Hopefully in the final release cities will be more than production centers... in the mean time here are some things I think would be nice to see, and add some much needed character.
A relevant dynamic description could read like:
This town was founded in the year blah blah, it's people are [researchers/arcane scholars/miners and smiths]... or something like that. They have lost [number of soldiers] wasteland and it's many perils. [number of soldiers] have perished deffending the homeland and the kingdom. It was conquered by [blah blah on date] and liberated on...you see where this is going.
After a certain point, or a sudden spike in casualties, like a big battle or war, allow construction of a monument that temporarily gives the population a moral boost, prestige or small diplomatic capital bonus.
Tagging a units place of origin shouldn't be too hard should it? It would also allow for civ style town specific promotions or abilities...
Allow heroes to get old and retire to a village, these guys could serve as a nice foot note on the info page as well, maybe in their retirement years they have a chance to train another "home town" hero that gets a bonus when deffending or working in the town of their birth.
A huge part of what makes Dwarf Fortress so endearing is the way the things you do in the game affect its worlds history. Those little touches really give the crude graphics a presence.
