"Well no, because the Caledor Dragontamer and Golden Age High Elf mages were long long ago, so..." or "No, because while Ulthuan has waystones which regulate the magic that enters into the land, it also has the Vortex; to finally suck up all the excess magic. That is what Albion lacks. Albion only has Oghams putting the magic into the land; it has no Vortex that also takes it out, once the magic has done the job of making the land more mystical, mythical, magical."
It's just entirely different situations. Ulthuan is, forever, drawing the magic into the Vortex. Always. It's suffused with magic, sure, but eventually the excess, the runoff, the build-up, is drawn away into the Vortex by the Waystones across the world, across Ulthuan, the dozens that help make up the Isle of the Dead. Furthermore, the elves consistently work to push the magic into the Vortex, or at least some of the Waystones which then push into the Vortex. The Waystone Network was built with the Elves, and the Dwarfs, across their combined Empires, and a bit beyond as well. Waystones were built upon natural points in the leylines. Other places of major leyline activity, such as the leylines in Kislev, are also a thing.
The notable thing about the Mists of Albion is that they are, kinda sorta...mmm...Chaos-y? Also, when I brought up the Lizardman comparison earlier, it was sort of important. The Truthsayers of Old were directly taught by the Old Ones about sacred geometries and what not. It's why they are DEADLY serious about no one touching the Stones other than them, and them alone. Because as the Lizardmen can demonstrate, something being off by, like, a few centimeters might make things go bad, or they'll shift entire geographies to make them fit what they 'need' to be. But yes, we do know that they used their magic to 'bind the Chaos mists to the north' and then forge their own veil of fog around the island to protect it.
The very first Waystones were made by Old Ones as basic magic management aids (basic magic management aids for GODS, but still), then the Waystones were expanded upon by the Elves, and finally the Dwarfs joined in.
But the important difference is that the Waystones guide the Winds of Magic, always, towards the Great Vortex. Unless, you know, they get corrupted or broken or something. Ulthuan is heavily enchanted, magical, etc. because it is right by the Vortex, and that magic washes over it constantly. But it washes over it...
into the Vortex. Certain areas of it like in their mountains are straight up kinda thinned barriers into the Realm of Chaos, and monsters and daemons come pouring out of there regularly. Also, sometimes, Isha gets sad/mad, and when Asuryan isn't looking She washes Her entire divine power over the whole of Ulthuan and wipes out all the daemons/monsters on it for a time before more can eventually come out of the mountains again. Yes, places like Saphery, and Avelorn, and, well, all of it, are utterly suffused with magic. But really, magical places most often go wrong when the magic
stays forever. When magic pools, and clogs, and never even begins drifting towards the Vortex, and thickens into Dhar. It might not seem like it, but ever moment, the magic that fills, covers, Ulthuan? Is steadily draining away. It is the Vortex, however, and the Waystone Network, which draws the magic past and through Ulthuan. It might be an infinitesimal drain on Ulthuan overall, but so too is the gain. Thus, the terrible equilibrium that Caledor Dragontamer has been maintaining for just about ever. Enough so that even to the elves, their lands are pretty essentially eternally enchanted and all that such and so.
Albion? Albion has none of that. Because at the end of the day, even though the Old Ones built one of their few homes there, and there are old,
old temples dedicated to the Old Ones, there are no Waystones built there. The Asur spread out and expanded upon what the Old Ones left behind. They never once sent any such teams to Albion. Because there weren't any Waystones to check up and build upon. Albion was once a paradise island, a birght shining sun, glorious bountiful crops, pleasant living overall.
The Ogham Stone Circles were built by the students of the Old Ones, direct students. 'Something' in the Stone Circles draws the rain, the clouds, blotting out that glorious sun. Because at the end of the day, if the Albionese hadn't sacrificed their island paradise home by deliberately taking huge chunks of Chaos during the Great Incursion and straight up grounding it down into the bedrock of the island, the elves would have been overwhelmed. It's literally stated that 'the elves would certainly have been overrun had the Druids of Albion not stemmed the flow'. By doing so, they prevented more daemons, more Chaos forces, from invading Ulthuan during the Great Incursion. And the difference between the Waystones is that they work by regulating the flow. Albion's Oghams directly affect the flow by stoppering it, by taking it into itself. Which, in turn, relieves a significant amount of pressure off the Vortex. In permanence. The Vortex's function is able to work as it has
because the magic doesn't flow away from Albion. Ulthuan relies wholly on magic, if the Polar Gates were ever to actually be shut, it would sink to the bottom of the ocean or be consumed by the Vortex before it either became the 'new' Chaos Gate into the world or collapsed. The thing is though, the Albionese were taught by the Old Ones. The Old Truthsayers knew exactly what they were doing. If their magic in doing Oghams, in magic containment stones stuff, was considered equal to or exceeding the elves at the time, I have to assume that they could have made proper Waystones like the old Network that the Old Ones built, only directed to flow towards the Vortex, like the Asur-made ones. They deliberately made the stone circles instead. Albion is a terrible place to live. No one should ever want to live there, or go there, or spend a lot of time there. That's the point. To close themselves off to the world, deliberately, and make it a place where others would avoid it even if they could go there.
To put it more mathematically (obviously these numbers are entirely made up, just trying to give a general sense):
1. Polar Gates release a 100% Winds of Chaos/Magic Flow across the world, from the north and south respectively.
2. Vortex was built by the Elves to probably try and absorb that 100%, but had to be aided by the Lizardmen in fortifying the Vortex proper and the Albionese in reducing the actual flow taken in.
3. So, in reality, the Vortex was built to
try and hit that 100%, but the Asur alone couldn't do it. So...say they managed to get to 60% alone. Then the Lizardmen propped it up further, to 70%.
4. The Albionese took the opposite approach, by taking that remaining 30% and rather than forcing it into a Vortex that couldn't handle that extra flow, decided to ground it down right onto their own island.
5. Thus, to the casual Asur, the Vortex is this crowning achievement, and it is definitely doing 100% of the job. Because as far as they know, it is. They don't really know that A - it had to be helped to get as strong as it is, and B - It literally is not taking in every bit of magic because of the Ogham Circles.
6. And even then, the Chaos Wastes are a big, major thing, so probably even less than 60-70%, but more like 40-50%, with Albion taking that 30% and leaving the remaining % of Chaos energies into making the Northern and Southern Wastes. Which would be even worse should Albion stop doing what it's doing.
The entire point of the Ogham Stones of Albion is that they are straight up reducing the strain on the Vortex. If something were to change on that, you might well run into a situation of the Vortex suddenly buckling as a
significant amount of magical flow is dumped onto it that it isn't prepared to handle. Every major Chaos incursion, the Chaos Wastes shift a bit further south, it's how places like Karag Dum got swallowed up forever. If the Vortex can't fix
that, thumping all the flow that Albion is constantly taking care of..mmm. Caledor Dragontamer and his fellows are threading a dangerous knife's edge every second of every day. Do you want them to try and handle all that extra magic suddenly being thrust down on them? I wouldn't. Especially when Albion is responsible for taking on enough Chaos energies such that the forces of Chaos would have
won the Great Incursion if they hadn't been.
And the Ancient Albionese knew it. They were as deliberate as their Old One teachers in their choice. They knew what would happen, but judged it a worthy sacrifice to preserve the rest of the world. They knew the Vortex was being made, just as the Lizardmen did. But both students of the Old Ones made their own choices, and both, technically, worked. They worked very well. According to Plan, as it were. Was it a Great Plan? Maybe not. But it
was planned. It ruins the island paradise, sure. But what isn't worth sacrificing to save the world? A home? A history?
A future?
The Ancient Albionese accepted all three as worth it.
It isn't really a case of 'ah, they don't have Waystones making the magic go away properly'. It's a case of 'ah, this is exactly what has to be done so the Vortex is unimpeded by however much Chaos energies we can take unto ourselves.'
