KoDP is a bit different from most games - you neither play a group of characters, nor are you a supreme being. You essentially act as the clan spirit. You do get to pick your clan council from a pool of leaders. These seven leaders both act as your playing pieces when there are orders to be carried out, and give you advice. They have their own abilities and personalities.
Players start the game with an interactive history of their clan.
These answers all determine the sorts of things you should be doing throughout the game to be true to your ancestors. As for character development, you get to see babies grow up to be great heroines. Or a family plunged into a feud that's carried out by the grandchildren. There's nothing else quite like it, yet it's made up of familiar elements. There are a few elements of the game design that I think could have been simplified a bit.