It is a sad fact…but part of the challenge’s design is that your founder will eventually die. Even if you care for them perfectly, the march of time and old age will eventually take them from you. But worry not, death is not a failure state. When your founder eventually dies, you will need to determine who among their children will become the next heir, the Leader of the family for the second generation. The title of heir has many important implications that will be explained as we go along. How your family handles succession is actually quite customizable. Just as a Sim’s personality is made up of three traits, your succession law is made up of three components. Think of the succession law as the “personality” of your family.
Equality: The Founder may be of either gender. Both boys and girls are eligible for the title of heir.
Traditional: Children who are naturally born from the previous generation are eligible to be named heir. Adopted children are ineligible to be named heir unless there are no naturally born children, at which point they become eligible for that generation.
The Gender Law and Bloodline Law serve as a sort of ‘qualifying’ round. If either law names a child as ineligible, then they cannot gain the title of heir. However, just because a child is eligible to be named heir according to Gender and Bloodline laws, doesn’t mean they WILL be the heir. The third category actually picks the heir.
Merit: The child with the most fully completed aspirations will be named heir. If there is a tie, the child with the highest level in a single skill will become heir from among the children who are tied.
Democracy: This rule may be used if you are displaying your Legacy Challenge in some public way. Either via Let’s Play, Livestream, blog or other format where people can leave comment. The heir is chosen by your viewers/readers from among the pool of eligible heirs.
Tolerant – The species of the child has no impact on their eligibility for heir status
There are several laws that can change who the heir is mid-generation. The title of heir can continue shifting until one of two conditions are met: 1. The previous-generation heir dies or 2. The current heir brings in an eligible child for the next generation. Once one of these two events happen, the title of heir is ‘locked in’ on whomever currently holds it and will not change.