Families

Families in Chronicles of Elyria provide a small, supportive social structure with a sense of identity, as players recognize themselves as being part of a family, a noble house, or a dynasty. They tie into the game's progress system by allowing you to pass resources you've gathered over a lifetime onto your heirs. Finally, they provide starting resources, a residence, and a source of learning in the early part of the game.

Overview
Families are vital to the land and kingdom management systems. Families will build up their land, form towns, and establish growing dynasties. Families may grow powerful enough to become nobles and play the "Dance of Dynasties" – the process of arranged marriages, intrigue, assassinations, lies and manipulations necessary to work their way up in the governing system to become kings and queens.

That being said, the family you select has a huge impact on your social experience, and not just when interacting with other family members. Your choice of family (and their social class) impacts how other NPCs, OPCs, and players interact with you. The family you select will also determine things like what type and how big your starting house is, and how much land your family has for farming, mining, breeding, and other land-based activities. Finally, there's a set of game mechanics tied directly to the family system.

These are, in no particular order:
 * Family members on the same continent can send private messages to one another.
 * Members can always sense that a family member has been slain and is Spirit Walking.
 * Members can find their way to a family member's body.
 * Family members help increase each other's life span by creating a reason to live.
 * Line of succession, as well as items, naturally pass on to heirs when someone passes away.
 * Family members automatically receive keys to shared household resources. They may also access and process the land without breaking laws.
 * Family members can always see through disguises.
 * Family impacts fame, which affects how much spirit you lose when Spirit Walking.
 * If Family members are grouped up, they will receive temporary attribute boosts and stamina boosts via the bolstering mechanic. (Stamina will be set to the level of the highest family member in the group)

Selection
Family selection takes place during Character Creation, in the form of selections which tell the story of your character's early childhood and, in doing so, the game will match your story to the best-fit families, or it may tell you that no such families exist.

If you are given a family code from a friend, you may choose to be "born" into that family. However, your ability to define the childhood and experiences of your newly chosen character may be slightly limited.

Marriage
Players characters will be able to marry other PCs and NPCs, which is not limited by gender. In other words, same-sex marriages exist in Elyria. However, in order for a same-sex couple to "conceive", they would need to seek an opposite gender player or NPC willing to enter into a Child Contract with one of the partners. Their genes would play into the child's genetics.

Spouses of characters with high levels of notoriety and fame will not incur the same amount of spirit loss as their partner upon death, unless they themselves are of the same level of fame. However, having a spouse with a high level of fame also increases your own level of fame (just not to the same degree).

Divorce
Divorce will be a mechanic for two individuals wishing to end their marriage. However, the breaking of a contracts has consequences and if both parties of the marriage contract do not agree to separate then the individual who breaks the contract may incur consequences.

Children
When you create a child you're given three options of what to do with the new NPC. The options are:
 * 1) Close it off. It will manifest as an NPC child in the world which will grow up under your care, and only you can possess its body at a later date. All descendants of that child will automatically be closed. You can also choose to close off your grandchildren as long as they are not children of another player. If you decide later to open it up or share its Child Code you can.
 * 2) Open it up to the public. If you're looking to grow your family quickly and don't have enough people to do so this may be the best option. After the child reaches age 15 other players will be able to find your child in the Family Selection Screen. Due to the way inheritance works, this option will likely be more commonly used for 2nd and 3rd children. And remember, they’ll only find your child if their search query matches the constraints you've placed on players you want in your family.
 * 3) Share your Child Code. Every NPC in the game, children included, have a character code. If you share your child’s code with a friend, then after the child reaches age 15 they’ll be able to join your family as your child. This system also breaks an important barrier to entry on a server. Players can always join your server as your child if you share your Child Code with them, even if the server is closed for new players. This guarantees your friends will always be able to join your server with you if you've got room in your family for them.

Closed NPCs and NPC Codes
Ref.:

When you select an NPC during Character Creation you may select an NPC open to anyone, or you may select a closed NPC if you have their NPC code. Closed NPCs and the associated NPC Codes is tied to the family system.

NPCs become closed in three ways:
 * If two open NPC parents with no PC ancestors have NPC children, the first time a PC player becomes their child those parents will become closed and the child will receive their NPC codes. They will also be able to see the NPC codes of all their siblings and nephews/nieces, however those NPCs will not become closed.
 * If you inhabit an NTC that is married your spouse will become closed and you will receive their NPC Code.
 * If you have children or grandchildren that are not children of another player you can choose to close them. If you do all of their descendants will be automatically closed, however you can choose to open them later if you wish.

Heirs
Ref.:

Heirs will inherit all of your belongings and titles when your character passes on. You can select your heir from any living NPC in your dynasty that is open or who you have the NPC code for. You need a certain amount of story points to inhabit your heir, but it should be easily reachable within about three months.

You can instruct your heir to pursue schooling or training so that they developed your desired skills when you take them over.

Heraldry
Families may use and boast their own Heraldry. Usually this is bestowed upon them as it is acquired by an influential individual in their midst, or through heritage.