I like the discussion on personailities. Is it all handled with tags at the moment, or are rpg style sliding scales used? It seems to me an rpg style system would work. so you could have scales for;
Proud - Humble : a high proud score would make a character less interested in others views, and less easily influenced, but also unliked.
Elitist - empathetic : a high elitist score would make a character not like: other races, other civs, other professions, and possibly members of other families.
extrovert - introvert: introvert would make a better craftsman, and be made happy by doing craft work, extrovert would be more socially proficient
driven - appathetic : pretty self explanitory
materialistic - unmaterialistic : as above
conservative - impressionable: very conservative does not change in characteristics as easily as impressionable
Violent - pacifistic : how much fighting a character wants
each character could have a scale between 1-10 for each. The point on the scale could be shifted by events/circumstances. Either in game activity could key of the scales or tags could be come available when the scales are appropriate. e.g. if a character has driven of 8+, proud 7+, Elitist 6+ he or she would be allowed to gain the 'desires power tag'. Either the tag could be randomly triggered or event triggered. If in power, they could look for routes such as war, to extend their power. If not in power they could look for opportunities to cease power. To prevent lots of characters getting the 'desires power tag' your environment, possibly some genes etc would need to deterimine the characters stats sliders. So being of noble birth, having parents with high pride stats etc, having a few successes (e.g. killing something hard, forging an artifact), being elected or promoted to a position of influence, all could raise a characters proud and driven stats. Others such as extrovert and impressionable could determine (in terms of stats changes) the reaction of a character to an event. So if a dorf creates an artifact, if hes introvert, his driven may increase, but proud may stay level or decrease, as he's less prone to boast or seek recogintion from others. If hes very impressionable his stats may move more than if hes conservative. Being very impressionable could also cause his stats to be determined by his friends to an extent.