Trying to keep track

Vinat, Jugdal, Tjunar, Evnat, and Heggel are all allies of Jarnor. How can you doubt it when you can see rulers of all five regions linked by marriage in the chart above? Heggel, however, has been co-opted by the party of the Princess Vinat is also related by marriage to Ocnathal and Ocnathal is linked by family ties not only with the Northern Alliance but also with the neutral border territory of Uhli and the County of Orgl, the latter being firmly in the Eastern Alliance. It is truly a civil war, with siblings and cousins fighting on opposite sides. The personal conflicts are many.

I try to keep track of forty towns and cities (feudal territories) in the principate and who is currently where as armies move about the land.

And so I use complex spread sheets (sorted and filtered and color-coded) with formulas to track how old the players are (and if they are still alive). I use genealogy software with over 1800 fictional characters stored therein. I keep referring to my maps and timelines. What is the phase of the moon? Which stars shine above?

Because if I don't, readers will. LOL.

This is really rambling commentary to note that I have done work on family trees this weekend. I also wrote a scene for the next-to-last book in the series. Almost a year may have passed since I was last in full swing but I feel as though I am, indeed, about to plunge in once more.

--the BB