Emergent narratives of the kind one might encounter in, say, Dwarf Fortress arise due to a combination of a (1) procedurally generated world in its early state

Emergent narratives of the kind one might encounter in, say, Dwarf Fortress arise due to a combination of a (1) procedurally generated world in its early state with the necessary component of (2) ages upon ages of procedurally generated history applied on top of it. The element of time past makes for a stark difference from other uses of randomness or procedural generation. By the time the world arrives in its “current” state where player-controlled characters enter, the long, complex, infeasible to study in detail history (which, by the way, involves said characters and their ancestors) imbues everything with potential meaning and significance.