I agree that it's a bit dumb that all sovereigns start with every spell circle; it definitely limits diversity.  I thought I remembered reading something about the upcoming patch, they are changing it so not all sovereigns have all spell schools?  I think one of the ones they showed a screenshot of didn't even have any spells (or essence).  I'll edit in the link once i find it.

What spells would you remove?

Well i was mainly just thinking of how some of the buffing spells work currently, aren't really worth it.  So I didn't have any spells specifically in mind to remove, and would prefer everything to be tweaked to work, so in hindsight I suppose  I picked my words poorly.

I think it is fine the way it is.  If you start with all the schools that  less points for stats and abilities.  I stared with just the enchantment school, and will try just the Earth school next time.  If you have all the schools then you can focus your spell research to take advantage of any type elemental crystals you find. While if you don't the right type of spells then you don't get the spell power ups. 

I vote having max of 2 books at start and the option to research more later.. IE how you can learn the enchantment book. But it should be based on shards. like you have a fire shard but not the book yet u can research in tech to learn to read the book. IE: you aquire the fire shard and a message pops up, "you have found an old tome near the base of the tower, you see the fire symbol tho you cant read the language." 

something like that, just a thought.

There are so many gameplay mechanics in Elemental, there should be spells influencing each of them.  For diplomacy, there could be charm and enrage spells.  Fertility and love spells for dynasties.  For adventuring, various discovery spells, or charm wilderness creature X, or spells that increase luck when it comes to drops.  There can be divination spells that apply to research.  Spells that boost economy and production.  Spells that buff and nerf each aspect of combat.  Any mechanic in this game is a potential spell waiting to happen.  This only makes sense for a game named "war of magic."  Well okay that's a mouthful but there needs to be more than teleport, direct damage, and summoning giants.

But also, I think it takes away from the game for players to have easy access to whatever spell they feel like.  I think there should be two limiting factors: (1) crystals that power the different schools of magic, AND (2) spell knowledge, both of which you need to cast the spell.  To cast infernal you need both a fire crystal, and to have acquired infernal spell knowledge through adventuring, diplomacy, trade, or reasearch.  If you want to focus on the magic research tree then that could enhance your choices and diminish the randomness of it all. 

With a broad range of spell powers, but only a narrow slice of them available per game, that makes each game a unique experience in terms of magic and strategically benefits players with a broad knowledge of the game.

well if you have to have a shard to actually cast spells then shards need to be more available. There were times i didnt find/had to fight for a shard until about turn 100. If they change it to this then the shard that matches your spellbook should spawn near your begin point.

Come to think of it - why should you pre-select what spellbooks you "know" at sov creation?

Another approach would be that only if you control a fire shard, you can research fire spells.
If you lose the shard, research stops.

What should be assigned in sovereign creation is certain perks, like an affinity to fire magic, lower cost, better effects, the usual suspects.

But why should you be able to explore fire magic without a tie (shard) to that element at all?

That way you would have to adapt to what you get access to in game and getting access to "your kind of" shard would be a major priority.
Right now, if I don't get fire spells, so what? I use earth spells instead. They do the exact same thing.

Why not give four or five of the non-element books (Enchant, Summons, Death, Life) and have them researched just like techs, except rather than unlocking a tech you pick a spell to unlock, with choices drawn from the element schools - so level 1 death research would give you hurl boulder or flame dart etc. Set the lists so you only get one opportunity to select a spell (if you choose flame dart over hurl boulder, you won't get a chance to take hurl boulder) with perhaps one or two magic techs or rare quest outcomes letting you get one of the spells you didn't pick.

It lets you tailor your sovereign in game rather than being stuck with whatever you chose when creating. It'd cut down on the sameness feeling in the spell list, and of course should a decent spell list present itself you can then start forcing the player to choose between an AoE damage spell which freezes opponents or one which stuns them for a turn and so forth. A neat advantage is that it ensures no two games will play the same even with the same sovereigns, and a particularly nice bonus for MP is that you can use your own created sovereign in multiple games without having to worry about them playing the same way.

What if... we make magic expertise to the sovereign creation window? For example, there are 4 school of magic. Fire, Earth, Water, and Air. Then there are five level of mastery. With level 5, you can learn the highest of level of the spell, but because of the point you spend, you won't be able to learn the other. So, if you want to master all the existing spell, you should sacrifice the highest spell that the school to offer and trade it with versatility.

Elemental: War of Mundane Tech?

I find all the Sovereigns (not just mine) quite similar. There is not one Earth Master, and one Fire Master, and one Master of Evil Death Magic.

Imagine this: instead of just one book you can choose up to 5. Each of these books acts like a shard - spells become more powerful and useful for the caster. BUT (big but) this only applies to the Sov - other casters and children do not get the benefit.

Or maybe rather than spell books they are internal shards. And of course there are not enough points for all the books - so do you choose to become a master of one element, or are you spread evenly ?