[@MissCapnCrunch]

Let me put it like this. As we all know interaction is quite literally the lifeblood of an RP and if everyone is off in their own corner doing their own thing there is no interaction = RP death. 

Now imagine we have 12 families. You will get 1 character per family.. if even that. So there will be no interaction. 

Now imagine 5 families. Okay, so we are closer to having like.. 2-3 per family. Maybe. So that's a little interaction but it gets stale very quick.

Now we have 2 playable families and possibly a royal family that are used for either GM purposes or someone willing to play that. You now have 5-6 characters per family. See, potential interaction surges.

That and creating 12 families as a GM is hell.