[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:
Killing all the population in a province is a bad thing. It means that ashen empire is at war with everyone from the get go.

Are you referring to the AI, or MP diplomacy? The AI hates everyone, as far as I can tell. Since your ultimate objective is the burnination of everything and everyone, whether the AI feels like talking to you or not is really somewhat moot, as Ashen Empire helpfully allows the use of the Russian Defense:
1. Withdraw to the capitol.
2. Wait for winter.

By the time the AI's troops have starved to half to death, they're easy pickings. Since I have no unrest to deal with, nor income to really lose, the territory is easily retaken, possibly with the AI being so generous as to even build me some improvements on rare occasions.

In MP, the fact that your domain is generally unpleasant doesn't preclude easily coming to a diplomatic arrangement with some of your more distant neighbors who will not be exposed to it. The level of magic power you can afford makes early site-searching a snap, which gives you a sizeable head start on gem income. The people I've played with so far don't seem to be terribly concerned that I've burninated my countryside, seeing as it's not theirs. The diplomatic game is every bit more fun when you're playing the sides off against each other while sitting on the sidelines. Nobody wants to commit the resources needed for a push into the hellhole that is the Ashen Empire, knowing that I might induce one of his other neighbors to backstab him while he's occupied.