Right, got it now, and as expected, i ended up as an easy meal for the Jotuns.
There had to be a first player eliminated, and that dubious honor falls on me. Not bad for a first MP game.
I suppose my main mistake was the pretender design. Not having played Tien Chi before, i went for an awaken rainbow crone, simply to quickly maximise early gem income, and make use of the seemingly polyvalent mages.
Alas, that had me completely unable to expand in the first 3/4 turns, as Tien Chi's starting army is, err, 'poor' to say it politely. And the heavy infantry/cavalry provinces surrounding me didn't help. I deeply regret not having gone for an efficient monster-type pretender to offset the delay in army recruiting...
And then, as i was getting going and slamming the surrounding independants, i fell on the Jotuns, and was trashed.
Oh well, we die and learn.
Have fun, and try to post some news of the game from time to time, i'd like to know what happens.