Is Makuria supposed to start with no standing field army?
I recall something about this before, but the lack of an army seems suspect since you begin at war with the ayyubids. There are maybe 2 units in your main city and another 2 in a castle to the west with 2 general characters at start and another unit in a 3rd city. It's pretty hardcore.......... I had to triple check the army tab to make sure i wasn't missing the usual half stack out in the field somewhere.
Add to this, there is a large rebel army right outside your border in Ayyubid territory packed full of makurian troops -- did this stack get accidentally changed to rebel, or did this somehow happen at game start?