How to read this family tree: This text-based Marlas family tree is simple to read once you get the hang of it. The first person listed is the person that all the rest are descended from. The person right under her was her husband. That's designated by two periods and a plus sign. The plus sign is for the actual marriage, and the two periods aid with delimiting generations, along with setting off who is directly descended from the unnamed female at the top of the tree against who is not.

After that it's pretty simple. All the children of a certain generation have the same number of periods before them as the spouse of the generation of their parent, with 4 added. This makes the generations sort of graphical. I've also put numbers up there to help you in this. For instance, '2 Reta' indicates that Reta is a member of generation 2... that is, the children of the generation one female (who is "named", funnily enough, "1 Female" on this chart).

So, example! Let's find me. I'm near the middle (maybe a bit up), bolded... see "4 Tsuko Theras"? I put in my full name and everything, because I know it. You know I'm the 4th generation, so I'm great-grandson of the lucky lady at the top here. But you can also easily see that I have a wife (Emeila), and that we have had four children together. A little bit trickier are siblings: first, you have to go up on the tree to the closest member of the generation before me... so it's all a matter of finding the first 3. And for me, that's "3 Pavala", my mother. Now just look down the list for any other members of the 4th generation that come before the next member of the 3rd generation... unfortunately for them, they're all unnamed as of yet, so they're listed as "4 Female". With this information, you should be able to puzzle out my brothers-in-law (all the pluses next to my sisters), and my nieces and nephews (the people below my sisters). See, isn't this easy? ^_^

But what are the mysterious letters and numbers next to everyone? That's even easier to explain. "b." is born, "m." is married, and "d." is died. YBP means Years Before Present ('Present', of course, referring to whatever year this happens to be in Olencia, not in real life :look). So, for instance, the "1 Female" at the top of this chart was born 107 years before present, married 91 years before present, and died 51 years before present. Her husband was born 105 years before present, married 91 years before present (duh, I'd hope he wasn't somehow married at a different time than his wife :look), and died 31 years before present.

And the mysterious pattern of bolding and italicization? Bolded people are born with "of Marlas" in their name, because, by birth, they are members of House Marlas, who might inherit Head of Mothers or High Seat. If they really wish, they can use another title, but they're not likely to. Italicized names are entitled to use "of Marlas" despite not officially being in the family. They might use this if, for some reason, they become estranged from their old House, or for certain Marlas functions. The upcoming WEDDING OF DHOOM would probably be a good time for people to use it, for instance.

Now, another example time! Let's find me again. You can see I was born 35 years before present, so I'm 35 years old. I was married 20 years before present, which means I was 35-20=15 years old when I was married (to you this might seem young, but noble marriages happened at frighteningly young ages back then :look). Since there is no "d. __ YBP" field with me, that means I'm still alive (duhhh :D). I'm bolded and italicized, which means that I was born with and use the title "of Marlas". You can find similar information for my immediate family. My wife, Emeila, was born 39 years before present and was married 20 years ago, so she was 39-20=19 years old when she married me. Our kids are 16, 14, 10, and 4, and none are dead (though that might not, in fact, be true... I tried to take into account miscarriages, stillbirths, deaths during toddlerhood, etc. when I made my model to simulate the family tree... but let's not get into that here, m'kay? :)). Enderron is about to get married, which is why I gave him "m. now!" even though he's technically not married yet.

So, you should be able to figure everything out now! ^_^ If you wish, try picking a random member of the family tree out and see how much information you can get about their lives... who were their relatives, are they members of House Marlas, how old were they when they died, etc. You can always ask if you aren't sure about something (B

1 Female b. 107 YBP m. 91 YBP d. 51 YBP
..+ Male b. 105 YBP m. 91 YBP d. 31 YBP
......2 Reko b. 88 YBP m. ??? d. 15 YBP
......2 Reta b. 85 YBP m. 68 YBP d. 24 YBP
........+ Zuti b. 84 YBP m. 68 YBP d. 15 YBP
............3 Peret b. 68 YBP m. 54 YBP d. 9 YBP
..............+ Female b. 64 YBP m. 54 YBP d. 1 YBP
..................4 Female b. 52 YBP m. 33 YBP
....................+ Male b. 50 YBP m. 33 YBP
........................5 Female b. 24 YBP m. 8 YBP
..........................+ Male b. 22 YBP m. 8 YBP
..................4 Female b. 54 YBP m. 31 YBP
....................+ Male b. 48 YBP m. 31 YBP
........................5 Female b. 18 YBP m. 2 YBP
..........................+ Male b. 17 YBP m. 2 YBP
..............................6 Female b. 1 YBP
..............................6 Female b. 0 YBP
........................5 Male b. 12 YBP
..................4 Male b. 43 YBP m. 27 YBP d. 2 YBP
....................+ Female b. 48 YBP m. 27 YBP
........................5 Male b. 23 YBP m. 4 YBP
..........................+ Female b. 22 YBP m. 4 YBP
..............................6 Female b. 2 YBP
........................5 Male b. 22 YBP m. 8 YBP
..........................+ Female b. 21 YBP m. 8 YBP
..............................6 Female b. 3 YBP
..............................6 Female b. 0 YBP
........................5 Female b. 21 YBP m. 5 YBP
..........................+ Male b. 18 YBP m. 5 YBP
..............................6 Male b. 1 YBP
........................5 Male b. 19 YBP m. 1 YBP
..........................+ Female b. 17 YBP m. 1 YBP
........................5 Male b. 14 YBP
............3 Fera b. 66 YBP m. 51 YBP d. 43 YBP
..............+ Male b. 65 YBP m. 51 YBP d. 44 YBP
............3 Pavala b. 65 YBP m. 46 YBP d. 6 YBP
..............+ Male b. 61 YBP m. 46 YBP d. 4 YBP
..................4 Female b. 42 YBP m. 28 YBP
....................+ Male b. 42 YBP m. 28 YBP
........................5 Jenin b. 14 YBP m. Now!
..........................+ Female b. 17 YBP m. Now!
..................4 Tsuko Theras b. 35 YBP m. 20 YBP
....................+ Emeila 39 YBP m. 20 YBP
........................5 Enderron Kelesi b. 16 YBP m. Now!
..........................+ Female b. 19 YBP m. Now!
........................5 Gresa Liona b. 14 YBP
........................5 Mindre Tsama b. 10 YBP
........................5 Tala Berun b. 4 YBP
..................4 Female b. 32 YBP m. 16 YBP
....................+ Male b. 29 YBP m. 16 YBP
........................5 Female b. 12 YBP
........................5 Female b. 8 YBP
........................5 Female b. 5 YBP
..................4 Female b. 30 YBP m. 14 YBP
....................+ Male b. 28 YBP m. 14 YBP
........................5 Male b. 3 YBP
............3 Doni b. 63 YBP m. 46 YBP d. 6 YBP
..............+ Female b. 64 YBP m. 46 YBP
..................4 Male b. 43 YBP m. 24 YBP
....................+ Female b. 45 YBP m. 24 YBP
........................5 Male b. 22 YBP
..........................+ Female b. 27 YBP
..................4 Male b. 42 YBP m. 26 YBP
....................+ Female b. 46 YBP m. 26 YBP
........................5 Female b. 19 YBP m. 0 YBP
..........................+ Male b. 18 YBP m. 0 YBP
........................5 Male b. 16 YBP m. 1 YBP
..........................+ Female b. 19 YBP m. 1 YBP
........................5 Male b. 15 YBP m. 0 YBP
..........................+ Female b. 14 YBP m. 0 YBP
........................5 Male b. 11 YBP
........................5 Female b. 9 YBP
..................4 Male b. 39 YBP m. 20 YBP
....................+ Female b. 39 YBP m. 20 YBP
........................5 Male b. 18 YBP
........................5 Male b. 13 YBP
........................5 Male b. 8 YBP
..................4 Male b. 36 YBP m. 19 YBP
....................+ Female b. 39 YBP m. 19 YBP
..................4 Male b. 33 YBP m. 12 YBP
....................+ Female b. 35 YBP m. 12 YBP
........................5 Female b. 10 YBP
............3 Garon b. 56 YBP m. 38 YBP d. 1 YBP
..............+ Female b. 54 YBP m. 38 YBP d. 13 YBP
..................4 Female b. 35 YBP m. 19 YBP
....................+ Male b. 32 YBP m. 19 YBP
........................5 Female b. 8 YBP
..................4 Female b. 26 YBP m. 6 YBP
....................+ Male b. 26 YBP m. 6 YBP
......2 Male b. 83 YBP m. ??? d. 10 YBP

Bells and whistles are all that's left... and directions...

I can't believe you call that readable :P