The beta branch greatly addresses personal skills. It makes some improvements to the other skills for the troopers. Definitely a step in the right direction.
I don't have my game up and running and won't be able to get to it for a few hours. Do those have the appropriate nearby villages? You want to place a clothier in a city that has a nearby flax village and a hardwood village near the carpenter.
1: Different regions should have some differentiation of supplies. Flax doesn't grow in deserts and cotton doesn't grow in ice. But Sturgia has cotton cities and the Aserai have a few flax cities. This would make regions feel more distinguished but would also make trading a little more...
Ohh, so that's what happened. I had one where I was coming in to help and everything went pear shaped for the enemy. Like most things I'm sure it's not working as intended.
I think the best explanation is because Calradia is a completely enclosed region that's about 3 days ride across, inbreeding has set in and they just look like that. It's part of the setting.