4.11 FAMILY
Syntax
* FWHO (FAMILYWHO)
* FAMILY STATUS
* FAMILY RELATION <person>
* FAMILY TREE <family|person>
* FAMILY CONSIDER <person> [INITIATE|APPROVE]
* FAMILY ACCEPT <person> AS SIBLING
* FAMILY REJECT <PARENT|CHILD|FAMILY>
* FAMILY REJECT <person> AS SIBLING
* FAMILY ACKNOWLEDGE <family>
* FT <message> (Bannerhouses and Great Houses only)
* FOUND FAMILY <name>
Passing through the Portal of Fate forges the soul for greatness, but it
also creates some very substantive obstacles, one of which is the fact
that your memory has many holes. Some people may face the challenge of
finding the lost familial threads of his or her life. This is not an easy
task as even your parents may not easily recognize you, perhaps because of
actual physical alterations or perhaps because reality itself has slightly
shifted as the Fates spun your destiny. Whatever the case, if you think
you've found your parents, you must go through a period of time where you
consider whether these people are indeed your parents, and where they
consider if you indeed are their lost child.
In order to have a hope of finding your parents, they must be married and
willing to consider whether you are their child. If they are not bound
together in marriage, the emotional, spiritual and psychological
boundaries set by the Fates themselves will make the task impossible. The
parents you find may be your parents by blood or the ones who raised you.
They could be couples of different races or even a same sex couple. That
is for you to discover. Once the consideration period has passed, which
takes about one Lusternian year, this couple will forever be your parents
so use this time to consider wisely.
If you think you have found your parents, one of them must, in the presence of
you and the other, do FAMILY CONSIDER <child>, and the consideration period
will begin. During the next Lusternian year either parent or yourself may
FAMILY REJECT <PARENT|CHILD> if any of you come to the realization that this
was a mistake. Both parents must be married to each other and, of course, at
least a 13 year span must be between you in age. Parents may only consider one
child at a time. Any child considered must have spent at least 75 Lusternian
days awake in the realm before they have enough experience to make a decision
as to whether this is truly their family.
If you are the progenitor of a family, you may BLOODBOND WITH <person> to
bring new siblings into the family as progenitors. During the next 24
Lusternian months, any of the other progenitors may FAMILY REJECT <person> AS
SIBLING to break the bloodbond. After the period has ended, another
progenitor must FAMILY ACCEPT <person> AS SIBLING to bring them fully into
the family as a sibling. This can only be done for the progenitor generation,
and all others must be considered through parents (siblings with parents
do not get to pick their family, after all).
You and your spouse may FOUND FAMILY <name> at the Hall of Records for a
fee of 25,000 gold. Only a couple with a family name may find their
children. Your children will take on your family name. You can use the
CONFIG command to always show your family name.
**REMEMBER TO CAPITALISE YOUR FAMILY NAME WHEN FOUNDING A FAMILY***
FAMILY STATUS will show the status of your close family.
FAMILY RELATION <person> will show your relationship with another, if it
exists, up to such distant relations as a second cousin or great aunt or
uncle.
FAMILY TREE <family|person> will show the family tree by generation for
families or the family status of another.
Marriages cannot occur if there is a close family relationship between a
couple (for example, brother and sister). If only one of the couple has a
family name, marriage will bring the spouse into that family. If both
couples have family names, the person who proposes will be the primary
spouse and the secondary spouse will take his or her partner's family
name. If the couple divorces, the spouse will return to the birth family
name. Couples may be of any race or of the same sex.
You can reject your family by FAMILY REJECT FAMILY, in order not to be
actively associated with your birth family. You might wish to do this
for a number of reasons: perhaps you no longer wish to be associated with
your family, or you might wish to marry and start a new family of your
own.
However, please note that you cannot rewrite history. Once you have found
your birth parents or bloodbonded with a sibling, the pure fact of that
cannot be changed. You can reject your family, and refuse to recognise your
sibling or your parents, but this does not change your blood relation to
them. After all, the Fates would never have let you bloodbond in the first
place if you weren't related.
To return to a family, you can FAMILY ACKNOWLEDGE <family>. It costs 10,000
gold to acknowledge a family and you must do so at the Hall of Records.
Note that if your spouse is active in a family, you may not acknowledge a
family that is different from his or her active family, and that if your spouse
is not active in a family, acknowledging a family will also bring your spouse
into that family (and require their presence during the acknowledging). In
other words, it isn't possible for you and your spouse to be in different
families.
If a family grows to 15 or more active members, then that family will be
considered a "Bannerhouse" or Lesser House, which confers upon them a news
section and family aetherwave. Lesser Houses may also elect a family head
and gain limited honour. The most notable feature of Lesser Houses are that
they may pledge to other Lesser Houses or Great Houses, and 1/4th of their
active family members will count towards the total of their pledge House
for determining whether that family is a Great House or not.
If a family grows to over 50 active members (that is, 50 people can use
their family name), then that family will be considered a "Great House".
Great Houses are able to keep a family bank account, and participate in
the family honour system. If a family drops below 50 active members, it
will lose its status of a Great House and the privileges associated with it.
Great Houses compete against one another for honour and esteem, vying to
become the most influential House in the Basin of Life.
NOTE ON HISTORICAL FAMILIES: Established family names that exist in the
histories or that can be found in areas can be used for player family
names. However, historical family names will only be given to EXISTING
families upon application. The families must have Banner House status to apply.
If the application is approved, then the existing family name is changed to the
historical name. (RP-wise, the old family has "discovered" their roots.) The
application must include why you want the family name, how it will be
roleplayed, and a brief history that provides the foundation for taking the
name. The application should be submitted to a god willing to sponsor the
application.
See also HELP FAMILY HONOUR