Summary

Stuck in defeated game. Creating a "new game" just returns to the defeated game.

1.

I had one city left and was going to get wiped out on the next turn. I decided to start a new game before defeat. 

2. 

I pressed ESC to bring up the menu. I picked main menu. Next is selected New game. I created a new world, a new sovereign, picked a faction and entered the new world.

3.

The game showed it was "creating world" but when it finished I was back at the previous game and it said you have been defeated.

I then went back to the main menu, selected new game, went through the process again and it still placed me back in the old game. I could not get out of the previous world.

4.

Reloading the game fixed the stuck in old world problem.

Error file if it is useful.