Help - Newbie

[Goblin]

I have a couple of questions to ask of the Wise Old Players of DomII, (I have looked around for answers – apologies if I missed it else ware):

1. Drain/Magic in Pretender set up: From what I have read this only affects the number of research points generated by each leader in a province. Are there any other effects (such as casting cost changes, likely hood or events happening or an effect on Blood Hunts)?

2. Rainbow Mage’s Vs Super Combatants: One of the things that has impressed me about the game is that even very powerful creators are vulnerable in combat – so why take a SC when a RM will help develop a high gem income from early on?

3. Ermor (Ashen Empire) is gross – correct me if I am wrong but I played a bit of a game using a RM and I see no stoping Ermor after about turn 20. The spread of there domain effectively creates an offensive version of scorched earth. Once they wipe out the population in a province it is of little use to anyone but them – what stops them?

Thank you all in advance for any advice on the above.

Regards,
Goblin.