Help wanted (on dwarven realm rules)

[masterdaorin]

the conundrum: what to do with dwarven realms. various books note that dwarves inflict little disruption to the surface realm and thus have high source potential. nothing remotly of that sort seems to be in any domain write-up i've seen, but those same writeups make a general mess of source potential (ignoring coast/river notes, putting the erebannien at forest level <7> rather than ancient forest <9> and claiming it is the most magical and oldest forest on the continent, random enforcement of sidhelien exeption).
also do you adjust max province in mountains. rivenrock province for example seems to break province maximums.

There's more than just Rivenrock; at least one human realm - Mairada - also breaks this rule.

what are everyone's thoughts on the issue? any better ideas? any mistakes you can spot? perhaps i'm reinventing the wheel and rules for this are already somewhere and i just couldn't find it?

I've fixed what I think are these errors. Mind you, I try my best to develop things so that the core cannon data stays correct, but sometimes you just have to say the editors made a mistake, and fix it.

I wouldn't do anything special for dwarves.

Consider this: while dwarves live under the mountain, they don't want anybody messing around within the lands above their mountains. So dwarves DO maintain a significant presence aboveground - its just very well hidden most of the time.

So, dwarven populations affect the province's Source level just like every other non-elven culture.

I've changed/tweaked the maximum province levels allowed to better reflect this problem and "fix it" (e.g. mountain provinces can be developed to Level 6).

I've deleted references to coastal/river provinces bumping Source potential - absolutely none of the map data reflects this fact. Now, odd provincial Source levels instead reflect concentrations of mebhaighl due to terrain topography; conversely, a notable lack of Source potential reflects some terrible blight that suppresses the mebhaighl (e.g. major battles or some other catastrophe).

There are only a few cases of the above.

Elven realms are a special case. Almost none of the elven realms actually have high population values with untouched Source values.

I've explained it this way: those elven provinces that have lost their Fey status can no longer benefit from the elven culture's special ability. This source loss occurs for various reasons, but mainly due to non-fey populations interfering with the natural balance of the area.

I think that explanation fits nicely with the idea that elves are a diminishing race, and why they fight to keep everyone else out.

Forests levels not seeming right is another fix I've done: now I have three different grades of terrain types.

Remember, also, that 2000 years of human migration have mowed down most of the forests of Cerilia, and have certainly influenced (for the worse) even ancient forests like the Erebannien.

Urban provinces are a special type of province. They reflect cities on a small footprint of terrain - too small to provide food and other resources for itself. That is why they must have trade routes. They also have no effective limit on province level.

Regarding terrain types, I just go with what seems like the majority terrain type as shown upon the map. Sometimes you have to consider the underlying terrain over what's on top, and sometimes the reverse of that.

For example, what happens when you mow down a forest province? I've created a rule for that; now, provinces are referred to as having a Base Terrain type.

while i'm at it anyone have any cool ideas of a masela's ehrshegh?
(enhanced sense, sea song and the bloodtrait rolled for a pc)

I've created one: she is called The Mermaid.