The only time I've seen this is on your Poke In The Eye map, Gandalf. One independant guy started with 25000-some experience. (Of course, I also started out with a castle of type "x" in my home province, as well as a Triton Lord with a slave collar and fire sceptre... the home province being on land. But then, that's Poke In The Eye.
)
PvK