Thanks! The Rise track definitely makes for some very dynamic and interesting gameplay. I imagine they will struggle a lot against factions with early battle agency. Near the end, just imagine them as a WA that always rolls a 2 and has 25 warriors - so I'm hoping the early game struggles balance out the later game unstoppability (they probably have way to many actions near the end). I also think that with the punitive mechanism being tied to the Rise track, it will hopefully make it more painful to lose monasteries later.
You may have missed the second step of Birdsong, in which they choose a clearing and spread to every adjacent clearing that doesn't contain their pieces. This is a little restrictive in a badly-connected map, but it's still enough to quickly get them to 2 points a turn. I was afraid it would be too powerful and so I had to bump down the scoring track - especially since after the first two turns, getting rid of those single warriors will cost you a guaranteed casualty.