This is just a place to gather my personal thoughts and ideas concerning EWoM, feel free to read it! I'll add more if something tickles my fancy.
Achievement Title System
In other words, your character can have the suffix title of "Roger the Great", "Roger the Holy", "Roger the Destroyer" or even bad ones such as "Roger the Coward", "Roger the Witless", "Roger the Weak", and so on. These would be unlocked by the character that succeeds in accomplishing the necessary criteria to make it happen. These could have bonuses, or just used for flair. Perhaps in the case of your sovereign these can be selectable upon completing it (for your champions, no). Basically..
The GOOD
- the Great - Destroy 10 creatures in a certain time frame
- the Invincible - Be knocked down to 5% hp or less 3 different times without dying
- the Destroyer - Personally destroy 5 cities
- the Holy - ???
- the Veteran - Make level 10
- Etc
The BAD
- the Weak - Be defeated 10 times in a certain time frame
- the Coward - Run away 10 times
- Etc
Nobility System (Monarchy)
Perhaps this gives it a little extra boost, especially in the area of roleplaying. Basically, depending on the level of your cities and how many you have, you can qualify for noble titles which you can assign to your champions. These titles which are assigned to champions give your cities a slight boost depending on the STATS of your champion which is assigned. Strength would add a defense bonus to your city, intelligence would give you a boost in research, charisma would encourage growth, dexterity would increase production speed, etc. The higher the title given to a champion, the bigger the boost. This could be tied directly in with the city level system even.
- Duke (highest) ------- Cities
- Marquess ------- Towns
- Count ------- Villages
- Baron (lowest) ------- Hamlets
This would probably require research itself (Noble System) to make this happen. For instance, establishing a champion as a Duke you first need a city, and the title of Duke itself would cost a lot of money and resources, where as the title of Count would require a lot less. You can be a Count of a city, but you cannot be a Duke of a Village, another example would be that a baron can be in charge of a town, but a Marquess cannot be in charge of a hamlet. To ensure you don't spam all your cities with Dukes, there could be a rule that you can only have one of each type in your nation.
Government Systems
This is an expanded and similar idea of the Nobility system (which would be included as Monarchy). As the same style above, you can have different types of governments that your sovereign is in charge of, and each one you can learn and hand out titles.
Republic (Growth Bonus/Trade Bonus) - The people love and believe in the freedoms that a republic gives them, therefore this encourages growth and trade.
- Proconsul ------- Cities
- Governor ------- Towns
- Magistrate ------- Villages
- Promagistrate ------- Hamlets
Theocracy (Research Bonus/Magic Bonus) - The people believe that the sovereign is a god, or at least represents the gods. There are a lot of scholars in a theocracy, and many monks and priests would spend their time in ink and quill. This would get a nice bonus to research.
- Grand Theocrat ------- Cities
- High Cleric ------- Towns
- Cleric ------- Villages
- Acolyte ------- Hamlets
Monarchy (Production Bonus/Defense Bonus) -If the word is given, the people will rise up and march against your enemies. With this government type, it's easier to raise armies. In other words, you'll get a production bonus.
- Duke (highest) ------- Cities
- Marquess ------- Towns
- Count ------- Villages
- Baron (lowest) ------- Hamlets
Trait System
This is an example taken from the Total War series. I believe that it would add a bit more flair to your sovereign and champions. These could be random as well as inherited, and could change depending on the success, failures, and choices that the characters make in their journeys. These provide extra bonuses, and penalties depending. Note, these are only the good traits, there would be an equal listing for bad traits (ie, Pathetic Commander, Idiot, Clumsy, etc) also.
GoodCommander
GoodInfantryGeneral
GoodCavalryGeneral
GoodAmbusher
GoodAttacker
GoodDefender
GoodAdministrator
Intelligent
VictorVirtue
PublicFaith
BattleChivalry
NaturalMilitarySkill
Energetic
HaleAndHearty
PoliticsSkill
MathematicsSkill
FathersLegacy
GoodTrader
GoodMiner
High Personal Security
BattleDread
Loyal
Brave
apothecary
bard
drillmaster
brilliant inventor
doctor
scribe ancillary
mentor
tutor
bodyguard
swordbearer
shieldbearer
dancer
catamite
courtesan
pickpocket
Good Spy
Good Assassin
Good Saboteur
Occupation, Enslavement, and Razing of Cities
I was thinking it would be interesting to have a few different decisions concerning conquering a city. You could simply occupy it and treat it like your own, but you may have some revolts (bandits appearing nearby for a while). Or you can choose to enslave the population, which reduces that city's population greatly and you receive a bump in population in your other cities (perhaps 5% increase in population). After you choose to enslave the population, you'll still occupy the city but the bandit revolts in the countryside would be a lot easier to manage. An unfortunate side effect, is that it may create some bandit armies (escaped slaves) around your other cities that you'll have to deal with. Or, you can choose to raze the city to the ground, and this would be the best bet if you know you can't hold the city from being re-conquered, or have no interest in holding the city. Where the city once was, is just a giant scorch mark with broken and burnt buildings.
[OCCUPY CITY]
[ENSLAVE THE POPULATION]
[RAZE THE CITY TO THE GROUND]