The smaller conflicts revolve around interpersonal issues, border disputes, resource allocation, and all the problems of daily living in a society with early medieval technology levels and diverse cultures sharing a landmass. Characters may have to deal with thieves, raiders, skirmishes on the border of their village or county or nation, corrupt or self-serving politicians, food shortages, barn fires, and merchants who might be spies.

Deeper conflicts arise when the balances go awry, when extremes of behavior and desire are made manifest. A person who is seriously UnBalanced skews the magic around themselves. Their greed or rage may drive them to acts that damage the environment or the culture. Worse, if they die while UnBalanced, they may become Unbodied, a spirit so desperate to fulfill its desires that it steals the body of a living person, or pulls enough magic from an area to resurrect its own body, or manifest a new physical form entirely, possibly killing the crops, forest, and wildlife in the area. Legends are still told of the Reiver, a warlord from twenty generations back who went mad with grief when his children died in a border raid. His followers were pulled into his rage by the force of his UnBalance, like a house falling into a sinkhole. Those the marauding army encountered were either slaughtered, or pulled into the storm of madness as well, either way fueling the fire. By the time sufficient healing magic could be put in the way to soothe the madness and resolve the grieving process, the Reiver had scorched five counties, leaving a scar still known as the Grey Lands.