I have having a look at the maps, as I occasionally find myself doing, and I found myself thinking about magical potentials.

I looked over the various references on the subject (Book of Magecraft, 20; Birthright Rulebook, 81) and it seemed to me that there are some anomalies.

Firstly, the charts mention that hills, tundra, marsh, and moor all have a Magical Potential (henceforth MP) of 5. By comparison a forest has 7. I wondered about this. Nowhere does it associate MP with mass of vegetation; rather it makes references to unspoilt untamed wildernesses. I was perplexed since I could imagine fairly tame forests (woodlots and the early modern equivalent of "state forests") and fairly wild hills, tundra, marshes, and moors. Privileging forests over other forms of wilderness seems to be slightly counter-intuitive to me.

Secondly, there is an entry for River and Coast, giving these MP 7. How would this be done? It clearly has not been done for Anuire, as the vast majority of coastal plains are MP 5, not MP 7. The river plains along the Maesil are mostly MP 5, not MP 7. I have trouble finding an MP 7 river or coastal province anywhere in fact (The Chimaeron seems to have some MP 6 coastal plains).

Thirdly, what about mixed provinces? Should terrain/level of wilderness be based on the average of the types?

I have some thoughts about this, but I was wondering if anyone else had something to add before I continue. Have people been similarly puzzled? Does anyone have any suggestions?