’s late game can become ridiculous in the best possible way.
You are no longer running around with one vampire noble.
You can start creating more of them.
And because these are Hoburg vampire commanders, the image is fantastic: tiny undead aristocrats flying around the map, casting necromancy, regenerating, and refusing to stay dead.
That is not just a power spike.
That is a faction identity.
Why Vampire Markmeisters Are So Good 🩸
Vampire Markmeisters give the Markgraf a much stronger commander network.
These vampire Hoburg commanders can bring several major advantages:
- Flying, which makes them much better for map movement.
- Regeneration, which makes them harder to wear down.
- Immortality, meaning they can return after death if their home is still controlled.
- Necromancy, allowing them to raise dead and support undead armies.
- Spell casting, giving them more utility than a normal commander.
- Leadership, which helps them command troops in a way the main vampire Markgraf may not.
That combination is extremely powerful.
This means the Markgraf can shift from one powerful undead ruler into a spreading network of vampire Hoburg commanders.
That is a huge deal.
The Vampire Snowball 🧛♂️➡️🧛♂️🧛♂️🧛♂️
This is where the Markgraf late game starts to snowball.
A normal army needs commanders to move troops around.
The Markgraf can eventually have vampire commanders doing that job.
That means you can spread across the map with flying undead nobles who can support armies, raise dead, regenerate from damage, and potentially come back after being killed.
This makes your late-game map presence much stronger.
Instead of relying only on slow Hoburg armies and fragile Nekromants, you can begin creating a mobile vampire command structure.
That is when the Markgraf stops being just a weird Hoburg necromancer faction and starts becoming a proper undead aristocracy.
The Markgraf’s late game is not just about raising corpses.
It is about building a ruling class of vampire Hoburgs.
And that is hilarious.
Why Blood Servant Fits the Markgraf So Well 🎭
Blood Servant fits the faction perfectly because it continues the same theme the Markgraf has had from the beginning.
First, your soldiers are recycled.
Then your dead are recycled.
Then your Nekromants are recycled through Twiceborn.
Then your ruler becomes a vampire.
Then your other nobles are turned into vampires too.
The whole faction is one long escalation of refusing to let anything stay normal.
By the late game, the Markgraf is no longer just using the dead.
He is transforming the entire command structure into an undead flying aristocracy.
That is probably one of the funniest and strongest parts of the faction.
A battlefield full of corpses is useful.
A Flesh Golem is useful.
A Twiceborn Nekromant is useful.
But a map full of vampire Hoburg commanders?
That is when the Markgraf’s recycling program becomes a full political system.
Ghoul Barons and the Horror State 🍖
The Markgraf can also move into ghoul-related commander options, and this is another major part of the faction’s late-game identity.
By using Flesh Rite, you can turn a Markgraf-line lord, such as a Markgraf, Markmeister, or Markmann, into a Ghoul Baron at an Old Castle Ruin.
The important thing is that this does not just give you a strange undead commander.
It also unlocks access to Ghoul Guardians.
That makes Flesh Rite more than a flavor ritual. It turns one of your lords into the start of a new recruitment engine.
This is where the Markgraf becomes even more ridiculous.
You are not just raising undead from corpses.
You are not just turning Nekromants into undead casters.
You are not just turning nobles into vampires.
You are also creating ghoul lords who can unlock heavily armored undead guardian troops from your citadels.
That is a serious late-game payoff.
Ghoul Guardians: Armored Undead Bodyguards 🛡️🍖
Once you have a Ghoul Baron, you gain the ability to recruit Ghoul Guardians from your citadels.
That is a huge upgrade because Ghoul Guardians recruit in groups of 10, which fits the Markgraf’s theme of building power through batches of strange, dangerous troops.
These are not fragile Hoburg peasants.
Ghoul Guardians are heavily armored undead bodyguards.
They give the Markgraf another serious frontline option, which is important because the faction’s living Hoburg troops are usually not the units you want absorbing heavy damage forever.
But the best part is not just that they are armored.
It is what their weapons do.
Ghoul Guardians use magical weapons, and those weapons can ghoulify humanoid creatures they kill.
That means they do not just kill enemies.
They can help convert killed humanoid enemies into more ghoulish value.
Once again, the Markgraf finds a way to make death productive.
A normal army kills enemies and moves on.
A Markgraf ghoul army kills enemies and may create more undead bodies from the result.
That makes Ghoul Guardians a perfect fit for the faction:
- They recruit in batches of 10.
- They can be recruited from citadels once unlocked.
- They are tougher than normal Hoburg troops.
- They are heavily armored.
- They are undead.
- Their weapons are magical.
- Their attacks can ghoulify humanoid enemies they kill.
- They help turn enemy bodies into more value.
This is where the Markgraf starts feeling less like a simple Hoburg necromancer faction and more like a full horror state.
You have undead troops, corpse monsters, twisted commanders, vampire nobles, flying vampire Markmeisters, and now Ghoul Guardians who can help spread the problem by turning humanoid enemies into more ghouls.
Some factions get stronger by recruiting better soldiers.
The Markgraf gets stronger by making the whole society worse.
And in Conquest of Elysium 5, that is often a valid strategy.
Major Undead Summons 👻
The Markgraf can also access stronger undead summons later in the game.
This helps the faction scale beyond its weak early units.
That is important because the Markgraf’s basic troops are not always impressive. Hoburgs are useful in numbers, but they are not elite warriors. Undead chaff is useful, but it can only carry you so far.
Major undead summons give the faction access to more serious threats.
This is where the Markgraf’s army can start to become genuinely dangerous instead of merely strange.
The best version of the faction combines everything:
- Mass Hoburg recruitment.
- Crossbow firepower.
- Raised undead.
- Little Soulless Defenders.
- Little Bane Fire Crossbows.
- Flesh Golems.
- Undead Nekromants.
- Vampire or ghoul commander upgrades.
- Blood Servant vampire Markmeisters.
- Ghoul Guardians.
- Major undead summons.
That is when the Markgraf stops being funny in a weak way and starts being funny in a terrifying way.
Why the Markgraf Is So Thematically Strong 🎭
The Markgraf works because all of its mechanics point in the same direction.
Some factions in strategy games feel like a random pile of abilities.
The Markgraf does not.
Everything supports the same idea: death is not the end of usefulness.
That is why the faction is so memorable.
The Hoburg recruitment gives you lots of small bodies.
Necromancy turns dead bodies into more troops.
Twiceborn turns dead casters into better long-term casters.
Little Soulless Defenders turn weak undead into a better frontline.
Flesh Golems turn corpses into durable monsters.
Old Castle Ruins let nobles become vampires and ghouls.
Blood Servant lets those vampires create even more vampire commanders.
Flesh Rite lets ghoul lords unlock Ghoul Guardians.
The whole faction is built around transformation.
Living becomes dead.
Dead becomes useful.
Useful becomes upgraded.
Upgraded becomes horrifying.
That is good faction design.
Why the Markgraf Is Funny 😂
The Markgraf is funny because the faction’s logic is so cold and practical.
It treats death like paperwork.
A soldier dying is not just a loss. It is a change in department.
A Nekromant dying is not a failure. It is a career transition.
A battlefield full of corpses is not a tragedy. It is a production opportunity.
A noble becoming a vampire is not the end of the story. It is the start of middle management.
A lord becoming a Ghoul Baron is not a curse. It is a recruitment upgrade.
The faction’s humor comes from how completely committed it is to this idea.
The Markgraf is not dabbling in necromancy.
The Markgraf has built an entire political system around refusing to waste bodies.
That is what makes it such a great essay faction.
It is funny, but it also makes sense mechanically.
The joke and the gameplay are the same thing.
That is rare.
Is the Markgraf Actually Good? 🏆
The Markgraf is not necessarily the easiest faction.
The early game can be awkward. Your troops are small. Your armies can feel slow. Your Nekromants need careful management. You may need specific locations, corpses, and time to get the faction properly rolling.
But the Markgraf is absolutely interesting.
And once the faction gets momentum, it becomes one of the most entertaining factions in Conquest of Elysium 5.
It rewards players who enjoy:
- Attrition warfare.
- Undead armies.
- Weird faction mechanics.
- Commander transformation.
- Crossbow-heavy armies.
- Turning weak units into useful assets.
- Building power over time through rituals.
- Creating a late-game vampire command network.
- Unlocking heavy ghoul troops through commander transformation.
If you want a simple faction that just recruits strong troops and smashes forward, the Markgraf may not be the best pick.
But if you like strange factions with strong themes, the Markgraf is fantastic.
Final Thoughts: Every Corpse Has a Purpose ♻️
The Markgraf is one of those factions that shows why Conquest of Elysium 5 is so good at weird strategy design.
It takes a simple idea — Hoburg necromancers — and pushes it much further than expected.
You get massed tiny soldiers.
You get undead armies.
You get Little Soulless Defenders.
You get Little Bane Fire Crossbows.
You get Flesh Golems.
You get Twiceborn Nekromants.
You get vampire nobles.
You get vampire Markmeisters.
You get Ghoul Barons.
You get Ghoul Guardians.
You get a faction that treats every battlefield as a future recruitment center.
That is why the Markgraf is so memorable.
It is not just another undead faction.
It is a faction about recycling, decay, and getting value from every terrible thing that happens.
Your soldiers die.
Their soldiers die.
Your Nekromants go mad.
Your commanders become monsters.
Your nobles become flying vampire Hoburgs.
Your ghoul troops turn dead enemies into even more problems.
And somehow, the machine keeps running.
That is the Markgraf.
A tiny necromantic kingdom where death is not the end.
It is just the next stage of production.
🎮 Looking for More Fantasy Strategy Games?
If you enjoy the Markgraf because of its strange faction mechanics, undead themes, and unusual strategy-game design, you may also enjoy Endless Legend 2.
It is a fantasy 4X strategy game built around unusual factions, exploration, empire-building, and asymmetric faction mechanics. It is a different style of strategy game from Conquest of Elysium 5, but it should appeal to players who enjoy weird factions with strong identities.
👉 Check out Endless Legend 2 on Humble Bundle
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