diff --git a/src/game/engine/scenes/menus/loading_screen.gd b/src/game/engine/scenes/menus/loading_screen.gd
index 322c5309..4bb50198 100644
--- a/src/game/engine/scenes/menus/loading_screen.gd
+++ b/src/game/engine/scenes/menus/loading_screen.gd
@@ -44,12 +44,18 @@ func _run_generation() -> void:
 	await _animate_progress(40.0, 60.0)
 
 	var num_players: int = GameState.game_settings.get("num_players", 2)
-	var race_list: Array = DataLoader.get_all_races()
-	var default_race: String = "dwarf"
-	if not race_list.is_empty():
-		default_race = race_list[0].get("id", "dwarf")
-
 	var arena_mode: bool = EnvConfig.get_bool("AI_ARENA")
+
+	# Arena mode is Age of Dwarves content only — force the dwarf race
+	# regardless of what else `DataLoader.get_all_races()` has loaded from
+	# the shared `public/resources/races/` directory (which contains 17+
+	# races for future episodes). Outside of arena mode, fall back to the
+	# first race in the list.
+	var default_race: String = "dwarf"
+	if not arena_mode:
+		var race_list: Array = DataLoader.get_all_races()
+		if not race_list.is_empty():
+			default_race = race_list[0].get("id", "dwarf")
 	for i: int in range(num_players):
 		var player: PlayerScript = PlayerScript.new()
 		player.index = i
diff --git a/src/game/engine/scenes/world_map/world_map_arena.gd b/src/game/engine/scenes/world_map/world_map_arena.gd
index 4ccd196e..20ec1121 100644
--- a/src/game/engine/scenes/world_map/world_map_arena.gd
+++ b/src/game/engine/scenes/world_map/world_map_arena.gd
@@ -58,6 +58,25 @@ func setup(world_map: Node) -> void:
 			]
 		)
 	)
+	# Empirically report the actual window state so the orchestrator log
+	# can prove --windowed and --position took effect. Without this we can
+	# only infer window mode indirectly.
+	var mode: int = DisplayServer.window_get_mode()
+	var size: Vector2i = DisplayServer.window_get_size()
+	var pos: Vector2i = DisplayServer.window_get_position()
+	var mode_name: String = {
+		DisplayServer.WINDOW_MODE_WINDOWED: "windowed",
+		DisplayServer.WINDOW_MODE_MINIMIZED: "minimized",
+		DisplayServer.WINDOW_MODE_MAXIMIZED: "maximized",
+		DisplayServer.WINDOW_MODE_FULLSCREEN: "fullscreen",
+		DisplayServer.WINDOW_MODE_EXCLUSIVE_FULLSCREEN: "excl_fullscreen",
+	}.get(mode, "unknown(%d)" % mode)
+	print(
+		(
+			"[AI ARENA] window: mode=%s size=%dx%d pos=(%d,%d)"
+			% [mode_name, size.x, size.y, pos.x, pos.y]
+		)
+	)
 
 
 # ── Overlay setup ────────────────────────────────────────────────────