I'd find it interesting to be able to bring up a family tree of each Surname, not just yours. It could potentially even show "open" npcs available for you to join the family?

Reality check is programing time. Perhaps they could get a summer intern to work on this code as a side project so it does not slow down development?

Personally I think that keeping track of one's genealogy should be up to the players. A UI addition like we see in a game such as CK2, as useful as it is, I think would really be against the overall spirit of COE, and to be honest a bit immersion breaking. For nobles and others for whom genealogy is important they should take the time to keep track of it.

Otherwise, I don't have a problem with making it fully view-able between lives, meaning if you're inside the Akashic Records you should be able to see the entire dynasty, but not while your soul is in a body. I'd call that a fair compromise.

Personally I think it would be best if family trees are another document, like contracts and maps, that can be created by the players in game. So maybe not a UI for it, but a mechanic for it absolutely.

I would like to make a tapestry like they use to or a wall mural like in Harry Potter. Though this may be something the game is vague about and the player will have to rely on actually getting to know their family outside of immediate blood relatives.

For my part, I'm not in favor of having to record stuff on cheat-sheets. If it's information a character can learn, and if characters are members of extended families, then at least some information should be available and recordable in-game. The exception could be if a character is illiterate, and there are ways to mitigate that via the literacy of other characters.

I think it'd be awesome to have access to my own family tree. Even if the game doesn't do it for us, having a method of doing it for ourselves would be cool.

I think it should be noted that names aren't displayed in game to allow for one to be anonymous or disguise themselves. On the topic of a family tree UI, I feel that it being available while selecting a character to inhabit with a soul (as mentioned above) is the best compromise for those who want immersion and those that want functionality although one could argue the immersion people like myself could just not use said UI.

Yeah, having some sort of interface would be nice. Although I imagine players would be able to either create their own (like IRL houses had to do and keep up with) OR a community website might pop up with that kind of interface.

But worst case the "Great" houses that feel the need to record their lineage will do the work themselves.

Not sure if it will matter though...as I don't think the NPC's will care, unless it's an in-game interface with code to reflect its importance.