Can mebhaighl be restored?

[centAUr]

Though it seams strange I have neigther seen rules saying that it cannot, nor ones that say how to do it. So the question is: can something like that been achived and how? E.G. If High Mage Aelies wants to increase his source rating in a province(e.g. in Fairfield), can he contest the province's civilisation rate and then raise his source holdings(and as a result the province's mebhaighl)? And how?

[Lord Valkyr]

Yes Mebhaighl can be restored.
see pg 81 of the rulebook the example there is as follows:

......If High mage Aelies wished to increase the level of his source he would first need to contest the province's level.

Hope this answers your question

[centAUr]

Ok. But how can one contest the level of a province? Which rules do you use?

[warlord_nabron]

You use the rules from the Contest action -- compare the level of active regent's holding to the level of the province. Add the difference to the Success Number (10) if the province's level is higher than the active holding's, and subtract the difference if the active holding's level is higher. Each regent then spends RP to adjust the Success Number, and then the active regent rolls 1d20; if he rolls the Success Number or higher the Province's Level drops by one. Any type of holding can do this, but the problem a source-regent faces is *keeping* the province's level from going up before the magic potential of the province increases (which will take several domain turns if the fluff from Book of Magecraft is used, which I do not).

[Green Knight]

In addition to contesting, you could just pillage or raze the province with magic (death plague, anyone) or troops. If its your own province, raise the levy then send them to die elsewhere, effectively reducing the province level (lame rule, but...).

Once the province level has dropped, you'll need to wait until the next spring for the land's magic potential to increase by 1. Then you can rule source. Not a bad rule I think ;)

[warlord_nabron]

Well, *technically*, unless you reduce its level to 0, it takes 5 whole years (20 domain turns) for the magical potential to increase. I never cared for either new rule, and declined to add both to my campaign when BoM came out.

[Lawgiver]

You guys of the regeneration of mebhaighl as if its nearly instantaneous. The magical essence flows from the nature of the land, from trees, rivers, etc. Have you seen the devastation of a forest fire? Or the amount of destruction deforestation actually causes? A forest that has taken centuries to develop can be destroyed easily, but you do not regrow the great trees that were once there so easily. Why do you think elves feel such pain and hatred fro the destructive ways of humans? One cannot destroy years of life and expect it to return in a matter of months to the same strength.

While its not very useful to players the time it takes for the mebhaighl to return is not too unrealistic. In my experience most campaigns rarely last longer than 3-5 years (sad, but true). Thus the 20 year period for regrowth is a bit of a problem. Perhaps your wizard should seek the aid of druids or elves in rebuilding the land with greater speed. That or focus more on preventing the loss in the first place.

[warlord_nabron]

It *was* instantaneous. There was a pretty sybstantial lag between the time the boxed set came out and the time the BoM came out, and the BR Rulebook made no mention of it taking any amount of time to effect the change of magical potential in a province. The difference between instantaneous and 60 action rounds was too radical for me to adopt, so I didn't (and still haven't).

[Green Knight]

It is 1 year if all traces of civilizationis removed, 5 years if any is left.

Those who use this system: how do you interpret the "all traces of civilization removed"? On a province basis (province must be reduced to 0 AND an effort be made to raze buildings etc.) or on a province level basis (as long as a province level is completely razed)?

[Lord Eldred]

It seems to me that purposely lower the province level, ie getting rid of population on purpose, is inherently evil!