Very happy with this. Go Stardock! 

edit: George R.R. Martin influences?! INCREDIBLE. His style would make a more interesting game than LotR, I feel. 

Im extraordinarily excited as well with this new tidbit! I wonder if its your sovereign who has children or another royal family totally unrelated to the channeler, that is just ruled by him/her? it will be interesting to see how it works as more info comes out

Edit: Capn' gotcha the link while i was posting

Quoting RisingLegend,

"I wonder if its your sovereign who has children or another royal family totally unrelated to the channeler, that is just ruled by him/her? it will be interesting to see how it works as more info comes out" 

Quoting Frogboy,

 "Each sovereign, while eternal, can have children who will, in time, grow up, have children, grow up, and pass on and repeat the cycle over and over."  

So they will be directly related to you. and they are classified as heros so i wonder what else they can do. 

The screenshots on this IGN article are much nicer than Gamespy's.

http://media.pc.ign.com/media/142/14295360/imgs_1.html

This shot of the evil castle is cool with the unexplored landscape being fogged out. Think its new:

http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/14295360/elemental-war-of-magic-/images/elemental-war-of-magic--20090824034833536.html?page=mediaFull

Similiar article from today on Kotaku:

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2009/08/elemental-war-of-magic-impressions/

And on another site I've never heard of:

http://www.gamernook.com/news/view/post/58998/

Quoting psychoravin,

reply 9

OHHHH I KNOW having FAMILIES and DYNASTIES with marriages and deaths and heirs??? Like Crusader Kings. That would be so kewl it'd be like Lord of the Rings when the son of man gets it on with the elven princess. Liv Tyler man <sigh>

I remember reading this and thinking "I sure hope he's right..." Good job!

WHy put the "guy with pickaxe" picture in the kotaku article?  *Sigh*

Which should mean that if your channeler dies it's not end game (maybe unless your family is already dead too)?

EXACTLY!!! (dances around computer desk chair with gelfling glee)  If daddy dies either you get to pick your heir or they are picked based on that thingamajig you set your heirdom down with in CK. Constant Sanquanudity, Primal Rage heh something like that.

Are FEMALES going to be allowed to be heirs/channelers? That would be kewl too. That should also mean ASSASSINS in the game as well. But, please don't abstract them like in CK. Make it so you have to cast invisibility spells on them and other stuff and to counter channelers have to cast aura's of light in their castles/cities where they reside or their family resides, but, it won't be always 100% effective to add drama and fear of the possible coming assassination attempt(s).

What about bassturd children? Oh please gotta have that in the game. The ole channeler decides while away from home to have a romp with liv tyler haha and she has TWINS named The Corsican brothers and their names are Cheech and Chong.

Point one: I don't think this family/dynasty system changes that you lose if your sovereign dies. I believe this is indicated that your sovereign is immortal (at least immune to old age) in contrast to all of your heirs.

Point two: The idea of family relations and how you treat different members of a family affecting the view of that family as a whole. Imagine if you had to make the decision of what to do with an incompetent but high born hero. Who are you going to make govenor of that nice newly captured city? The talented wanderer you recruited recently? Or the incompetent son of a family who's loyalty is wavering? The most important thing about this system is to avoid making it into a metagame of exploiting the mechanics of the implementation itself.

Point three: This is just an idea but I keep imagining clans like in Naruto where they have Bloodline limits (special skills that none other can duplicate) in their genetics that are safeguarded and passed down from generation to generation. Some of these families could possibly have enclaves already on the map and you would have to do quests to curry favor with them? I'm loving this family/clan/relationship/diplomacy thing.

Point Four: Why not make the family/personal interaction system pervasive to economic/diplomatic/espionage/scientific aspects of the game where important families control these things in your empire? Although this has the potential to become too complicated and tedious. Imagine being able to influence an opponents economy because your house is all powerful merchant princes and other sovereigns have put them in positions of economic power because they are so skilled but they remain loyal to you. So they can give orders and you can give orders and they obey who they like more. Then think of corruption (like in the civ games where some of your production just disappears) what if instead of just disappearing wealth could be diverted to you secretly by a merchant leader loyal to you (although if you took too much then the other sovereign would probably get suspicious). The possibilities for this system are endless...

Now that will make for some INTERESTING political intrigue.

I hope there will also be an option to make your sovereign mortal. Having a linear succession of Kings and building up a long royal blood line would be awesome. That way I could have Darkodin the LXXVII become Wizard King of my nation.