Buatha said:
Also, I noticed a Commander die in deathmatch after killing the other opponent. Is this normal? He hit the mage and killed him, then a pillar of fire zapped my Commander followed by a message that the other side's forces had been routed (even though it was just the mage).
Probably a "Holy Avenger" effect, yeah. It's quite common in death match when somebody is sending his prophet.
Additionally, do Independent Provinces ever venture forth and attack you? So, if I leave one alone next to my province, do I ever need to worry about it?
nope, indes don't attack, except as random events - and then its a new army generated for the event.
an interesting bit of trivia - if you beat an enemy via banishment in the death match (such as sending them to the inferno) they will come back next round, etc, until they are either dead or you are.