I'd personally prefer a different approach than "conquest". I love story, which I understand why there won't be a huge amount, and solving puzzles/mysteries.
I really like your ideas, only I'd want one thing to be tweaked from what you said. Instead of random urges out of nowhere, I'd like to see more in world interaction to trigger them. Finding a book, or item, triggers the players' curiosity. One of my biggest disappointments in gaming is when you find stuff in world, mainly books, that do not encourage some activity in the world.
I'm really not sure what the journal in the game is for if it's not for future planned quest-like content. I really hope so.