I love the description of how players take random circumstances and turn them into complex stories.
I do this all the time. I switched countries in the middle of a playthrough to the Duke of Poitou, who was pretty weak - he only controlled a single county of the four in his Duchy. He had relatives plotting to overthrow him. In terms of gameplay, I quickly jailed the plotter and revoked the title of the other two counts. There was some minor fighting, but in the end I had quickly taken complete control of the Duchy.
In terms of the story, this made no sense. Why did this Duke go from almost letting his family title slip away, to suddenly becoming a lion? Well, one of the most important characters involved in doing this was actually the Spymaster, who just happened to be his mother.
So, for me, the story became about how his mother the Spymaster saw that her feckless son was on the verge of ruining the family so she stepped in an took over. She was behind every intrigue needed to secure the Duchy, and (even in terms of gameplay) she was in charge of the eduction of her grandson. So, by the time her son came to power, her grandson was in position to move the family forward. Several generations on, her descendent would become a King and major force in the Reconquista. All throughout there were other interesting characters and adventures.
Their story is actually more memorable, interesting, and exciting than any book I've read or movie I've watched. I actually did spend quite a bit of time working on a AAR, which was also great.
