Uh, yes, Dom is not an Empire-building game, it's about warfare, and a nasty one at that !
And warfare KILLS people actually ... How many deads in WW2 ? How many survivors at the end of the Elric Saga ?
I don't see this as a problem, it's the setting, that's all. Unbalanced random events are a totally different issue, maybe as some already suggested the "baddest" ones should not occur early in the game.