Thanks, Parrotmath! I will definitely do that when/if I decide to make a formal mod!
You got to get dirty with the xml.
You down wit' OPC? (Other People's Code) 
lol!
The xml is pretty easy to work with, ampoliros5. And the folks like HF, parrotmath, dsraider and mqpiffle (and Seanw3, we miss you!) are really friendly and will help you out.
Our story thus far:
I am at turn 60 and have two stacks thanks to Panca Archers, the Sparus Brothers and the beasties (a warg, a mire skath, 2 black widows. and a ravenous harridan). I have two other factions sticking tribute down in a hollow oak by the swamp... "cuz it'd be a shame if somethin' happened to this nice place ya got here" 
I was hoping to score a quest with a pioneer unit reward, but no luck yet and i haven't found any cities already built on my side of the map. I made my first earned hero a commander and after a few levels he is generating +1 lore a turn and then I got Jesselde, pretty smart (and pretty, too 
) with +3 lore. She is helping me sound out the runes in the two ancient library goodie huts i found. (think of the scene from Ghost with the potters wheel... uh... nvm...) 
I am having fun, so yay for me! 
