Final Newbie Question (or compilation of questions!)

[happygeek]

ok thank you!
What does "insanity" actually do?

Another question: I am playing a first time with MA Abysia - fun! But what's the deal with the national summons? If I see right, they get some interesting ghost men thingies at conjuration 2, I think -- cost 5 death gems. But I can't cast that. I don't think I can even get a random death pick on warlocks (at least ive never gotten one). I suppose I *could* design a pretender around being able to cast that spell (I chose an air and earth titan), and make him search for death gems, but that just seems weird -- or is that what everyone does, what you are supposed to do with MA Abysia?

One last one: A lot of those mages are Old. Just like those Pythium guys. It doesn't say that explicitly in the manual -- only that the older you get, the weaker -- but the old ones seem to collect these aweful diseases and other handicaps (like mute!). Is that from old age? Is there a way to figure out who has a chance of getting what when, and something to do about it?
Thank you!

[rdonj]

Insanity is a chance that the commander will do one of a bunch of random acts on a given turn, and you won't be able to give it orders. They can do things like preach, become prophets, pillage or some random off the wall thing that has no real effect.

If you want to cast spells like that you may have to have the paths on your pretender, or you may be able to empower find enough death gems over the course of a game to empower someone to be able to cast the spell.

It is due to old age. You can reduce the chance for them to acquire afflictions by having a growth scale, or by casting certain spells that lower the caster's age. There are also items that prevent commanders from aging so they don't become old. You can't specifically tell who is likely to be afflicted, it will happen randomly to old people.