Relationships

Relationships describe how entities connect.

They can represent obvious links, such as family or location, and more narrative-specific links, such as rivalry, command, ownership, prophecy, betrayal, mentorship, or chronology.

Relationship examples

A relationship might say:

• Mara commands the river guard.
• The Ash Gate is located in the old city.
• Kellan owns the broken compass.
• The treaty follows the siege.
• Lina is secretly related to Oran.

Each relationship should be understandable and, when possible, evidence-backed.

Direction matters

Some relationships are directional:

Mara commands the guard.

That does not mean:

The guard commands Mara.

Other relationships are symmetric or contextual:

Mara and Kellan are siblings.

Arc should preserve enough structure for the relationship to remain meaningful.

Time matters

A relationship can change during a story. A character can be an ally in chapter three and an enemy in chapter ten. A place can belong to one faction before a conquest and another faction after it.

When possible, relationships should remain tied to source locations and narrative timing.

Relationship review

Review relationships by asking:

1. Are both entities correct?
2. Is the relationship type accurate?
3. Is the direction correct?
4. Is the evidence strong enough?
5. Is the relationship current, historical, secret, or uncertain?

A graph is only useful when the edges mean something. Poorly reviewed relationships create visual noise and weak AI context.