COMMUNITY - FORUMS - FAMILIES & NOBLE HOUSES
The Ties of Marriage, an open door for Communication ?

Alright, so we know that Families will have a special bound that allows them to share a private chat channel that others can't hear or intercept, and is spans an entire continent, as opposed to just whats in the near vicinity.

"Unlike Earthlings, Elyrians share a special bond with their families that allows them to communicate beyond physical limitation. Essentially, close family automatically shows up by their Character Name on your Friend's List, which allows you to coordinate from any location on Elyria. " _DJ: Communication, Vye.

What defines "Close family" can be open to interpretation and depending on who is included might make my question pointless, and a lot of this depends on how family is defined ( Surname, blood, etc etc) but here it goes.

So, assuming that there will be a mechanic during marriage contracts to take a spouse's name, what would that do to your family chat communication? Would you suddenly have two channels of familial communication, one from your blood family and another from your new spouses surname/inlaws? Or, would you for some reason have to choose only one/ your new family would replace that of your old family, communication wise?

On a similar note, which goes back to what is "close family", would your spouse be able to communicate with your blood family even if they are of a different surname/bloodline because they are in laws?

What do you guys think?

I personally would prefer the term close family to be a little more loose and open and allow for communication between inlaws and for married couples to have access to both family chats, but thats just me.


5/9/2018 4:07:14 PM #1

I’ve always taken the term to mean dynasty. So anyone you have a code for or shows up on the dynasty view would have the advantage. But it could just be your parents and your direct defendants rather than cousins and such.

Now that I think about it if you have 3 generations alive and played by PCs at the same time that could be 30-40 people. Definitely need some clarification from on high about this.

As for your spouse when you sign a marriage contract you decide who joins which dynasty so I’d assume she/he is either in yours and has access to coms or isn’t and doesn’t.

Really a great question because the more I think about this the more holes I see with it being the entire dynasty.

5/9/2018 7:01:28 PM #2

I do like the entire Dynasty idea, and although 30-40 people seems like a lot now when we are in pre-alpha and a small community but when a server is 100,000 npcs/people it might not seem like so much. Though you are right, that could practically be an entire town.

Having the contract designating which dynasty you are apart of might be the simplest answer but I feel like it would almost be punishing whoever takes their spouse's name because they then loose contact with their previous family.

Also if you merry take your spouses name and thing have children but per the child contract designate one child to inherit your old surname/dynasty does this then cut your child out of the family chat channels?


5/9/2018 7:14:18 PM #3

I have no input to offer here, sadly, but I would also like to know the answer. Any devs or mods know the answer?


Friend Code: CB1D33

5/9/2018 10:57:49 PM #4

There is a degree of separation between "birth family" and "family into marriage," and further out at the dynasty level.

  1. Family is defined by blood relations; parental (mother, father, etc), siblings (brothers, sisters), and your children.
  2. Family by marriage are not considered a part of the direct family, only the dynasty.
  3. When you marry into other family lines, you will have access to their family chats as well.
  4. Child contracts will stipulate which surname the child will recieve, culture, etc.
  5. New family branches in the dynasty will have some control over it, but not directly on the entire line as head of it.
  6. Coat of Arms will have the option to be re-created when married to reflect your new family.

Listed below is all the information I was able to find on this subject, and extra (please right-click for a bigger image on viewing):

Earning a Coat of Arms and Surname (10-25-17):

Caspian: TL;DR; Yes. It's possible in a few different situations to create new surnames, and thus a new or derived Coat of Arms.

Coat of Arms are associated with every unique Surname. So if you do something in the game to allow for the derivation or creation of a new Surname, then you'll be able to either create or derive a new Coat of Arms.

Example 1. You get married. Your current surname and your new surname are combined to create a new surname. You can use your existing coat of arms to create one that is unique to your new family.

Example 2: You slay a mythical creature and become a hero of legend. You'll have the opportunity to create a new surname like Daemonsbane, etc. This will allow you to create a new coat of arms with expanded charges that match the creature you'd slain, etc.

Family Definitions (11-14-17):
Alt text

Family Chat Access (11-15-17):
Alt text

Dynasty Branches (12-01-17):

Snipehunter: In some sense, you'll get this "automagically" because of the way the family system works. A new branch of the family can lock its lineage which would give the head of the new branch some control over who can be a part of its line, but not control over the overall family line which would still be under the control of the head of that line. There are a few elements discussed here that don't just happen automatically, e.g. assigning a sub-branch of the family some sort of role, but that can be accomplished via things like contracts and even just personal agreements between members of the family.

but, as Serp mentioned, as far as a formal system of supporting branch families goes, we haven't decided if we'll go that far or not, at this point.

Hope that helps! :)

Child Contracts (specifically the second paragraph) (02-09-18): Alt text

Surnames, Earned or Assigned by Family (03-05-18): Alt text


5/11/2018 2:38:45 PM #5

These are awesome! Thank you for providing them.

I still think that even though through contracts you decided what dynasty each child is of they should receive access to both. Its be a little weird for two brothers to grow up and not be able to talk because they are different Dynasties . just my thoughts though


5/11/2018 6:30:08 PM #6

Vye mentioned it in her communication DJ, but the way family communication works is that your family's characters get added to your "Family list" which essentially gives you a way to DM each member in your list. The composition of your family list will change over time, as you marry, children are born, your parents die, etc., but will include the following, assuming they are alive: your direct relations (parents, siblings, and children) and your spouse and their direct relations.

Hope that helps! :)


  • Snipehunter
5/11/2018 11:19:16 PM #7

Thanks Snipe, you're a boss.