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Personally I don't mind fleshing out those characters myself. I love to do so. Or even letting my players imagine some of them. But what if, in scenarios to come, said characters matter to the story, and they aren't like I said they were? In order to avoid such a "problem", it would be nice to know in advance what some NPCs are like. And what I would like most (but that's maybe a wild dream  ) would be pictures of them. I love having some NPCs portraits drawn in the same hand than the illustrations of the book. It adds something really nice to them. A feeling of belonging maybe? 

You´re right. But that´s a problem every big meta campaign, like "Mercy of the Icons", "Ravens Purge" and so on has.

I try to avoid these "Big heads" in home-made campaign play. Usual players won´t meet the royal family or the young Alfred Nobel. But if they do, they should have so much impact on the world around them, that a usual campaign won´t fit easily, either.

I tend to start such campaign books with fresh groups or just use them as melting pot of great ideas.

The option of using a couple of suggested npcs would be good for "newbies", and those who want to create their own (co-op or GM) can do so, despite "official ones" being there. 

Since Upsala is the default setting, it would help to have a couple of recurring characters that will likely show up (in own scenarios, or official ones). It does not need to be many pages, just something that is easily to use, adapt or change. Sort of the NPC cards in Mutant, but maybe a little more detail. An illustration of the servant who tends to Castle G, Linnea and the private detective in the intro scenario would also be helpful, for instance.

I think this will be a good way of getting into the setting and create immersion. Easy to skip if you want to create your own (I intend to bring in a bashful and arrogant Norwegian "big Vaesen hunter", used to killing off stray trolls in Norway, that will clash with players that want to solve mysteries distretly- imagine if the players have been hired to solve something and then they are fired and the troll hunter shows up and takes over the investigation, backtalking the lazy & sloppy Swedes... Also a Russian or Finnish diplomat that shows interest in the Society and offering help from abroad, but is a wurdulac trying to infiltrate and crush from within. And of course, a nosy local journalist that tries to disclose what the Society is up to).

As for a meta-plot; even if there is none (yet) I think the implied collision between the emerging industrial world and the ways of the old folklore would be enough. Just set a couple of mysteriums where the industrius man is the reason as to why the vaesen react negatively, and let the players figure out what is going on over time. Then introduce a furious troll prince or an upset tribe of vättar that intend to start a terror war after pursuading other vaesens to join the rebellion.