I'm not sure which colorful ladies you refer to, but they are probably ... reconfigured somewhat from the originals
As far as my brother goes... its "divided" but not really, it is still one collection, just separated by a few hours.
I still have my old kingdom there too with all my stuff, as do my sisters... yeah we all played... 10 continuous years of evolving kingdoms, alliances, intrigue, and yeah... its quite the epic history if we ever get it compiled... and there are notes too... we wrote histories from time to time on little playmobil sized paper scrolls and put them in the treasury... i'll have to find and scan some old pics... nostalgia!