In truth, credit for the initial idea of how to do this goes to 'The Sloth', who proposed a system whereby a Leader was judged on his capabilities based on traits that awarded either People love, troops love, nobility loves him, or that each hated him. This provided the groundwork for a system that Calvin and I had often talked about...ie, a system that could effectively cause a faction-wide slump in your economy, or even a depression. So, basically, how this works is that the Faction Leader gains traits, and the system of people\troops\nobles checks to see whether these traits are 'desirable' or not. If they are desirable, the people\troops\nobles incrementally like him more and more, and HIS popularity is passed on to all characters in the game in the form of a trait that increases national prosperity. But, if the Faction Leader is a stooge....a coward, a Harsh Ruler, insane, drinks too much, depraved, lazy, etc....all the various groups like him less and less, to a point where they want to get rid of him. The resulting traits gained by all other characters represent a faction-wide 'attitude' of poor management, selfishness, corruption and disloyalty...causing an economic slump.
At that point, players will want to make decisions about the future. Like choosing a very good successor...or at least the best one possible....and then sending their Leader on a suicide mission somewhere to remove him.
His removal will cause a 'reversal' in the system and eventually restore a better overall situation.
It is at present a bit rough and non-specific faction-wise or culture-wise, but in time we'll improve on it.