We’ve learned (via Game Memo, with scans by SerensForest) that marriages and raising children are both returning in Fire Emblem Fates.

The news comes via leaked issues of both Dengeki and Nintendo Dream, which liken the new marriage and children mechanics to Fire Emblem: Awakening.

Once you reach an “S” level of affection with someone of the opposing gender, you can marry and bear children together. There will be “confession” images in the game just like in Awakening.

Instead of being generated by the mother’s traits, in Fire Emblem Fates, the identity of the father will be passed onto the child, as the mother now only passes her hair color. Afterwards, your children will naturally join you on the battlefield.

The above examples shown include the offspring of both the player avatar and Felicia, Kanna, followed by the child of Tsukuyomi and Orochi’s child, Shara. For now, it’s unclear where the children come from in a timeline sense, where in Awakening they came from the future.

Fire Emblem Fates is launching for the Nintendo 3DS in North America and Europe some time next year.