Power Struggles

Plenty of good things! Your idea sounds like a cross between "Terra" and "Kohle, Kies & Knete/I'm the Boss!" I never played Terra, but I've heard good things about it. Kohle, Kies & Knete was just released in English as I'm the Boss, and though I'm not a big fan of the pure negotiation genre, it has a pretty good following.

In Terra, players are leaders of nations. Each player draws a "problem" card on his turn. If the player can't fix the "problem" with the cards in his hand, the probem becomes a "mega-problem," and all the other players have to deal with it. If too many mega-problems develop, the world is destroyed and everyone loses.

You may want to look at Terra's cooperative aspect for ideas about the way your players' "problems" have to be dealt with.

In I'm the Boss, players assume the identities of several different businesspeople. There is a board with a track of many possible deals, each with some businesspeople's names. A single marker is moved around the board. When it lands on a space, a "deal" can be made with the businesspeople mentioned on a space. A player can ask another player who represents a needed businessperson to be included in the deal for a share of money; or he can play cards that force the other businessperson into the deal for free.

You may want to look at the way I'm the Boss handles the identies of the different businesspeople for ideas about your farmers, priests, nobles, and soldiers.

Best of luck!