[fungalreason]

I really don't see how it's possible for there to be that many. I'd guess my own total might be in the hundreds. 9k is a massive amount. For example, the big game had 65 players on a huge map (~900 provinces) they're on turn 63 and still going. I'm assuming they haven't hit the limit.

We're only on turn 77 on a much smaller one (~270) with only 9 players/AI still left. Recruiting a commander from EVERY province would even take 30 turns before that limit was reached, assuming none were ever killed.

Perhaps some of the players that are now AI, but haven't yet been finished off have a ton of scouts everywhere or something? Maybe once one of them is finished off it will be safe to summon again?