New minor factions that have broken away from a major fraction in the game. When interacting with these new minor factions, the interactions would be unique and could have the potential to affect the whole empire (E.g. The minor faction could proclaim a new religion that is opposite of the major faction you play as and depending on your choice could effect your empires population size for a certain amount of turns). This is just an idea and obvisously would need more work but does have the potential to offer more new unique interactions and gameplay.