I realize the general thought process to exclude this feature is "how many use-cases can this possibly be necessary for?" but on World Anvil, I would argue that there are more than enough examples to justify this change: a) Alien Species: In Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis series, an alien species typically reproduces by a male and a female of the species having their genes mixed by a third sex. All three parents are "biological parents." Things like this are fairly common in science fiction, and we have a lot of science fiction writers here b) Genetic engineering: consider the case of that 1980s show "V". Elizabeth, a half-human and half-Visitor (alien) character was created through mixed genetic engineering of both species. One might argue that she had four biological parents - and again, this is not at all uncommon in science fiction c) Mixed families - I myself have a usecase in which a biological mom, doing a favour for a gay couple who were her friends, allowed them both to donate sperm so they would have children to raise, with the intention that no one should know, unless it became necessary, whom each child's biological father actually is. This is, again, not at all an uncommon arrangement, even in the modern world d) Adoption - Because of the way World Anvil family trees work, adoption is not, in my opinion, represented sufficiently. Allowing this option would make it more possible to represent adoption in a family tree Thanks for your consideration. You've got my vote!
Once you've accepted two isn't a requirement, why stop at three? I have trouble envisaging the implications of open ended parent slots for relationship and family tree views. It could easily become overly complicated to address this in the code for the small number of Worlds that might use it. That said, I'm not against the idea in theory.
seems like this could get out of hand quickly, but I don't have a counter suggestion.
Yes, more spaces for biological or adopted parents would be great.
Wow, I do have a race in my Intergalactic Setting that has 3 parents this would be great.
This is useful for species that use superfecundation as a reproductive strategy. I can't remember if this suggestion has been made before, though.
If possible, it'd be better to just have a 'list of biological parents' sort of deal to allow for as many as possible, since some may need four or more.