Random provinces coming under my control ?
 

I have seen this at least twice now, both times playing as Ermor.

Some distance away from my nation, a province suddenly has a group of my followers in it. They do battle with the "true owners" of the province. Once I got the province (with 8 leaders to my name that I had never seen before) and once I lost the fight. Is this a bug, or normal game behavior?

Sorry for such a newbie question.

Re: Random provinces coming under my control ?
 

It's normal, those are Ermorian death cultists, and they sometimes randomly appear. One of the funniest instances I've seen is a few of them appearing in another nation's capital, smacking the PD and then putting the fort under siege. Needless to say, they got rather badly stomped the next turn...

Edi

Re: Random provinces coming under my control ?
 

Yeah, I've had this happen when I've played Ermor, and it was kind of confusing because there isn't really any explanation of what is happening. My assumption has been that it is considered a bad Random Event for the other player and that's why there is no message for the Ermor player.

Re: Random provinces coming under my control ?
 

The good thing is that the cultists can reanimate more ghouls. The downside is that they cost gold upkeep.