A FEW IDEAS: JARL'S GEAR: Maybe, once you buy a blacksmith's shop for your hold, you can pay him a lot of money to make a really cool looking set of Jarl's armor, this armor would be as strong as daedric (maybe a little less) then, once you have this armor and have bought an enchanters shop for the hold, you can ask the enchanter to enchant the armor with the Jarl's Enchantment (this would be a really good enchantment but expensive as well, also cannot be unenchanted). After building the stables outside of the city, you can buy a specially breeded horse (for a good sum of money) which has more health, does more damage and runs much faster than normal horses. RECRUITABLE PEOPLE: You can recruit powerful warriors to stay in your keep and become potential followers. You can also recruit a bard to stay at you keep and play music, a servant who can give you food and sweeps the keep, a court wizard to do wizrd stuff, a court physician to give you potions, etc. Thus making the keep a lively place full of people. These people can be recruited through your steward and cost weekly money. These people will all come with minor quests. similarly, on occasion, a random npc my approach you in your travels and ask to be allowed into your city. WARDS (orphans): Once you build an orphanage in your city, then you can take in an orphan and let him (or her) live at the keep. FESTIVALS: since Skyrim does have a calendar system, maybe at certain times each year, a courier comes to you from your steward and tells you to meet with your steward at your keep, the steward then gives you the option of holding a festival in your keep. There will be special decorations as well as bards in the streets and a surplus of people. similarly, once a year there will be a jarl's meeting where they discuss some sort of random issue, (like a troll camp or bandit hideout) and you can volunteer to take care of it (by either sending out a party of men or dealing with it yourself. MERCHANTS GUILD a guild which can be erected in your hold, it is a faction similar to thieves guild, mage's college or companions MERCENARIES Any mercenaries who would normally be found in taverns and such could be hired to work for the hold rather than you personally, they would act lik guards whle retaining their normal armor and such, they can be used as a follower by the player whenever. OTHER STUFF: -if you get married after becoming a jarl, The other jarls come to your wedding. -you get discounts at all the shops within your realm -