A few questions from a Newbie -- thanks for help

[onomastikon]

Wow, thanks for these great replies, and so quickly too. Yes, I am still a bit overwhelmed. Kristoffer O, that was very helpful; I am still unsure on the magic thing, since I figured gems would only be for ritual spells you can "micromanage" outside the tactical battles; it just seems odd to me to have the AI choose which spells to cast in the tactical battles, especially if they cost gem resources. Since you asked, I am still trying Jotunheim, since that was the race in the walkthru I downloaded, but I would like to try others with more spellcasters.

- What does the Fatigue rating mean with the spells and how does that affect the casters? According to the in-game popups, fatigue is for melee only.
- do I see right that you need not research Priest spells (blessings)? Do the priests cast automatically too?
- Can I change the level of mageness of any of my casters (including Pretender) during gameplay?
- I thought you can only "give gems to commanders" -- can I give em to any spellcaster?

- On another level, does it make sense to have one of my commanders be a Prophet as fast as possible?
- What exactly is the difference between resources and supplies and upkeep?
- What exactly happens if you change those scales at the beginning during God creation? Is Unrest important? What about population?
- Does placing fortifications also deter your own taxation?

I have played like 6 games now, and I have never even become close to beating the Easy AI. Yikes. Is this the case in the Full game too?

@ reverend: thanks for the info. Dont know about Perso-Info, since 1. I am American, and 2. will so was sehr ungern preisgeben. Wird Shrapnel sonst wo vertrieben?

OK thanks so much, this really does seem like a friendly community.