if you don't control rng, part b (tokens)

spirits ranked by how many they can contribute directly:

minds can contribute 1 (setup) + 1 (growth 3) + 2 (ever-multiplying swarm) = 4 with 1 energy left
fangs can contribute 1 (setup) + 1 (call forth predators) + 1 (teeth gleam) = 3
lure can contribute 1 (setup) + 1 (perils) = 2
waters can contribute 1 (bloodlust), is 1 animal short of adding 1 with sanguinary taint
trans wildfire is 1 animal + 1 fire short of adding 2 with transforming innate

some other spirits can contribute indirectly through repeats or elements:

fractured can repeat a power card 2 times with cost with slip if it doesn't get elemental support, or 3 times with cost if it gets 1 moon
mentor can give 2 spirits elemental support
locus can repeat a power card for free and give energy + elemental support
might can repeat a power card for free

the best that is doable from here seems to be minds + fangs + lure + fractured + locus + might, repeating ever-multiplying swarm as much as possible.

4 (minds) + 3 (fangs) + 2 (lure) + 2 (locus) + 2 (might) + 4 (fractured) + 6 (default setup) + 6 (russia 1) = 29

minds + fangs + trans wildfire + locus + mentor + fractured also works and gives an equal amount. the 2 from lure instead come from an extra use of ever-multiplying swarm, with energy from flame's fury and an extra slip that needs mentor's card, while the 2 from might instead come from trans wildfire taking mentor's elemental support.

so the only spirit that can get disease to exist easily is vengeance, which can make one for every presence it loses from ravages. the only other spirits that can add disease directly are lure and waters, who can only add 1 each.

downpour can add vengeance's destroyed presence back, but the top half of abundance isn't useful unless vengeance gains 2 more energy. so we need to use abundance twice.

fractured can destroy vengeance presence with blur the arc. this is the only way to create a disease by destroying vengeance's presence in fast, and the destroyed presence can be returned with the second use of abundance.

the best initial explore for this is wetlands, since downpour can restore vengeance's presence in a place where vengeance can lose it immediately. saltsburg 6 also starts with the fewest disease in wetlands so it's the easiest for vengeance to keep on the island.

spirits:

downpour
fractured
vengeance, starting on board b
waters
locus
might

growths:

downpour takes growth 2 and adds 2 presence to wetlands that are ravaging, and plays abundance
fractured takes growth 2 and plays all cards except pour time sideways, adds a presence adjacent to b4
vengeance adds presence to 2 lands where one of them is ravaging (e4 or a2)
the other spirits do their normal stuff to let waters repeat bloodlust as much as possible

fast:

fractured blurs b4, destroying vengeance's presence there (13)
downpour gains 2 energy, then abundances vengeance
fractured slips downpour, downpour replays abundance and abundances vengeance
fractured slips waters, waters resolves bloodlust and replays it (14)
the other spirits do stuff to let waters repeat bloodlust as much as possible in slow

vengeance loses 4 presence to mining land ravages (18)

in slow, vengeance adds 1 disease from fetid breath and 1 more from the abundance repeat (20) while waters adds 1 from bloodlust, 1 from locus repeat, and 1 from might repeat for a total of 23

this is a bit easier. these are the spirits that can add more than 1:

keeper can contribute 1 (setup) + 1 (sacrosanct) + 1 (spreading wilds) = 3
behemoth can contribute 2 (exaltation of grasping roots)
tangles can contribute 1 (belligerent and aggressive crops) + 1 (impenetrable tangles) = 2

and these are the spirits that can give support:

might and downpour can both repeat exaltation of grasping roots, which adds 2
fractured can slip exaltation of grasping roots twice, which adds 4, or 3 times if it gets moon + air elements
mentor can give elements to up to 2 spirits

to prevent wilds from being lost from preventing explores, we would want to control some invader cards. on thematic boards, the wilds we start with are distributed 2 in jungles, 2 in mountains, 1 in sands, and 0 in wetlands. so the initial explore needs to be wetlands, and tangles needs to isolate the sands with wilds to prevent it from being used. however, w3, the land that wilds starts in, isn't adjacent to a jungle or wetland.

so basically, downpour and tangles have to do this:

downpour starts on nw, tangles starts on w
downpour grows into nw1 then w3, then moves presence from nw1 to w3 to make w3 a wetland, plays abundance
tangles adds 2 presence from top track into w3, plays belligerent crops
mentor gives tangles 1 plant
tangles isolates w3

this gives 3 (keeper) + 2 (behemoth) + 2 (tangles) + 6 (fractured) + 2 (downpour) + 5 (thematic boards) = 20

spirits that can add more than 1 badlands:

gays can contribute 1 (setup) + 2 (wither bodies) for a total of 3, 2 energy and a slip will increase this by 2 more
volcano can contribute 1 (setup) + 1 (lava flows) for a total of 2, it can use exaltation to give gays 2 energy, a slip/repeat will increase this by 1, it has 2 energy to spend
lure can contribute 1 (perils) + 1 (right innate) for a total of 2, 3 plant will increase this by 1, a slip/repeat will increase this by 1, it has 2 energy to spend
trans wildfire can contribute 2 with trans innate if it is given 1 fire 1 earth 1 plant

spirits that can support others to add more badlands:

fractured can give 2 slips, 1 moon 1 air is a third slip
mentor can give fractured 1 moon 1 air and lure 2 plant
locus can give lure a third plant and a repeat
downpour and might can give repeats, downpour's costs 1 energy

with all those spirits except trans wildfire, we have 3 (gays) + 2 (gays with support) + 2 (volcano) + 2 (lure) + 1 (lure with elements) + 3 (slips and repeats) + 5 (thematic boards) = 18

these are the spirits that can add any strife:

voice can add 3, with many different builds. the closest one to adding a 4th strife that i've found is taking g3, using the presence add to add the incarna instead, and playing one of the 1-cost uniques. this gives voice 2 air so it only needs 1 more air to add a 4th strife, and 3 more air will let it add a 5th strife.
boddys can add 3, if it gets its incarna into the endless dark (probably by using reach) and then uses terror of the hunted in the endless dark to add 3 strife. the next 3 slips or repeats except locus will each increase the number of strife added by 3.
trickster can add 2 with impersonate. 1 air would let it add 2 more with the right innate, and 1 more repeat will let it add 2 more.
panda lightning can add 1, and a second one if it gets 1 fire.
madness can add 1 during setup

these spirits can offer support:

fractured can offer 2 slips, or 3 if it gets moon + air
locus can repeat a power card and give 1 element
mentor can give elements to 2 spirits
might and downpour can give 1 repeat, downpour's costs 1 energy

there's an obvious combination here. locus absorbs trickster, mentor gives fractured study to play and voice 3 air with teachings. fractured slips boddys 3 times.

the total is 3 (voice) + 2 (mentor helping voice) + 3 (boddys) + 9 (fractured slipping boddys) + 2 (trickster) + 4 (locus helping trickster) + 3 (thematic boards) = 26

if we restrict this to counting strife on a single invader, the number goes down a bit. the invader that gets all the strife must get abducted in the fast phase because slips make terror of the hunted fast. therefore, we need to replace one of the spirits with panda.

4 of the 6 strife added from trickster + locus is slow, while 1 of the 5 strife added from voice + mentor is slow. therefore, to lose less than 4 strife from spirits, lightning's boon should go to trickster.

replacing mentor would lose a slip, which is 3 strife, as well as elemental support for voice which is worth 2 more, so we can't replace mentor. we clearly can't replace fractured or boddys, so we should instead replace voice.

replacing voice would replace 5 strife (3 from innate, 1 from presence, 1 from unique) with 2 from innate with mentor's support. so we would lose 3 strife, and then 2 more because the 3 strife from setup are on different invaders.

so the total is 26 - 3 - 2 = 21

if we care about specific invader types, this can be done with either an explorer or town because all 3 invaders starting with strife are towns, but it can be downgraded by boddys right innate. on a city, this would go down by 1 more to 20.

the only 3 spirits that add vitality so far are tree, locus, and nourishing. the only other spirits that can support them are fractured, downpour, and mentor.

the goal is basically repeating blooming as much as possible while making sure locus and nourishing are hitting their supports and adding their own vitality.

both nourishing and locus need either elements or a card play to get them, and mentor can give both spirits what they need. in particular, hitting the repeat requires nourishing to get earth+plant, while the vitality requires nourishing to get water+plant, and for locus hitting both the repeat and the vitality add requires two of moon/earth/plant. mentor can give one spirit boon of ancient memes to play, and the other spirit can get taught elements.
this does come at the cost of not being able to support fractured, so fractured will only have 2 slips. (all of locus and nourishing's support should go to tree, since nothing from them being given to others will result in more than 1 additional vitality)

so the maximum is 1 (tree g2) + 1 (locus) + 1 (nourishing) + 1 (blooming) + 1 (locus repeat) + 1 (nourishing repeat) + 2 (slips) + 1 (downpour) + 4 (thematic boards) = 13 vitality in total

dances can start with 1 impending card and rumblings, which gives 1 quake from rumblings and 1 from left innate.

the support it can take:

repeats and slips will let it repeat rumblings, though it has no energy
1 earth and 2 card plays will let dances add another quake with the third level of the left innate
3 energy and 1 card play will let dances play resounding footfalls to add another quake token

the spirits that can give that support:

fractured can give 2 slips, or a third if it gets moon + air
mentor can give dances 1 card to play and fractured some elements
locus can give dances 1 element, 1 repeat, 1 energy
might can give dances 1 repeat
downpour can give dances 1 repeat for 1 energy

alternatively, if locus takes a slip, it can give dances 1 more card play and 1 energy.

if that is done, dances will receive 5 combined slips and repeats with a total cost of 3 energy, but locus can only give dances 2 energy, so it will have to forego one of the repeats. the extra repeat can't go to absorb either because dances doesn't have enough presence on the island.

so the maximum amount is 2 from innates and 5 from rumblings for a total of 7

so basically, just get deeps ocean to 3 moon 4 water 3 earth.

deeps adds a presence from each track and plays tidal boon + swallow (2 moon 2 water 2 earth)

mentor plays teachings + share secrets, spends 1 air to give deeps study, prepares water, then uses elemental teacings to prepare another water and give deeps 2 water 1 earth

this hits all 3 levels of the deeps adding innate.