I think for NPC's, there would be heroes informing dragons that they shall be slain (If they've attacked humans) or commended (Helped humans), possible interaction with other dragons, and maybe even talking to Human Kings, and starting wars/alliances. I for one could easily write a story that changes due to the environment, as I love typing stories very much .
This game does not run just upon a simple system like that. The NPC reactions are based off of these 4 meters that control the likelihood to attack:
Respect---Neutral---Fear
Sanctity---Neutral---Corruption
Adoration---Neutral---Anger
Lawful---Neutral---Anarchist
There is a high level of interplay between these meters. For example, if you have a high level of respect or fear from an entity, it can basically nullify anger towards you, because no one would be willing to attempt to go after you without provocation. However, if you have a high level of corruption, and the entity in question has a high level of Sanctity, then that entity will get a boost towards the likelihood to attack, but if both you and the entity have anarchist ideals, then the likelihood to attack is lessened.
Example of how the values change:
You attack a village belonging within the civilization, so nearby villages get a boost in anger towards you. However, you did this in retaliation for your broodmate being slain by that village, and the nearby villages 'know' this, so more respect than fear is gained. However, the nearby villages all have a decent sanctity score, and by killing in revenge, a little bit of corruption is added towards your sanctity-corruption meter, which increases the disparity between the meters, increasing the likelihood to attack by a little bit. Since you were not acting against the current order of the nation, nothing happens to your lawful-anarchist meter, leaving their opinion of you on that scale roughly the same. Let's say that after this, the likelihood that they may attack you is boosted a little bit, but not enough to go over the point where the villages would strike back at you. However, when the individual meters are compared, the overall respect given to you has breached the point wherein the dialogue of the villagers slightly changes to a more respectful tone than before.
There are going to be 7 of those points for each meter, but considering how much dialogue would need to be written (2401 different ways to say something!), there's probably going to be quite a few points that dialogue will need to be shared (or becoming unavailable with certain scores), to a) put ease on the programming, but primarily b) put ease on the writers. Certainly, dialogue from NPC to NPC met would get fairly repetitive for new players, but can you imagine the reaction the first time one of the thresholds is broken, and you begin to be addressed differently?
Of course, this system needs quite a bit of things worked out, so anyone may suggest ways to improve this.
I could definitely do that. What kind of NPCs would talk to dragons, though? Just wondering. For the storylines, the elements could still be randomized, with the ultimate goal being consisted of smaller necessary goals, and just narrow it down and template enough that it's not too boring. The rough narrative of the player's life would likely consist of major events (Like sieging a castle, going to a new village?), acquiring things like artifacts, and fighting or talking to important people, like tyrants of the land you were born in.
What type of NPCs would depend on the factors above (higher likelihood to attack, less likely to speak to), and if you knew the language of the people. If the language isn't known, then all that will be seen is garbled text.
Good ideas for the storylines and narrative, by the way.
To both Coolrune and CyberUrist, before I put your names up on the roster, could I see a bit of your work? I just want to get a rough idea of how well both of your styles of writing can meshed, so I can see how smooth in-game dialogue and the such will be.