I think that it's the Norns that make you a luck nation, it's the whole lady of fate kinda deal

20:03 about the Water Kobold, he's a great researcher, as it's a rather cheap summon and can use the Dream Stone, also I find glamour gems being overrepresented in comparison to other gems, so if your research is going to slow or your researchers are expensive, potentially also having drain dominion, then summoning Water Kobolds is a good idea, they're my main researcher in a Formoria game for example, on the other hand I wouldn't use them for the sailing ability, maybe if I already have them when a opportunity presents itself, but their true worth is the gem to research ratio, tough with Seithkona, non of that really applies to Utgard