Right now there are only regular hearthlings that can be a part of your town, but there are already other kinds of beings in the world, like goblins, undead etc.
How about we add a way to actually somehow incorporate them into the hearthling community? Maybe as mutually exclusive sub-communities in the town that would somehow help with a limited list of jobs.
For an example, goblins that come in the first wave could be bribed or convinced to join the “tribe” that would start an alternative “a quest for the horde” storyline to the quest for township thing, ending with an undead innvasion instead of goblins and trolls and other nasty stuff.
Again, if you ally yourself with a necromancer, you go down an alternative “path to a necropolis” storyline and get attacked by kinghts, archers and priests instead of monsters in the massive final strike.
At the same time it should come with some limitations, like the undead being unable to work any other jobs than mining, hauling and being a footman (and also hiding under ground or in buildings during the day), ans goblins only being able to haul, build, fight and be a trapper while also prefering raw food and fire next to their sleeping areas etc.
Also there were dwarves planned in the future, which could allow further variation of this system or maybe even a way to mix it up a little, like goblins tolerating undead (maybe when you get a goblin shaman or a witch doctor), but not dwarves etc.
It is a cool way to make each playthrough different and unique while maintaining the core gameplay loop more or less intact. This could also interact in many ways with the current trait system, where a hearthling with a cultist, pesimistic or a night owl trait would have multiple interactions with the necromancer, while hearthlings that have goat, hothead or jokester traits could work just great with goblins.
Let me know what You think and let’s have a discussion about other possible options.