[Verjigorm]

I don't think that castling needs to be diminished. Watch towers and Mausoleums can only slow you down and prevent you from horroring, ghosting, or imping your way through someone's land (which IMO is equally as cheesy as castling--that is if I considered either one cheesy).

I don't agree that Ghost Riders is too powerful. After all, it is a 9th level spell. I wouldn't tone it's effect down, but I might add a skull or two to its usage to try to keep it Pretender-only or require a significant investment in gems to make a caster. That would curb castings to 1 or 2 per round.

Province defenses are weak, yes, but consider what a province defense generally is in reality. It is a militia--armed peasants with a little training defending their homes. It is in my opinion that PD shouldn't be powerful (i.e. Wizards shouldn't be dropping meteors on your army every time you take a province). PD should, however, have much higher morale and maybe a bit higher stats (like a berserk bonus or something). If you were defending your home from an Ermoran invasion and you knew that your family would be slaughtered and turned into mindless zombies when you ran away, would you flee like a little whiney wussbag? Probably not...