SANJIESAN LORE / Kinship and institutions
Keep a family connection separate from a succession rule
A family tree can show who is related without settling who may hold an office. World Anvil’s family-tree feature connects relatives across generations. For an original setting, pair that relationship picture with a separately stated succession rule, especially when a plot depends on someone making a disputed claim.
Describe the relationship before the claim
Draw a small invented family with two generations and only the people needed for the scene. Identify each relationship in ordinary words. Do not infer an entitlement from where a name happens to appear on the page. If the setting recognises adoption, partnership or another connection, state how the diagram represents it rather than allowing an unlabelled line to carry several meanings.
State the setting’s own selection rule
Choose a limited fictional rule for the particular office: appointment by a council, selection from a named group or another established process. Say who recognises the result and what happens while the office is vacant. This is worldbuilding, not a statement of real inheritance law. If you work in an existing IP, retain its approved rule instead of replacing it with a convenient assumption about family order.
Give the dispute two different premises
Write one claimant pointing to a family connection and another pointing to the selection process. Decide which factual relationships are agreed and which rule is disputed. A disagreement becomes more readable when the participants are not simply contradicting the same diagram. Keep the public claim distinct from the author’s reference so a persuasive speech does not silently rewrite the setting’s underlying rule.