Until your user data is loaded to your computer, from the server, you are a Bishop (0). You get to see the tower before all that is installed as that is drawn by the client, no matter what.
If your Internet connection is having any issues at all (dropped packets or sporadic delays) then when you first login it is possible to be placed at a Bishop base first. There is no other data loaded so there is nothing to see and you cannot do anything until the client gets all its initial data.