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I want to build a family tree for fictional characters

643 words·4 mins
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Use this when you’re populating a fictional universe with characters and their relationships. Maybe you’re building out the noble houses of a fantasy world, the bloodlines of a sci-fi dynasty, or the alternate-history forks of a real lineage. By the end, you’ll have at least one character note linked to your universe, with relationships wired up and (optionally) fictional-calendar dates in place.

The workflow mirrors I want to add my first person from scratch — same Create Person modal, same relationship fields. The worldbuilding-specific bits are the universe field and (optionally) fictional dates in born / died.

What you’ll need
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Steps
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1. Open the Create Person modal
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Three paths:

  • Command palette → Charted Roots: Create person
  • Dashboard → Create Person tile
  • Right-click a folder in the file explorer → Create person

The folder context-menu path pre-populates the destination. If you have a universe note open or selected when you trigger the modal, the universe field also pre-populates — saves a step.

2. Fill in the basics, including the universe
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Required: Name. Set the Universe field to the universe you created. Autocomplete suggests universe IDs from your existing universe notes; pick yours.

Optional fields: nickname, sex, birth date.

For dates, use either:

  • Real-world dates in YYYY-MM-DD format if your fiction uses Gregorian dating.
  • Fictional dates like TA 2941 (Third Age) or AoL 1234 (custom) if you’ve registered a calendar for this universe.

Choose Create & Open to land in the new note, or Create & Add Another to keep the form open for the next character.

3. Add relationships from the Edit Person modal
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Right-click the new note → Edit. Each relationship field — Father, Mother, Spouse, Children — has a + to create a new linked character inline (auto-bidirectional) or Add existing to pick from your vault. Inline-created characters inherit the same universe.

Edit Person modal with relationships and events populated for a fictional character

4. (Optional) Add narrative events
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The events section records births, deaths, marriages, battles, ascensions, exiles — anything from your storyline. Each becomes its own event note linked back to the person, with the same fictional-calendar date support if you set one up.

5. Verify
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Open the note. Frontmatter shows cr_type: person, the auto-generated cr_id, your universe link, and any other fields you set. Open the Universes tab in Control Center — the entity count for your universe ticks up by one, confirming the link is wired.

Variations
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  • Building a whole noble house at once. Use the Family Creation Wizard (Charted Roots: Create family wizard). Five-step flow for central character + spouses + children + parents, with bidirectional linking. Each character inherits the universe of the central figure.
  • Adding properties to an existing note. Right-click the file → Charted Roots → Add essential person properties. Adds cr_id, cr_type, name, plus common optional fields. Multi-select to apply across many character notes.
  • Bulk entry across many characters. Bases Integration gives a spreadsheet-like editing surface — useful when sketching out a noble house’s three-generation roster.
  • Organizations and houses. For tracking guild memberships, houses, military units, religious orders, see Organization Notes. Organizations are also universe-scoped and link to characters via membership.

Related guides#

Reference
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