I apologize if this was posted already, and not sure if this is a bug or some sort of an inside joke, but my large map custom kingdom/custom sovereign campaign has 11 instances of the NPC Raline the Weaver. All of them are merchants, and all have essence (ranging from 1 to 27 at the time of hire). They all look and dress differently though. I am, of course, not sure if I collected them all so far.

I don't recall seeing any other NPC doubles in this play-through.

It can kind of work into the story as if they're either magical clones or some sort of a sect that takes on the same name, but still... kind of weird.

On a potentially related note, is it me or some of the champs are easter eggs? Could've sworn I've seen some Lovecraftian and anime (Slayers?) references...