Domain » Holding » Awnmebhaighl source


House rules: Awnmebhaighl source












Awnmebhaighl, the seeming, shadow magic... The Shadow World seethes with it, but most of Cerilia is blessedly spared the touch of awnmebhaighl - at least in significant amounts.
An Awnmebhaighl source is a convenient way to give a regent access to more magic than the province level should indicate - or to reflect the degree to which the Shadow World taints that part of Cerilia, or simply indicate the type of power wielded by the sorcerer.

[top]Why bother?


Awnmebhaighl is mainly a fluff idea, but a link to a powerful source in the Shadow World allows a DM to circumvent several of the normal issues for certain mages that the story needs to have dropped into an existing domain with access to realm power (why didn't we see the leyline? Where is his source? I want to be able to do that!)

[top]Mechanics


The mechanics for an awnmebhaighl source in terms of RP and GB can readily be identical to that of a normal source. If reflecting a connection to the Shadow World, some physical linkage is typically required by story needs - the destruction of which will sever the connection thus depriving the Shadow Mage of much of their power...
High levels of awnmebhaighl could be reflected in Shadow World effects on the surrounding area (variable distance, time, 'real' illusions), prevalence of undead, weakening of healing magic, etc. Sidhelien realms (particular Tuar Annwn), Medoere, Awnsheghlien realms, etc are good examples of where awnmebhiaghl sources might be used to puff up the realm or give it an otherworldly nature. For some of these the Shadow World link might be to one of the few remaining 'bright spots' of the Spirit World which have yet to be contaminated by the spread of Shadow within the realm.

[top]Avoiding a gift for source holders


One method to stop source holders being able to gain more power without competition, or have high sources in populous provinces, i.e. to keep this as a McGuffin for NPCs is to use the corrupting effect of the Shadow World on the PC or even the realm, have Shadow World denizens investigate the drain on 'their' power or 'weakening of their realm', etc.
Realm level effects could be reflected as low prosperity in the area, or by a high prevalence of random events (particularly supernatural ones). Alternatively you could have units passing through come out in a random neighboring province instead of their intended destination, have the province 'skip' a domain turn (i.e. the 3 months outside the province passes, but only 1 day of violent storms passes inside), a random realm spell might take effect (or fizzle), or some similar strange event occur. In general while the shadow mage regent will probably benefit from the awnmebhaighl source, other regents will find it distinctly unhelpful.
To reflect higher level awnmebhaighl sources causing more 'pollution', you could try a roll to see if something bad happens:
D20 + level of awnmebhaighl source + 1/3 level of neighboring awnmebhaighl source - 1/2 level of local controlled source = outcome.
On an outcome of 1-15 there is no effect this season, on 16-19 there is a minor event, on 20-25 there is a major event, on 26+ there is a terrible event. To be evil, you could have the event occur in a neighboring province (any province with a common border, or which is connected by a leyline) 1 time in 4 rather than in the actual province concerned (this could be the ebb and flow of Cerilia's mebhaighl from one perspective, or a way to get neighboring regents clamoring for the awnmebhaighl source to be shut down from another).
Minor events equate to the loss of about a GB or so, terrible ones to the loss of a province level or possibly the entire province, major being somewhere in between.


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