At first when I read Ron's insistance for story-important relationships to based on Kinship/Sex to be rather limiting. But just now I realize a great reason for the distinction.

Alligince, friendhsips, etc etc, are less ideal for story purposes because to some degree they decree behavior: You have to get along, or be usefull to each other, or find your relationship with them pleasant in order to enter it(Note that these are generalizations and of course there are exceptions.)

But you can have a much lagerer variety of relationships with Kinship/Sex. Kinship are people you're born into, Sexual partners of people you want sex from. As such the actual subsistance of the relationship can be just nearly anything.

There's also the issue of your unwilling connection to these people, that whether you like them or not, someone is constantly connected to their Kinship/Sex relationships, so, if they are disloyal to you, trying to just leave the relationship is much more complicated.

It hits me that the most thematiclly-powerfull relationships are semblences of Kinship/Sex ties even if they are not literally. A mentor or protector being a father figure, closest friends being like brothers, etc etc.

Is that pretty much what you were thinking would you made that distinction, Ron?

Not to steal Ron's words, but I seem to remember someone writing that the simple theoretical reason for this is that sex and kin are the only universal human constants - therefore they are the strongest and most common denominators for us all. Stories are best when they touch, and both sex and kin touch us all and always. It's the same with death, and if that could be put in a relationship map I'd guess Ron would have.

Hello,

I'd like to clarify that any and all relationships are fair game for Sorcerer play. The kin/sex issues of relationship maps are simply nailing down one specific set of relationships that are fixed and immutable (unlike most of the others). It's a matter of noting which relationships, out of all of the ones that are firing off like roman candles, are not changeable in their basic definitions.

Really. That's the way to look at it that permits the technique to help prep and play.

All other interpretations (more important than other relationships, less important than other relationships, blah blah), however valid or interesting, are secondary.

Best,
Ron