Quote Originally Posted by bosssmiley View Post
"Curse you, oh 16th and 17th centuries, for being such models of social equilibrium and unrelenting tedium! 200 long, boring years of absolutely nothing happening."
Nice ^^

Well, of course it's much easier to make up a shadowy land of darkness with fiendish inhabitants.
But really, most good stories also feature such "ordinary" themes like friendship, love, faith and the sense of life.
Just give them some friends who help them, but also need help. This could lead to difficult situations when they can't support everyone of their friends and have to choose.
Might be that they are also very poor at the beginning and have to endure it or resort to some nasty things. Does a great injustice warrant an evil deed? In other words, make them feel like the victims of the society. Later on, if they might gain some power, they can see the other side. And they can also choose if they want to get revenge for their suppression, just enjoy themselves or to change things for better.
There could also be strange customs which still frighten the characters because they are not familiar with them, but are perfectly fine with the members of the society.
Just force them to make decisions occasionally.