Systems to support a 'Ruler' Feature
[The ability to build your own town]: This is already done quite well in Fallout 4, building your own community from scratch, "And I mean really from scratch, as in start with nothing but dirt, no premade houses forced on you" Combine that with the Homestead DLC from skyrim to more easily fill in these homes with furnature and stuff, and you have an awesome side project to work on between quests. Bonus points if you can built a Venice style city on the water.
[Appointing Community Leaders]: the ability to select two 'under-bosses' or 'ministers' to handle the work you don't want to do, choosing two between economy, military, and religion. You can choose to do all of them, or focus on just one while your underlings handle the other two.
[Town Recruitment]: Having a recruitment campaign would be pretty sweet, being able to choose the features you want in your townspeople, the town specialization, ecct. For instance, if your building your village/town/city near a lake or river, you may want more Argonians and fishermen to help work your docks or even just have a town of mostly Argonians. Where as if you want a mountain town, perhapse you want mostly orcs, each race having a specialty, and arriving with their own Race Leader options for the above mentioned Economy, Military, and Religion. Of course theres also the option of variety, in which you may not get the Elite members of the individual races but you can scout them out later in the world for recruitment.
[Securing and Defending natural resources]: Rock Quarries, Mines, Natural Springs, Grazing Lands(for cattle), and Farmlands(for crops). All things that have value and are therefore subject to banditry, holding these locations will net you're community passive resource income to spend on upgrades like new facilities and training to improve your townsfolk. For instance having two master blacksmiths will improve the overall quality of the gear they make beyond the normal due to them competing with eachother and trying to outdo one another. Could even start town festivals with the theme of competition.
[Town Celebrations]: Pricey but leads to unlocking special gear and recipies, think of it like cashing in your experience to upgrade your base stats and perks, but for the entire town.
[Religious Management]: Far more important than one might think, religion helps bind people together under the focus of a shared idea, this helps maintain their mental state in harsh times. They don't have videogames or television, or even radio in the elder scrolls, there are sicknesses(as seen in the temple of Kynareth in Whiterun), people die, and there are few comforts to ease the burden. Building a temple to handle things like disease, despair, funerals, and weddings will most certainly go towards supporting your community. Religion is its own survival tactic. One must never underestimate the power of the mind, and its ability to destroy itself.
[Daedric Invasion]: SPEAKING OF MIND BREAKING CHAOS! Having one or multiple deadric princes attempt to infiltrate your community 'should be expected', usually by tempting or corrupting someone in your town, possibly even one of your community leaders. It'd be easier to kill the madness but what if you really like them? Thus initiating a quest to free your fellow from the princes grip. To be victorious nets you lifetime loyalty from your fellow, to fail, is to lose their soul. What more motivation might you need?