I liked the dynastic ideas. Societies often (almost always?) used marriage to cement alliances, etc. Many times a child was held in another court as a 'hostage - guest.' Its a fantasy game, so I have no problem if the 'time frames' of children growing up is telescoped to be 'faster' than other game elements. (see note below) Empires, kingdoms, etc., are not politically monoliths, they have internal 'factions'. And factions are often built around guilds and other (extended) family connections. Its about fun choices, and having access to a variety of tools , and a variety of different aspects that need to be coordinated, that makes a truly great game.
If SD doesn't put marriage, concubinage, children, etc., back in, I hope that at least, make the game code accessible to mod-ders so such a thing can be implemented as a mod.
NOTE about 'telescoping' features / time frames: Sid Meyers railroad game used very disparate time frames on elements to create a satisfying whole. The trains would run over a 24 hour period. Then the income and expenses of that one, 24 hour period would be used to generate the ANNUAL ledgers for the company, profit, loss, revenue, yada, yada. The fact that one aspect of the game (tactical, if you will) was way out of balance - time frame wise - with playing other parts of the game, actually was an ingenious way to meld two seemingly disparate parts of the game playing experience. Why not here in FE?
