Yep. And how much do the shards you control actually impact the spells you cast, other than needing to remember the quantity for each and then run a math equation to extrapolate the damage/level/impact.

It'd be nice if you could pick your spell books after you find a shard ... instead of customizing a fire sov and never finding any fire shards ...

Simple solution: Seperate spell acces from caster level, apart from maybe a basic spell per level or two. You get a fire spell when you level up, but if you want the entire lot, see magic research tree. Way at the end, the spell of ubar nukeyness will nuke your foes. But that takes time. No shards? Why bother!

If you are taking the Fire path without access to a Fireshard, you need to rethink your strategy. The game is all about making the best use of the resources that are available. When you customize a Sov you will have to decide between a fighter or mage focus. You can go somewhere inbetween, but the point is to manage the risks of your starting position. It is not a sound strategy to rely on fire magic. 

Agreed. You can go for a sovereign with all the spell schools if you want to. Taking only fire is a calculated risk you decide upon.

I will start believing in the true chaotic nature of the "Pandemonium" spell when it turns Air Shrills into birthday cakes...or any other celebratory pastries. (A giant cake that was inert until struck and then converted into scantily clad nymphs who stun your army would be classic.)

Actually, that leads me to another idea: A tactical spell that would convert your enemies into small statuettes you could revive to use against other enemies in later battles would be great. It should have a sliding mana/difficulty scale for the strength of the affected army, but it would make things a lot more interesting and show the power of the channeler quite dramatically.

"Torax, who grinds mountains to dust - I SUMMON YOU!" *throws red-white ball on the ground*

"Bedbugs who infested the nasty inn I stayed in last month -I SUMMON YOU" *Throws filthy mattress on the ground*

OK, you have to figure that the channelers will start out small.

But thats the point. You don't know what shards you will have access to.

I guess magical Sov builds are simply a lot riskier than other builds? (although you could have a trait which gives you a bonus to all shards/shard-mana production. Vs a lesser trait which gives a small bonus to non shard-based mana production.

-> I guess you could have traits which offer bonuses to specific elements (which currently exist)

-> and traits which benefit all casting in general (or evokation vs summoning traits, each that benefit all casting of a particular variety) (these I think also exist)

-> And traits which improve various forms of mana generation (which might exist, but if they don't I think they should)

You know you have access to about 2 of 6 shards near your starting location. If you are focusing on magic, you'll want at least 4 elements for your Sov. But you will also find mages throughout the game. Many of them will have Fire magic. It's not that crucial. Magic Sov builds are not risky. Only taking Fire Apprentice is risky. 

Not knowing what will be avaiable later on during the game is what makes this game so interesting,.

You choose and hope for the best.

Actually its not a calculated risk, because the player does not know how high the chances are that a fire shard is close to his starting position and there could be no fire shard on the complete map. It would be a calculated risk if the player knows that there is chance of 50 % to get no fire shard, a chance of 25 % to get one fire shard and a chance of 25 % to get two fire shards.

I have underlined the random parts and added the word probably to show the high randomness in FE.

If you are really that worried about it, increase the shard distribution. You can also just be a Fire Wizard without any Fireshards. Evoker I-III will boost Fireball enough to kill just about anything. 

If you want to calculate the risk, look in the xml for resource distribution. You can figure out exactly how likely you are to get a Fireshard. I think each start has around a 15% chance to have any one shard near the start. There are usually two there. Another 33% at your first expansion radius as well. I have yet to play a game where I couldn't find the shard I wanted. The random map generator is great at distribution.