> A question came up in my game and I am wondering how others, more

> familiar with Birthright, would of ruled.

> If your using the virtual guilds rule where high level sources can act

> like low level guild holdings, and a player wants to put a land trade

> route between two such source holdings, would such a trade route require

> a road like a normal/regular land trade route?



I believe that the rules say: yes, you do need a road to link the provinces.

These rules are rather silly though, in my opinion. It requires the wizard`s traderoute to

occupy an important "slot" in the other province, and it is very unlikely that the province

with the level 7 source (I believe this is the required level) will be more than a rating 2

province. Given that this traderoute slot could be otherwise used far more profitably (and

thus, generate more taxable income!) it seems to me that it is ver unlikely that a ruler or a

guilder would ever permit a wizard to create such a holding.



I personally like the idea that the wizard has special knowledge of the provinces

resources and can come down out of the mountains (or forest) with gems (or precious

amber or something) and make money from it. I do not think, however, that the trade

route mechanic is a good way of doing this. Better to be simple and say something like:

A source of 7+ gives an income of 1GB per season in rare materials that the wizard is

able to locate with his/her intimate knowledge of the area.

Much clearer and simpler, IMO. And it does not irritate tax-hungry nobles or trade-hungry

guilders, who can be induced through other means to make contributions to a wizard`s

resources (gold-rush or death plague... whatever works ;))



--

John Machin

(trithemius@paradise.net.nz)

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"Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."

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- Athanasius Kircher, `The Great Art of Knowledge`.