Final Newbie Question (or compilation of questions!)

[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.